A520.6.5.RB - Team Roles

I have always enjoyed being part of a work team throughout my career.  I initially have my own thoughts when faced with accomplishing tasks and objectives; however, I always maintain an open mind to listen to other team member’s perspectives and ideas.  Whetten and Cameron suggest, “work teams face two main challenges: accomplishing the task that has been assigned and building unity and collaboration among the team members” (Whetten & Cameron, 2011, p. 512).  These challenges are faced by roles of team members in two forms: task-facilitating roles and relationship-building roles.  

One of the keys to a high-performing team is to “have a balance between task-oriented roles and relationship-building roles” (Whetten & Cameron, 2011, p. 515).  Individually, I would not say I always the exhibit task-facilitating role or always exhibit the relationship-building role.  I consider myself to have a fair balance between both roles when part of a team and take on either role depending on the situation and team dynamics.  I tend to gravitate toward the relationship-building role when a team is first established.  However, I find myself taking on the task-facilitating role when progress toward goal accomplishment is slow or when no one else is helping the team move toward task accomplishment (2011).

I am also inclined to use my strengths such as information giving, process analyzing, urging, and information seeking towards the team’s objective.  On the other hand, I really enjoy assisting in the cohesion and collaboration aspect of being part of a team through my relationship-building role.  I find great satisfaction in supporting, harmonizing, developing, consensus building, and empathizing with my team members.  I think these actions come more naturally to me because they are more in line with my personality.  Despite being some of my greatest attributes, I do find some of these qualities can become counterproductive.  For example, when team members are in disagreement and a high level of tension exists, I may focus too much on fixing the tension and avoid finding the best solution to their differences.  Additionally, I can sometimes find myself exhibiting unproductive behavior or “blocking roles” (2011).  I can use my analytical nature to benefit the team when it comes to processes and information.  Regardless, I sometimes find myself overanalyzing and focusing on trivial issues, which result in wasted time and energy.   

Reference:

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011).  Developing Management Skills (8^th ed.)  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Prentice Hall.