
From an anthropological-sociological perspective it can be defined as a combination of values, attitudes and behaviour assigned to an individual who occupies a social position (a location in a social network) associated with a specific social status (the functions assigned to that person).įrom this perspective, a role can be defined as the behaviour that a person displays in relation to his/her social position and social status (Linton, 1945). The role concept can be viewed from two different perspectives. While a comprehensive theoretical examination of the many alternative role theories and models is beyond the scope of this paper, it is important to establish a theoretical context for the team role model. Davis et al., 1992 Margerison and McCann, 1990 Parker, 1990 Spencer and Pruss, 1992 Woodcock, 1989) are unclear. Prior to the development of Belbin’s team role model (1981, 1993a) other role theories had been put forward (Benne and Sheats, 1948 Graen, 1976 Graen and Scandura, 1987 Holland, 1985) although the model’s links to these and other role classifications (e.g.

Finally, we discuss the validity of the model and consider the wider implications of our findings. Second, all substantive studies that provide psychometric evidence, relationships to personality factors and evidence for predictive validity are summarized, evaluated and contrasted.

We first consider the theoretical context for the team role model.


Through its coverage of important areas of teamworking (conflict management, personality traits, team performance, control and power) the paper contributes to the practitioner and research communities by providing fresh insights into aspects of teamworking and by suggesting new research agendas. This paper therefore reviews the published research and assesses to what extent the model is supported by the available evidence. The model is utilized by many companies consisting of FTSE-100 companies, international companies, government bodies and specialists and has been equated into 16 languages.
