Belbin's Roles Research Articles

SOFTWARE TESTING USING THE CODE REVIEW TECHNIQUE: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

This paper presents an exploratory study with Belbin roles, in particular role types, in an individual activity consisting of code review. The objective is to identify if, in addition to any of the three types of roles, the position of the fault and the gender of the subject influence the activity of detecting faults in the code. To create an experimental context for the review process, during a work session the subjects, who were software engineering students, used a code with injected faults for their review. With respect to the types of roles, the results of the experiment do not show significant differences either in the efficiency index obtained by the subjects in the testing process, or with the confusion index of failures. On the other hand, regarding the position of the fault, the results show significant differences between the faults detected in the first half of the code with respect to the remaining second half. Regarding the gender of the subject, the experiment does not show a significant difference between the detected errors. At the end of this report, researchers should perform a short-term analysis of the errors introduced in the code to obtain a better version of the experimental object, allowing them to perform a second controlled experiment under less restrictive conditions.

Influence of Belbin's Role on Database Design: An Exploratory Experiment

Software process has been studied from various perspectives, among them, the human factor is one of the most important due to the intrinsic social aspect of the discipline. This study aims to explore the benefits of using Belbin's role theory in tasks —team and individual— related to the software development process, particularly in Database Design (DB) Design. In this paper two controlled experiments with students are presented. In the first experiment integrated teams with compatible roles identified in the students and teams integrated through a traditional strategy were compared, during the task of DB conceptual design. In the second experiment, individual students were the experimental subjects, the performance of the Belbin roles identified in them were compared, in the task of the DB logical design. The dependent variables in both experiments were the effort in the task, and the quality of the generated design. Results in the first experiment did not show significant differences in both variables, a possible limitation was the complexity of the task. The second experiment also did not show significant differences in the effort variable; however, in the variable related to the quality of the logical design, the monitor-evaluator role presented significant differences when compared with the other six identified roles; these results are consistent with previous studies identified in the literature. We plan to continue experimenting with other tasks in order to get a deeper understanding of applying the Belbin’s theory in software process to accumulate experiences.

Relationships Between Social Interactions and Belbin Role Types in Collaborative Agile Teams

Incorporating technologies to support the monitoring, evaluation, and feedback of soft skills attracts great attention in the scientific community. For a team to have a good performance and manage itself, it can be helpful to identify the behavioral characteristics and social interactions established between its members. Here, we explore the relationships between Belbin’s behavioral roles, affinity sociograms, and audio interactions collected by the Naira multimodal analysis platform. We present a case study with university students designing with the Lego Serious Play methodology and incorporating agile practices that would stimulate collaborative work. The results are promising, allowing us to define new research hypotheses that will serve as guidelines for future work. The findings indicate that the Naira platform would enable us to recognize behavioral traces for the Social and Action natural roles.

Team formation on the basis of Belbin’s roles to enhance students’ performance in project based learning

This paper presents a method that instructors have designed and implemented to form balanced teams based on Belbin's roles, with the aim of boosting positive interdependence and individual accountability within the teams and improving their performance in a project-based learning environment. Students’ performance has been measured through the scores obtained during the project, individual exam and Individual Accountability Factor (IAF) and compared with cohorts of previous years, in which team composition was self-selected by students. Belbin teams (18/19–19/20) have performed significantly better than self-selected teams (16/17–17/18). Additionally, students’ feedback experience and opinion has been collected. Students belonging to Belbin teams acknowledge that they attend classes more regularly, they need less time for study outside the classes and they show a higher interest for the subject at the end of the course. They also agree that working on Belbin teams has helped them to mainly improve interpersonal relationships and social skills, followed by positive interdependence and individual accountability. This team forming method gives students the opportunity to identify their own strengths and weaknesses and understand the roles (behaviours) of their teammates as well as their strengths and weaknesses. Besides, it encourages learners to focus explicitly on group work skills.

Social Aspect of Student's Language Learning Style in Differentiated ESP Instruction

The study aims to investigate the possibility of using the Belbin Self-Perception Inventory (SPI) for the actualization of the social aspect of the language learning style in the differentiated English for specific purposes (ESP) learning of information technology (IT) students so as to determine the students' and teachers' attitudes to the use of Belbin's roles in the differentiated ESP instruction. To achieve the outlined aim, a mixed research design was employed which involved 180 university IT students and 10 teachers. For data collection we used the Belbin's SPI, students' self-assessment survey and ESP teachers' survey. The results showed that the students' team and functional roles were evident in each group, irrespective of the number of students in it. Communicative roles were found to be an integral part of functional, team, and social roles. Various interaction patterns were defined for students' functional roles. The findings suggested that in the context of social relations and the roles, the subject of a conversation, communicative behavior, professional knowledge, experience, and language potential of the interlocutors are different and reflect the specifics of the situation. To improve the students' communicative skills, three stages of role learning were suggested. The optimal group size for the differentiated ESP instruction was defined. The Belbin's roles were found suitable for groups of students with different English language proficiency levels. This study showed that the use of Belbin's approach to actualization of the social aspect of the language learning style in the differentiated ESP instruction can be effectively used in teaching IT students at university.

Exploring Teamwork Dynamics in Medicine Clerkship

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. Background: Medical students collaborate with one another, during problem based learning sessions and clerkships. Teamwork has three components; input, process and outcome. Team Objectively Structured Bed side Assessment (TOSBA) is a tool used in clerkships to assess the outcome of team work. Team dynamics have not been previously elaborated. In the present study team dynamics will be explored using examiner observations in TOSBA as a reference. Aim: To explore the teamwork dynamics in settings of TOSBA among final year medical students during their clerkship rotation to medical wards, taking examiner observations of TOSBA as a reference. Methods: A qualitative study using focus groups and purposive sampling. Perceived team dynamics among these students were compared to the observed dynamics by examiners in the earlier settings of TOSBA. Results: Three themes; factors positively affecting the negatively influencing the team dynamics and suggestions to improve team dynamics were generated. Team dynamics were negatively influenced by social loafing and Belbin role as a shaper or team's worker. Role of mutual trust and pre-tasking to enhance team dynamics needs exploration. Conclusion: Many factors affect the team dynamics during TOSBA. Social loafing, mutual respect and pre-tasking are new themes that require further elaboration.

Aviation finds that extra dimension: 3D manufacturing at 2015 Paris Air Show

This paper presents a method that instructors have designed and implemented to form balanced teams based on Belbin's roles, with the aim of boosting positive interdependence and individual accountability within the teams and improving their performance in a project-based learning environment. Students’ performance has been measured through the scores obtained during the project, individual exam and Individual Accountability Factor (IAF) and compared with cohorts of previous years, in which team composition was self-selected by students. Belbin teams (18/19–19/20) have performed significantly better than self-selected teams (16/17–17/18). Additionally, students’ feedback experience and opinion has been collected. Students belonging to Belbin teams acknowledge that they attend classes more regularly, they need less time for study outside the classes and they show a higher interest for the subject at the end of the course. They also agree that working on Belbin teams has helped them to mainly improve interpersonal relationships and social skills, followed by positive interdependence and individual accountability. This team forming method gives students the opportunity to identify their own strengths and weaknesses and understand the roles (behaviours) of their teammates as well as their strengths and weaknesses. Besides, it encourages learners to focus explicitly on group work skills.

Improving team performance

Purpose – To investigate whether implementing Belbin’s ideas on team balance and role diversity result in enhanced team performance. Design/methodology/approach – Compares the performance of teams engaged in a computer-simulated management game, analyzing team composition and individuals’ preferred Belbin roles. Findings – Teamwork: highly valued by so many organizations – and often so very hard to achieve! As a result, many job specifications state that the role requires “a good team player”. What is harder to find is evidence of whether “good” teams deliver superior performance. Practical implications – Observes that team role diversity does not lead to better financial performance. Adds that the Belbin role of the team leader does not appear to predict performance either. Social implications – Points out that awareness of their preferred Belbin team roles can help team members to become aware of their strengths and weaknesses and influence their behavior. Originality/value – Provides an empirical evaluation of Belbin’s work in terms of team performance rather than team behavior.

Are balanced groups better? Belbin roles in collaborative learning groups

In a sample of 459 students organized in 84 groups this study tests the impact of group role balance on teamwork quality and three performance indicators in collaborative learning groups (group cognitive complexity, perceived performance and objective performance). The results show that group role balance positively predicts group performance in preliminary phases of the group project but not in later phases. Moreover, group role balance positively predicts group cognitive complexity and is negatively related to teamwork quality. The results hold only when role balance is conceptualized as a configural property of groups instead of a sum of individual roles. The findings of the study have implications for the design of collaborative learning groups.

Belbin role diversity and team performance: is there a relationship?

PurposeThis paper aims to test the relationship between team role diversity and team performance, as one of the main assumptions behind the highly cited and used Belbin model and test.Design/methodology/approachData were collected among 24 teams of 144 students that participated in different rounds of a management game. All students performed a Belbin role self‐test prior to the management game. Performance of the teams was measured by the grade they received for the year‐end report written, and the financial results they achieved at the end of the management game.FindingsNo relationship was found between team role diversity and team performance. Also, it was found that the Belbin role of the team leader was not related to team performance as well. The only significant relationship found was between the individual study results of the team members and the grade they received for the year‐end report.Research limitations/implicationsResults might change if team performance is measured by other indicators, such as the level of in‐team collaboration or collective motivation.Practical implicationsIt should not be expected that creating diversity of roles within teams automatically leads to better performance. Continuous improvement, recognizing the phase team development is in, should also be in place to balance team members and support their performance.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the empirical testing of assumptions and ideas behind Belbin's model and test. Given its limitations, it provides new triggers to conduct more, similar empirical research.

Meridith Belbin Team Roles and Modes of Conflict Behaviour: A Study in Work Teams from the Basque Country Organizations

Worried by the lack of success of work teams, and forced by the high demand in organizations, we try to obtain a team model that allows clarifying the relationship among members and task. We understand that communication system and modes of conflict behaviour are the result of adjustment between team composition (in terms of Belbin roles) and team task (task definition, share objectives and responsibilities assignment). This study is based in cultural profiles and modes of conflict behaviour, and hypotheses that different Belbin Team Roles may correlate to different modes of conflict behaviour, as well as different motivation behaviour depending on the role (Social role, higher interest on personal interaction; Mental role, higher interest on problem solving; Action role, higher interest on task). 94 workers from different organizations accomplish the task for 12 weeks in 15 teams. Results confirm our hypothesis. Different roles use different modes of conflict behaviour in teams. Results confirm that Belbin team roles serve as predictor of different modes of conflict behaviour in teams.

Using Belbin's leadership role to improve team effectiveness: An empirical investigation

This paper presents a controlled experiment conducted with senior software engineering students that demonstrates the utility of forming teams based on R. Meredith Belbin's set of team roles. The overall research effort focuses on the general utility of Belbin's roles in improving the effectiveness of teams, which can be viewed in two ways: performance and team viability. Performance effectiveness, which is the focus of this paper, clearly addresses a team's productivity. To address this problem, the first phase of the total research project consists of a controlled experiment that demonstrates that teams containing leadership roles perform better than teams that do not have this role filled. In a laboratory setting, a number of teams were formed that contained a single leader; others were formed that had no leader or multiple leaders. The results of this experiment are positive; they demonstrate that indeed Belbin's roles provide useful information to form teams. The specific conclusion of this controlled experiment is that a single leader on a team improves a team's performance over teams having multiple leaders or no leader. In other words, as one would expect, the mean time-to-completion for the leaderless teams was significantly greater than the teams with leaders. This means that Belbin's roles can be utilized in formation of new teams as well as in evaluation of extant teams, making certain that a team has a single leader. Both of these aspects, formation and evaluation, are extremely useful to managers of software programmers.

Is Belbin’s shaper really TMS’s thruster‐organizer? An empirical investigation into the correspondence between the Belbin and TMS team role models

With the growth in teamworking, organizations are increasingly turning to team role models in the hope of enhancing the effectiveness of their teams. However, such models can be both expensive to buy‐in and administer. Examines significant similarities between the two major team role models ‐ Belbin and TMS models. Argues that if the two systems/assessments can be used interchangeably, organizations could make considerable savings in both time and money. Finds no simple, direct correspondence between the two models (despite close congruence between the role behavioural indicators). Finds a small degree of predictability in some roles (none in others, especially the “creative” and “leadership” roles). Suggests that generally, the Belbin roles do tend to gravitate towards the relevant quadrant of the TMS wheel, but not directly to an identifiable role. Proposes that further research is needed to see if this tendency is a robust and significant finding.

Factors affecting the management of interdisciplinary research in the pharmaceutical industry

The author uses the results of recent published behavioural research on team effectiveness as a framework to analyse the problems of managing R&D in pharmaceutical development. The research points to a large number of factors as having a potential impact on managing such R&D which is inescapably multi‐ or inter‐disciplinary in nature. Some such factors may originate outside the team, some within. External factors include organizational climate, R&D decision‐making environment, system maturity and organizational form (type of matrix); internal factors include span of responsibility of team members, disciplinary differentiation, task uncertainty, extent of fulfilment of Belbin roles and a significant requirement for flexibility of style on the part of the manager.The author's conclusion is that achieving effective management of R&D teams in the pharmaceutical R&D environment requires attention to all these factors. The extent to which integration of different disciplines is achieved is symptomatic of the degree to which these factors are understood and attended to.