CS3100 Software 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.

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 looked at this Thisweek

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 games Experimented with the composition of the teams Apollo team Quick check: Selected very clever people Apollo team came last!!! teamsof geniuses usually did badly!

Meredith Belbin’s discovery… You need a mix of people He identified roles (if you read Cadle & Yeates) Or 9 (if you read:

Belbin’s team roles (a) Coordinator (has been called, ‘Chairman’) Helps provide consensus Not necessarily the appointed leader ‘Lacking in originality’ Shaper Leads from the front Dynamic & inspiring Often abrasive Monitor/evaluator Sifts and selects ideas Keeps everyone on track Can be insensitive to others’ feelings Resource investigator The team’s link to the outside world Always ‘knows a man who can.’ Loses interest after finding a solution

Belbin’s team roles (b) Innovator Provides great ideas May be too personally attached to some of them Team worker Works hard to keep everyone happy Sensitive to people’s feelings Can be indecisive in a crisis Implementer (‘Company Worker’) Turns ideas into schedules & milestones Can be inflexible Completer (‘Completer/Finisher’) Chases progress with an eye to detail Can be too fussy Specialist Provides 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 ManagementSlide 9

Class Profile CS3100 Software Project ManagementSlide 10

So What: Understanding Conflict Manager HimMe His group My group Mild conflict WHY? Designed & tested devices Fabricated devices 2 Structural conflict designed-in (Cadle & Yeates p 383) 1 Natural Competition 3 A 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 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 won 6 came 6 th out of 8 4 came 4 th out of 8

So what: Building good teams It may help in troubleshooting or analysing underperforming teams If you get to pick your team… Each person has strengths & weaknesses A balanced team will exhibit the strengths and cover the weaknesses Wish list: Technical Professional Teamworking Belbin… Q: What if you can’t have 8 or 9 people in your team? A: Most people will have a profile with 2 or 3 real strengths. You need to 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 a given role CoordinatorShaperInnovator Resource investigator Monitor evaluator Team worker Implementer Completer Perhaps I wanted to shine in this area, but am stronger, here. The trick is to understand and 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 personal sense of inadequacy 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 style You as PM! 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?