Belbin Team Roles of Turkish Managers

Eurasia Business and Economics Society (EBES), İstanbul, Türkiye, 6 - 08 Temmuz 2023, ss.53, (Özet Bildiri)

Esra Atilla Bal

Acıbadem University, Türkiye

Deniz Dinç

Sierra Human Resources and Management Consultancy, Türkiye

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to examine the preferred team roles and observer ratings of a sample of

Turkish managers using Belbin’s Team Roles (2010). 195 managers (46% female) working at

companies from a broad range of industries including manufacturing, food, consumer products and

metal production participated in the study. Data and Methods: The Belbin Team Roles Inventory was

used for data collection and the participants filled out the inventory through the e-interplace system.

After the inventory reports were generated, the ranking differences between the first two and last

preferred team roles of managers and their observer ratings were compared in terms of their frequency

distributions. Moreover, the observers’ chosen adjectives to describe the managers’ behavioral

tendencies were also analyzed in terms of their frequencies and themes. Results: The results showed

differences in terms of managers’ first, second and last preferred team roles self-ratings and that of their

Observer Ratings. Specifically, the managers first and second preferred teams roles were Specialist

and Implementer and their least preferred team role was Team Member. However, the Observers’

Rating results pointed out Shaper (for both managers’ first and second observed team roles) and Plant

for the least demonstrated team role. As hypothesized, there were few subjects with a preference for

the Monitor-Evaluator and Plant team roles among the managers and the frequency of this team role as

was low for both self and observer ratings. Yet, contrary to hypothesized, the Coordinator and Resource

Investigator team roles were not among the strongest preferences of the managers; however the

Completer team role had high frequency ratings from both self and observers. Conclusions: The findings

highlight the significance of both the preferred and observed team roles of managers and what these

results could mean for organizational and team culture. Among the participants, the people-oriented

team roles were not among the primary or secondary team role preferences of both the manager self-

ratings and observer ratings; in fact these team roles were among the least preferred and observed.

However, the action and thinking oriented team roles were among the most preferred and observed

behavior tendencies. The implications of these findings for creating an engaged workforce as well as

for HR recruitment practices will also be addressed.

Keywords: Managers, Management Roles, Team Roles