Team Members' Roles

Team Members' Roles

A team is defined as "a collection of people, often drawn from diverse but related groups, assigned to perform a well-defined function for an organization or a project. Team members may be part-time participants of the team and have other primary responsibilities" (Rigby, 2004). Team members are brought together in order to collaborate or contribute towards a common goal, most commonly in the workplace or school projects. This does not necessarily mean that the team comprises like individuals. A team needs to have a mix of diverse roles in order for the group to form into team, transcend conflict, maintain cohesiveness, and accomplish the task at hand. Members of a team always fall into specific roles; defining and understanding these roles greatly influence teams as a whole and their level of performance.

Who leads and who follows? To over simplify the roles of individuals is detrimental to its overall cause, the realization of an objective. Roles are expected behaviors for a given position (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2003). Roles become evident at critical points in team development, normally at its formation, and throughout each stage of the team's evolution. In keeping with Bruce Tuckman's team development model, teams develop in four distinct stages:

* Forming: the first stage in which individuals gather information and impressions about each other and about the scope of the task and how to approach it

* Storming: the second stage in which addressing of the important issues start, most often with conflict.

* Norming: The third stage where a team makes clear and agrees upon and the group's tasks and responsibilities.

* Performing: the stage where the energy of the group can be directed towards the task at hand (Tuckman, 1965).

Each stage has it ebbs and flows, starting in an upwards movement towards understanding the team, its individuals, and its eventual performance leading to its ultimate goal of task completion. The following figure illustrates Tuckman's flow of team development.

Figure 1. Bruce Tuckman's 1965 team development model (Chapman, 2006)

Roles play a large part in the performing stage of team development. Often it defines its leadership but not necessarily its leader. Personality and abilities of the individual determines the role to be played in the team. Team members can fill more than one role at a time. These members are often considered the team leader. But the leader cannot effectively maintain the team without the offerings of leadership made by the team as a whole. So, leadership is often shared. Dr. Robert C. Gilman said "the more leadership capacity and expression within a group, the more effective and alive the group will be" (1985).

A team is defined by many different roles. In its progress towards accomplishing its goals, a team needs to branch out into as many different roles as possible. Each role remaining has to be positive or functional to its intentioned aim. Often referred to as work or task roles, these roles serve to define, clarify and pursue a common goal. Maintenance roles support interpersonal relationships within the group. They are the optimistic and encouraging members of the team that link the team together on a more personal and emotional level. "In short, task roles keep the group on track while maintenance roles keep the team together" (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2003). Many types of personalities make up both task and maintenance roles; these are some of the more noteworthy:

Task Roles:

* Initiator

* Information Seeker

* Coordinator

* Recorder

Maintenance Roles:

* Encourager

* Harmonizer

* Compromiser

* Group Observer

The initiator is a good example of a task role. Initiators suggest or propose to the group new ideas. They create unique points of view that the team needs to solve problems, achieve goals or establish new procedures to further team accomplishments. Most often the information seeker is the clarifier of suggestions and ideas. They seek out the truths of gathered information and are the experts of research. They function as the authority on pertinent facts and figures. Without organization, a team could be lost in the sea of information and ideas. The job of the coordinator is to see this through. They serve to pull all data together, synchronize it, and sometimes even delegate it to various members of the team. As with any group or team meeting to gather and share information, the key is documentation. Without it, communal thoughts and submissions could go unrecognized, unacknowledged or even unidentified. The recorders function is to act as team memory. Discussions, decisions, and all suggestions are his or her job to document and keep track of for future use by the team (Gilman, 1985).

Maintenance roles, as stated before, are the glue that holds the structure together. Understanding and acceptance is offered in abundance by the encourager. Those whom play this role look to commend the contributions of others. They often commend the points of view of individuals as well as encourage team spirit, giving off warmth and sincere positive emotion towards those in their team. The harmonizer role has a simple yet intricate job, to keep the peace when differences of opinions arise. They mediate conflict and soothe friction in order to reconcile tensions that most certainly occur when opposing ideas or suggestions collide. Good humor and infectious smiling are their best weapons in their cause to keep the team going. When such disagreements come in conflict with the interests of a particular role player, they do their best to achieve some sort of resolution. The compromiser acknowledges his or her errors, and gives up ground in order to move the team along. They often meet others halfway and work hard not to bring the aim of the team, working the task at hand to a grinding halt. They attack the problem, not each other. The role of the group observer is much like the recorder, keeping accounts of team processes and movements. The difference being they supply team members with interpreted data used to evaluate and re-evaluate their own proceedings. They are the consensus taker of the team (Gilman, 1985).

Teams are made of individuals. Individuals