Management Teams [Paperback]

R Meredith Belbin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0750626763 | ISBN-13: 978-0750626767 | Publication Date: April 23, 1996

An understanding of the importance of team-building will always be a major factor in the successful growth and development of businesses. Management Teams is one of the most widely-read, imaginative and influential books in this vital area of management research.

Over the past decade, the team roles which Dr Belbin identifies in the book have become part of everyday language in organizations all over the world.

All kinds of teams and team behaviours are covered, including: The Apollo syndrome, Creativity, Leading teams, Improving unsuccessful teams, Winning teams, Team size and physical environment, Designing a team, Teams in public affairs.

At the end of the book is a self-perception inventory so that readers can match their own personalities to particular team roles.

Management Teams is required reading for managers concerned with achieving results by getting the best from their key personnel.

One of the most widely read, imaginative and influential books on this vital area of management research
Includes a self-perception inventory so you can match your personality to particular team roles

Editorial Reviews

Review

'It should be read by all who have responsibility and authority for guiding organizations in their selection of management teams'[NP] Personnel Management

'If you are really interested in learning and developing skills in teambuilding, there are certainly no books on the market that can beat Belbin's books in this subject area. Exceptional!'
Senior Lecturer, University of Westminster

From the Publisher

Over the past decade, the team roles which Dr Belbin identifies in the book have become part of everyday language in organizations all over the world.All kinds of teams and team behaviours are covered, including: The Apollo syndrome, Creativity, Leading teams, Improving unsuccessful teams, Winning teams, Team size and physical environment, Designing a team, Teams in public affairs.At the end of the book is a self-perception inventory so that readers can match their own personalities to particular team roles.Management Teams is required reading for managers concerned with achieving results by getting the best from their key personnel.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann (April 23, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750626763
• ISBN-13: 978-0750626767
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,723,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Essential Book for Building Collaborative Teams, March 31, 2000

By 

Dr. Steve Thomas (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Management Teams (Paperback)

This extraordinary book was written by Dr. Belbin nearly 20 years ago and remains in a class by itself in providing a useful theory for building and operating effective decision-making teams. Nowhere else will the reader find a set of principles that are so soundly based on direct evaluation of competing teams, explain so much of effective and ineffective team behavior which otherwise confounds explanation, and which is so beautifully and succinctly written.

While Belbin's title suggests this book is simply about business management, the content of the book is of much wider applicability. This book is a valuable, perhaps indispensable, source for anyone involved in collaborative endeavors. The book would be useful if it merely answered the question "Why do collaborative (creative, decision-making) teams succeed or fail?" Belbin goes much further than that. He tells us how to proactively build teams that are predisposed to succeed and, equally importantly, how to adopt strategies that will lead to success on the part of teams not so fortunately constructed.

I have found this book very useful in building, and teaching the building, of software product development teams, and heartily recommend it for that purpose.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Using Belbins team roles, February 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Management Teams (Paperback)

This book is a must for all trainers in the HR arena. It explains the background to Belbins research, it explains the roles in detail and goes on to explain what the roles mean and how to use them to optimise team performance.

The language Belbin uses is friendly and easy to read and so the book is ideal material for trainers and students alike.

A classic book which should be included on every HR Trainers bookshelf.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Matching personality with tasks, and vice versa: the prequel, October 14, 1998

By 

Rolf Lindgren (Oslo, Norway) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Management Teams (Paperback)

This is really the story behind Belbin's Team Roles. The book show how he, through painstaking research for over twenty years, discovered nine different styles of work (which he calls "Team Roles") that are typical of individuals in teams.

His team role theory is fascinating, and has been shown to correspond with Cattell's 16PF and with the Big 5 personality taxonomy (see e.g. John's chapter in Pervin's Hanbook of Personality).

His ideas on the problems with "perfect fits" in organizations and how to discover "surprise fits" are very ingenous.

Belbin perhaps spends too many words on his discoveries, but they are good words.