The working day of a businessman

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 447.

UNIT 3

Belbin establishes that when people are put into a team situation, they take on attitudes which reflect the way they prefer to behave and interact over and above the roles required by their work function. He calls this their Preferred Team Roles.

Out of his work comes the notion of team balance. A mixture of roles within a team allows individual weaknesses to be overcome by the natural strengths of the other team members. These teams produce a holistic synergy where the total of the team's efforts is greater than the sum of the individual parts.

Meredith Belbin has identified 8 team roles:

a)the implementer/company worker, who converts the team's plan into something achievable;

b) the coordinator/chairman, a confident member who sets objectives and defines team member's roles;

c) the shaper, who defines issues, shapes ideas and leads the action;

d)the plant, a creative and imaginative person who supplies original ideas and solves problems;

e) the resource investigator, who communicates with the outside world and explores opportunities;

f) the monitor/evaluator, who sees all the possibilities, evaluates situations objectively and sees what is realistically achievable;

g)theteam worker, who builds the team, supports others and reduces conflict;

h)the completer/finisher, who meets deadlines, corrects mistakes and makes sure nothing is forgotten.

There are outward and inward roles.

Outward-looking:Preoccupation and orientation of these members is to the world outside the team. Generally these are the dominant members of a team: Chairman; Plant; Resource investigator; Shaper.

Inward-looking:These members are principally concerned with the world inside the team. Generally whilst not being submissive, these members are not especially characterized by dominance: Company Worker; Monitor/Evaluator; Team Worker; Finisher.

Outward and inward roles can be paired as follows: Chairman - Company Worker; Plant - Monitor/Evaluator; Resource investigator - Team Worker; Shaper –Finisher.

Ideally we should look for a well-balanced team. Absence of any role(s) obviously has a weakening effect but equally the presence of too many of one type can cause teams to fall. For example, with too many Plants many good ideas are generated but never translated into action. A team composed entirely of plants and shapers may look brilliant, but will be beaten by a full and balanced team. If your team has fewer than eight members they can double up where necessary and perform two functions instead of one, since people invariably have secondary roles. In other word you can operate an effective team with your people, if necessary.

The typical team goes through the series of stages:

a) forming: the group is anxious and feels dependent on a leader; the group tries to discover how it is going to operate and what is the ‘normal' ways of working will be;

b) storming: the atmosphere may be one of conflict between members, who may resist control from any one person; there may be the feeling that the task cannot be achieved;

c) norming: at this stage members of the group feel closer together and the conflicts are forgotten; members of the group will start to support each other; there is increasingly the feeling that it is possible to achieve the task;

d) performing: the group is carrying out the task for which it was formed; members feel safe enough to express differences of opinion in relation to others;

e) mourning: the group's work is finished, and its members begin to have pleasant memories of their activities and achievements.

Every team needs a balance of team Roles. The best balance will vary depending on the particular task or project being undertaking and the environment in which it is taking place.

Glossary

I am a successful businessman. The alarm clock goes off at 7 o'clock. I jolt out of bed at the same time. The automatic coffee maker kicks on in the kitchen. I jump in the shower, shave, open one of the half-dozen boxes of freshly laundered white shirts waiting on the shelf, finish dressing, and pour a cup of coffee. I sit down to a piece of whole wheat toast, eggs with bacon for breakfast while I flip through the Fleet Street Journal. It takes me about 15 minutes to wake up and get ready. My briefcase in one hand and gym bag in the other, I hop in the car, ready to start the day.

I clock in at exactly 8.30. My secretary is always at the office when I come. She is a good secretary. A good secretary has to learn a lot about her boss. She must know how to talk to customers on the telephone and in the office and must also arrange both business and social engagements. It is my secretary's job to remind me about the appointments, to book a table at a restaurant for the lunch engagement and to take notes from me for several business letters.

I am the Managing Director of a big trade firm. My firm sells the goods all over the world. My company has a worldwide reputation because our goods are in great demand. My office is on the second floor. It is quite large and well furnished. My desk is in the middle of the room and underneath it is a new blue rug. The desk is very large and on it is a photograph of my wife, two metal boxes for letters and files, a round metal box for pencils and pens, a small tray for pins and paper fasteners. There is a comfortable armchair behind the desk and two chairs in front of it. There are some filing cabinets in the corner near the door. The window is on the right of the desk. There are pale blue curtains at the window. I am fond of blue.

As soon as I appear in my office, I start looking through business mail. I take a seat in front of the computer and prepare for hours of phone calls and meetings that occupy my morning. I take much interest in the latest political and business news. Sometimes I meet the representatives of English and French firms or I go to different countries to discuss business matters with my business partners. I am a very busy man. I always have a lot of work. So, my job schedule is very tight.

At noon I rush to the health club where I strip off the grey suit and change into my T-shirt, shorts and the latest in design running shoes for tennis. In an hour I am sitting in the club dining room where I have scheduled lunch with a potential client. We discuss business over sparkling water, pasta and a cup of coffee. After lunch I am back at my office, eager for several more hours of frantic meetings and phone calls. Sometimes I phone out for delivery of dinner to keep me going through the next two to three hours I'll spend at my office.

As a rule, I finish my working day at 6 o'clock in the evening. On the way home I think about the day at the office and make a note in my diary about some of the business I have to do. I also think about my wife and my house. Sometimes I take my wife flowers and she is always glad to have them. We are very fond of each other and we never argue. My wife sometimes thinks that I spend too much time at the office and too little time with her but then she tells herself that she can't have everything.