CS3100Software Project Management

Week 24 - Team Roles

Dr Tracy Hall

learning outcomes

- You should be able to identify individual roles and discuss how people’s personalities may affect a team.

- You should be able to apply this insight to team selection and performance analysis.

- You should be able to discuss basic issues of satisfaction and motivation of team members.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M0Al3Oi0-8

Let’s go back to last week:

People are not all the same

Teams are not all the same

Project Managers need insight + self-awareness

We have We have looked at thislooked at this

This This weekweek

We’ve also covered Tuckman’s model of team development

forming

storming

norming

performing

time

stage Team characteristics

at each stage

Open personal agendas private

agendas

Management role at each stage

Meredith Belbin’s discovery…

Ran experiments with syndicate teams at the Administrative Staff College at Henley, now Henley Management College.

M Belbin (2004) Management Teams, why they succeed or fail, Second Edition, Elsevier, Oxford

Company A

Company B

Company C

etc, etc

Measured results

Business gamesBusiness gamesExperimented with the

composition of the teams

Apollo team

Quick check:Selected very clever people

Apollo teamcame last!!!

teams of geniusesusually

did badly!

Meredith Belbin’s discovery…

You need a mixYou need a mixof peopleof peopleHe identified

roles(if you read Cadle & Yeates)

Or 9 (if you read:http://www.belbin.com/belbin-team-roles.htm)

Belbin’s team roles (a)Coordinator (has been called, ‘Chairman’)

Helps provide consensusNot necessarily the appointed leader‘Lacking in originality’

ShaperLeads from the frontDynamic & inspiringOften abrasive

Monitor/evaluatorSifts and selects ideasKeeps everyone on trackCan be insensitive to others’ feelings

Resource investigatorThe team’s link to the outside worldAlways ‘knows a man who can.’Loses interest after finding a solution

Belbin’s team roles (b)Innovator

Provides great ideasMay be too personally attached to some of them

Team workerWorks hard to keep everyone happySensitive to people’s feelingsCan be indecisive in a crisis

Implementer (‘Company Worker’)Turns ideas into schedules & milestonesCan be inflexible

Completer (‘Completer/Finisher’) Chases progress with an eye to detail

Can be too fussy

SpecialistProvides rare skills & knowledge

Dedicated, single-minded, self-starter

Narrow contribution

Focuses on technicalities

So . .

What is your/my role

Can be formally assessed Online By an assessor

CS3100 Software Project Management Slide 9

Class Profile

CS3100 Software Project Management Slide 10

So What: Understanding Conflict

ManagerManager

HimHim MeMe

His g

roup

My grou

p

Mild conflictWHY?

Designed & tested devices

Fabricated devices

2 Structural conflict designed-inStructural conflict designed-in(Cadle & Yeates p 383)

1 Natural CompetitionNatural Competition

3 A role-type problemA role-type problem

Why have you booked this many hours to my job?

Why does he waste his & our time?

Get on with the job!

Why doesn’t this chap keep an

accurate time sheet?

What is his What is his natural role?natural role?

So what: Understanding Failure

It may help in troubleshooting or

analysing underperforming

teams

Belbin’s Apollo teams failed because:• too much time was spent in highly articulate argument• no-one would give way and get on with the job• unpopular jobs didn’t get done

Failure was followed by mutual recriminations.

Of 25 Apollo teams, only 3 won6 came 6th out of 84 came 4th out of 8

So what: Building good teamsIt may help in troubleshooting or

analysing underperforming

teamsIf you get to pick your

team…

Each person hasstrengths &

weaknesses A balanced team will exhibit the strengths and cover the weaknesses

Wish list:

•Technical•Professional•Teamworking•Belbin…

Q: What if Q: What if you can’t you can’t have 8 or 9 have 8 or 9 people in people in your team?your team?

A: Most people will have a A: Most people will have a profile with 2 or 3 real profile with 2 or 3 real strengths. You need to strengths. You need to focus on avoiding ‘gaps’focus on avoiding ‘gaps’

Warning: This is only a model!

And, finally… It may help in troubleshooting or

analysing underperforming

teams

If you get to pick your

team…

People are not all the same

Teams are not all the same

Project Managers need insight to both+ self-awareness

It helps you to understand yourself

What do we all want?

Propensity for agivenrole

Coo

rdin

ator

Sha

per

Inno

vato

r

Res

ourc

e in

vest

igat

or

Mon

itor

eval

uato

r

Tea

m

wor

ker

Imp

lem

ent

er

Com

plet

er

Perhaps I wanted to shine in this area, but am

stronger, here.

The trick is to understandand play to your strengths

What if I’m made Team Leader but I’m not a coordinator?

Identify coordination skills in others and use them

appropriately – e.g. in chairing meetings

A personalsense ofinadequacy may help you identify and use the skills of others

Identify the negative

impact your mismatch may

have on the team and take

appropriate measures

e.g.:

If you are a natural Resource Investigator, you might have to make time to be available to your team

If you are a natural Team Worker, you may have to distance yourself from the team – people may play on your sensitive nature.

If you are a natural Monitor/Evaluator, you may be a little harsh in your assessments and need

to learn to praise people.

And lastly, 2 models of motivation

Cadle & Yeates, section 20.2

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Physiological

Safety

Social

Esteem

Self-actualisation

Herzberg

Dissatisfiers = ‘hygiene factors’e.g. policy, administration, supervision, relationships, working conditions, salary & total package

Satisfiers = ‘motivators’e.g. Achievement, recognition, responsibility, career progression, type of work

Rough correspondence

Now we can put the puzzle together

The task

The team

The culture

Management styleYou

asPM!

Roles

Motivation!

Let’s think through some scenarios…A member of your workforce is always telling you what is wrong. Finally, when he complains about team spirit, you give him a budget of £15k, half of a junior coder’s time, and some administrative support for a team-building event for your group. Nothing happens. Why not?

You appoint a new researcher because she has a lot of contacts in the city. She is always on the ‘phone or away from the office and is having a great time and establishing a lot of leads, but none of it materialises into new business. Why not? If you could choose someone to work with your new recruit, what skill set would that person need?

You need a manager for a free-wheeling, creative team that has produced a series of highly innovative computer games, over the years, but not to any particular schedule. What sort of a Belbin profile might the ideal manager have?