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Testing Belbin’s team role theory of effective groups

Jane S. Prichard (Engineering Psychology Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK)
Neville A. Stanton (Engineering Psychology Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK)

Journal of Management Development

ISSN: 0262-1711

Article publication date: 1 November 1999

57793

Abstract

Belbin’s Team‐Role Theory is extensively used as a counselling and team development tool by organisations and management consultancies in the UK. However, there is little empirical support for his work, largely because there has been scant research. This study sought to redress this situation by testing Belbin’s proposal that teams in which a wide range of team‐roles are represented perform better than those where there is an imbalance of roles because certain roles are over‐represented. The task performance of six teams of four individuals identified as shapers by the Team‐Role Self‐Perception Inventory (Belbin, 1981), was compared with that of six mixed teams of four individuals; one co‐ordinator, one plant, one completer finisher, and one team worker. It was found that consistent with Belbin’s proposal the “mixed” teams performed better than teams consisting of shapers alone. Some possible explanations and implications of the findings are discussed.

Keywords

Citation

Prichard, J.S. and Stanton, N.A. (1999), "Testing Belbin’s team role theory of effective groups", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 18 No. 8, pp. 652-665. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621719910371164

Publisher

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MCB UP Ltd

Copyright © 1999, MCB UP Limited

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