Lecture: Teamwork 1

ELC1A09 Language for the Workplace of the Future

Agenda
Introduction
Team Building
Your Team Role(s)
Introduction
• At university and in your career you will
need to work in teams.
• However, often teams have teamwork,
communication, and personality problems
that lead to jobs not being done well.
• One cause of this is the team membership.
• Teams can be chosen in a number of
ways:
• Friendships
• Availability
• Who is sitting with who when the teams
are chosen
• Skills-based teams, with people who are
good at Statistics, PowerPoint, English…
• But there is a better way.
Source
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Lecture Questions
By the end of the lecture you should know
the answers to the following questions:
• What are the 3 groups of roles?
• Coordinator, Team Worker, and
Resource Investigator are
_____________roles.
• Plant, Monitor-Evaluator, and Source
Specialist are ______________ roles.
• Shaper, Implementer, and Completer-Finisher are ____________
roles.
• Should people play the same or different roles as each other?
• What should you do if someone else has the same team role as
you?
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Experience of Teamwork Problems
How many of these problems have you had when working in
a team?
1. No-one wants to be the boss and coordinate the others
2. No-one encourages cooperation – everyone does
different independent things
3. No-one cooperates with other groups
4. No-one has any creative new ideas
5. No-one can solve the problem
6. No-one is an expert in a vital area
7. No-one pushes the team to do
better
8. Lots of ideas, but not enough
action
9. No-one keeps the team on
schedule, so work is late.
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Team Building
• A business researcher at Source
a top British business
school analysed teams,
and found that it was
not the most intelligent
teams that were best,
but ones that contained
the right mix of people.
• Dr Meredith Belbin found
that there were 9 team roles in 3 groups: people, thought
and action-oriented groups. Most people can take on 2 or 3
roles.
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Video
Watch the video How to use Belbin's Team Roles Within a
Team Structure and listen for how the three main roles are
named.

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Mixed-ability Teams
Belbin’s solution was mixed-ability teams:
People Oriented Coordinator Acts as a chairperson.
Roles Team Worker Encourages cooperation.
Resource Investigator Explores outside opportunities.
Thought Oriented Plant Presents new ideas and approaches.
Roles
Monitor-Evaluator Analyses the options.
Specialist Provides specialised skills.
Action Oriented Shaper Challenges the team to improve.
Roles Implementer Puts ideas into action.
Completer Finisher Ensures thorough, on-time completion.

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Activity: Match the Role to the Problem it solves
Coordinator Acts as a chairperson. Lots of ideas, but not enough action
Team Worker Encourages cooperation. No one can solve the problem
Resource Explores outside No-one cooperates with other groups
Investigator opportunities.
Plant Presents new ideas and No-one encourages cooperation –
approaches. everyone does different independent
things
Monitor-Evaluator Analyses the options. No-one has any creative new ideas
Specialist Provides specialised skills. No-one is an expert in a vital area
Shaper Challenges the team to No-one keeps the team on schedule, so
improve. work is late.
Implementer Puts ideas into action. No-one pushes the team to do better
Completer Finisher Ensures thorough, on- No-one wants to be the boss and
time completion. coordinate the others
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Activity: Famous Role Fillers
Think of some famous leaders who fulfil these roles.
People Oriented Coordinator Acts as a chairperson.
Roles Team Worker Encourages cooperation.
Resource Investigator Explores outside opportunities.
Thought Oriented Plant Presents new ideas and approaches.
Roles Monitor-Evaluator Analyses the options.
Specialist Provides specialised skills.
Action Oriented Shaper Challenges the team to improve.
Roles Implementer Puts ideas into action.
Completer Finisher Ensures thorough, on-time completion.

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 People Oriented Roles: Coordinator
Acts as a chairperson and
team-leader.
Strengths
• Guides the team to objectives
• Excellent listeners
• Recognizes the value of
each team member
• Calm and good-natured
• Delegates tasks very effectively
Weaknesses
• May delegate too much personal responsibility
• May delegate all work, so be seen as lazy
• May tend to be manipulative
 People Oriented Roles: Team Worker
Encourages cooperation
Strengths Weaknesses
• Provide support • Indecisive
• Make sure that people • Uncommitted in
within the team are working discussions and
together effectively decision-making
• Act as negotiators
within the team
• Flexible, diplomatic and perceptive
• Popular
• Very capable
• Prioritise team cohesion and helping
people get along
 People Oriented Roles: Resource Investigator
Explores outside opportunities
Strengths:
• Innovative and curious
• Explore available options, develop contacts, and negotiate
for resources on behalf of the team
• Enthusiastic team members
• Identify and work with external stakeholders to help the
team accomplish its objective
• Outgoing and are often extroverted, meaning that others
are often receptive to them and their ideas.
Weaknesses
• May lose enthusiasm quickly
• Often overly optimistic
 Thought Oriented Roles: Plant
Presents new ideas and approaches.
Strengths:
• Creative innovator
• Comes up with new ideas and approaches
• Likes praise, hates criticism
• Introverted
• Prefers to work apart from the team
Weaknesses
• Can be impractical
• May be poor at communication
• Tend to ignore given parameters and constraints
 Thought Oriented Roles: Monitor-Evaluator
Analyses the options.
Strengths:
• Good at analysing and evaluating ideas that other
people (often Plants) come up with
• Practical, perceptive & objective
• Critical thinkers
• Analyses the pros and cons of all options before
deciding
Weaknesses
• Often perceived as detached or unemotional
• Poor at motivating people
• Reacts to events rather than causing them
 Thought Oriented Roles: Specialist

Provides specialised skills.

Strengths:
• Has vital specialized knowledge
• Pride themselves on their skills and abilities
• Work hard to maintain their professional status
• Expert in the area, and they commit themselves fully to
their field of expertise.
Weaknesses
• Specialism may limit their contribution
• May concentrate on technicalities and miss the bigger
picture.
Action-oriented roles: Shaper
Challenges the team to improve.
Strengths
• Dynamic and usually extroverted people
• Enjoys stimulating others, questioning norms, and finding
the best approaches for solving problems.
• Makes sure that all possibilities are considered and that
the team does not become complacent
• Sees obstacles as exciting challenges and they don’t quit
Weaknesses
• May be argumentative
• May offend people's feelings.
 Action-oriented roles: Implementer
• Puts ideas into action.
Strengths
• People who get things done
• Turn ideas and concepts into practical actions and
plans
• Conservative, disciplined people
• Systematic and efficient: very well organized
• Reliable
Weaknesses
• May be inflexible
• May resist change
 Action-oriented roles: Completer-Finisher

Ensures thorough, on-time completion.

Strengths
• People who make sure that tasks are completed
thoroughly.
• Ensure that there have been no errors or omissions and
they pay attention to the smallest of details.
• Very concerned with deadlines and will push the team to
make sure the job is completed on time.
• Perfectionists, orderly, conscientious and anxious.
Weaknesses
• May worry unnecessarily
• May find it hard to delegate
 Team Roles Summary
1. When you are asked to form a team, try to have at
least one member from people, thought, and action
oriented roles.
2. To prevent or reduce conflict, avoid two people
having the same role; e.g. two Coordinators.
3. If someone has the same role as you, change roles
to a different one that you know how to do.
Therefore, learn how to play more than one role.
Your Team Roles
What role(s) are you good at?
People Oriented Coordinator Acts as a chairperson.
Roles Team Worker Encourages cooperation.
Resource Investigator Explores outside opportunities.
Thought Oriented Plant Presents new ideas and approaches.
Roles
Monitor-Evaluator Analyses the options.
Specialist Provides specialised skills.
Action Oriented Shaper Challenges the team to improve.
Roles Implementer Puts ideas into action.
Completer Finisher Ensures thorough, on-time completion.

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Classmate’s Team Roles
Talk to your classmates and find people who can do roles that you
aren’t good at.
People Oriented Coordinator Acts as a chairperson.
Roles Team Worker Encourages cooperation.
Resource Investigator Explores outside opportunities.
Thought Oriented Plant Presents new ideas and approaches.
Roles
Monitor-Evaluator Analyses the options.
Specialist Provides specialised skills.
Action Oriented Shaper Challenges the team to improve.
Roles Implementer Puts ideas into action.
Completer Finisher Ensures thorough, on-time completion.

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Homework
Find out about the
teamwork necessary for
your profession, and
how you can fit in.
What are the roles,
duties and
responsibilities?
How can you answer a
job interview question
about your skills?
Homework Tips
Find out what kind of jobs students who do your
degree get:
• Go to
https://www51.polyu.edu.hk/eprospectus/ug/no
n-jupas-adhd-grad
• Click ‘Admissions’
• On the ‘Admissions’ top menu, click
‘Local Non-JUPAS Senior Year’
• Scroll down to the list of programmes
• Find and click on your programme
• Scroll down to Recognition and Prospects
• Find out what jobs graduates get
• Search the internet for a job you would like
• Copy the job responsibilities
• Decide what team roles are needed for each
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Sample Homework
I am studying a B.S. (Hons) in Food Safety and Technology. When I
graduate I want to work as a Quality Assurance Assistant Officer.
The duties, responsibilities and related roles will be to:
• Ensure food safety, environmental hygiene, and workplace safety
in shops are up to company standards – a monitor/evaluator role
• Conduct routine Quality Assurance inspection in shops – a
monitor/evaluator role
• Coordinate work safety, quality assurance and hygiene
procedures training to related staff – a specialist role as a trainer,
and a shaper role to challenge the team to improve
• Prepare documents, reports of data and analysis – a completer /
finisher role
• Liaise with all internal parties to deal with quality issues – a
coordinator role
• Assist in other ad-hoc projects as assigned – a team worker role
Therefore I will need to perform roles in all three of Belbin’s areas:
people, thought and action-oriented roles.
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Sample Homework 2 – Job Interview Preparation
To prepare for job interviews, try the following GenAI prompt. Edit the parts in [square
brackets], then go to https://genai.polyu.edu.hk/ and select an AI such as GPT.
Prompt:
Write an answer to a job interview question about skills.
I am a university student studying [degree].
The job is [job title], working for [institution name].
The job advert contains the following duties:
[List of duties]
In terms of Belbin's Team Roles, I am good at [people/action/thought]-oriented roles,
including [Coordinator / Team Worker / Resource Investigator / Plant / Monitor-
Evaluator / Specialist / Shaper / Implementer / Completer-Finisher].
Using this information, write an answer to the question "What skills do you have that
are relevant to this job?" Start with an overview sentence containing my role(s).
Address each of the duties from the job advert. Do not mention Belbin in the answer. Be
modest and humble. Emphasise how I could contribute to the institution, using a 'you-
centred' approach and my strengths in Belbin's team roles. Use simple and concise
English. Use a maximum sentence length of 20 words. Emphasise what I can do, using
"I can", and what I am good at, using "I'm good at". End with a sentence about how I
am keen to use these skills to contribute to the institution. Use grammar and vocabulary
suitable for speaking, not writing. 26
The End