Belbin’s team role theory states that any team is not a bunch of people with arbitrary titles but

rather a congregation of individuals who all have distinct roles to perform and these roles are
recognized by their team members. There is no set rule that each individual can only have one
role; they can fill out 2 or 3 depending on their skills and talents.

Since the organization we have chosen for this project is McDonalds, I will associate each
separate role with the most relevant member that I can find while also explaining each role in a
brief manner.

People oriented roles:

These are the roles that usually involve dealing with people both within the team and any
related parties outside the team. Team members filling out such roles are very social and
decisive but can sometimes be very imposing on their team with their ideas.

Resource investigator:
This role is all about contacting various parties and links outside the team to bring back new
opportunities and paths for the team to consider in achieving their goals. Team members who
fill out this role are the most outgoing people of the team and use it to their advantage.

Possible weakness for members in this role can be that they can get easily demotivated after
the initial starting phase of the project ends as their enthusiasm fades away. They can also not
follow every lead so eventually the team must recognize which opportunities the resource
investigator is more serious of pursuing and which ones he is just casually mentioning.

At McDonalds this role can be filled by various people relative to what resources they are
trained to look for. For example, a cook may go out and research various new methods of
preparing foods that can give McDonalds an edge over their competition. Once he finds such
methods he can return to his team of lines cooks and teach them accordingly.

There can also be various individuals working throughout McDonalds that secure sources of raw
materials such as potatoes for chips, beef farms for patties etc. these type of members fill out
the role perfectly as they go out into the world and scout out new potential opportunities that
McDonalds can use for its benefit.

Team worker:
The role is very evident in its namesake. The team worker role is filled by the team members
who recognize the versatility of every individual in the team and in an effort to keep things
going smoothly, are willing to do the work that others may not be willing or able to do. Such
members are usually very cooperative and tend to listen to any problem within the team and
do their best to resolve the issue. For this reason the rest of the team can also trust them on a
personal level which helps the team gel together.

Potential weaknesses of such members are usually their indecisiveness under pressure. They
cannot make on the spot decisions when it comes to finding a way that is positive for all
conflicting parties involved. They also avoid confrontation and whenever a situation arises
where it may be necessary, a team worker will not be able to handle it effectively.

In McDonalds the most obvious example of team workers are the managers that can be found
in every branch and outlet. These people manage their staff to a tee and are also regarded as
being professional in their work. They know most of their staff will mostly consist of young
adults in their early 20s so they have a mentoring approach to them. they teach them the basics
of working their roles and listen to any queries the staff may have while supporting them
whenever they needs help.

Coordinator:
As the name suggests a coordinator is needed within a team to delegate responsibility and
work so that the most appropriate team members can work on it efficiently. A coordinator also
helps keep the goals of a team in sight and can act as a leader when it comes to guidance and
motivating team members.

One of the more prominent downside to this role is that members filling it out tend to over
delegate and even make others do the work they are supposed to do. This can cause
resentments between team members and can eventually be chalked upto the coordinators
laziness.

As mentioned before that an individual can fill out multiple roles, the managers at McDonalds
can also be called coordinators as they monitor their staff on a daily basis and keep them
working in a harmonious rhythm while divvying any work that may come up between the staff.

Thought oriented roles:

Thought oriented roles are all about thinking up of new ideas and relaying them for feedback
with the rest of the team. Little action is taken here and most of the work is related to brain
storming and debating whether the idea is worth implementing or not. Practical work is almost
nonexistent while hypothetical thinking is abundant.

Plant:
As the branches of a plant spread out, the plant is all about coming up with new ideas to solve
existing or upcoming problems, usually using unconventional methods. Such members are free
thinking and creative and let nothing hold them back in their thinking processes.
The visible downsides of members in this role can be that they are unfocused on their goals.
The steady stream of thoughts they can provide can hinder progress if they do not look at the
bigger picture and give ideas based on their own perceptions. Most ideas they provide can also
not be realistically implemented which can result in wasted time and resources.

In McDonalds, the most creative minds can be found in the advertising department. So any
employee working there can fill out the plant role and provide various ideas for promoting
McDonalds and sometimes those ideas are just not viable. To appreciate their role however we
must look at the entire organization as a team.

Monitor evaluator:
A monitor evaluator provides a logical outlook to the ideas provided by the plant. They review
their idea and weigh out their pros and cons using an approach that is grounded in reality and
eventually decide what the best course of action. They consider all available and viable options
before making their choice and can provide a rational voice within the team.

A monitor evaluator can be overly critical which can hurt his decision by making him oversee
possible benefits. In some cases they may require a lot of time to reach a sound conclusion,
time that the business or team may not have.

In McDonalds, the head of department can act as a solid monitor evaluator for their
department. They have the expertise and ability to see all possible outcomes of a decision
because of their vast experience that can span over many years. Following the previous
example the marketing head or director will have enough past experience to know what
implementing a new idea will cost and how it will be received by customers allowing him to
easily disregard stupendous ideas and follow through with those ones that he believes can be
implemented successfully.

Specialist:
A specialist in a team is the one brings a deeper insight to a particular aspect of the project that
the team is working on. Their role can be considered as supportive as it is not essential but is a
great aid if it is present. However in some projects their knowledge may be paramount to
success but it all comes down to what the project is.

Specialists are more of a one trick pony. They can only help you the one front they specialize in
and even then they can overload the team with information about their field. Their versatility is
narrowed from the get go and they can contribute little to other tasks that are not related to
their specialization.
Considering McDonalds broad appeal, specialists are not that common however they can be
identified e.g. a market research specialist can allow McDonalds to scout out new markets to
penetrate and what tactics to employ but be of little help to the rest of the organization etc.

Action oriented roles:

Moving outside the realm of thoughts we have the action oriented teammates who do all the
physical work required to ensure that every project gets done according to the plan. They are
needed to make sure that the entire team is focused on the task at hand and are doing their
best in their respective roles.

Shaper:
A shaper in all terms and forms is the team member who keeps everyone motivated and on the
right track. It’s his job to keep reminding his team of what the task at hand involves doing and
what everyone needs to do to fulfill their part. He does not allow anyone to lose focus of their
goal and is always ready to push his team to the end. They can be the strictest member of the
team as it may be necessary to keep the momentum going.

Due to their laser focus on completing objectives and their drive for their team to do the same,
they run the risk of offending the feelings of their team members by being too harsh on them.
They can be brash and rude when it comes to dealing with their team’s thoughts and emotions
as they are usually only concerned with finishing their task or project.

In McDonald’s case a shaper can be anything from a team leader to the head of department. A
team leader could be more micro focused on managing his team according to his ideas of how
they can fulfill their objectives. A manager may act more strictly towards his employees to
make them work harder to achieve McDonald’s monthly targets etc. A head of department may
create a very detailed plan on how to reach maximum efficiency and this plan could be
enforced upon the workforce to make them do their best to achieve the intended aims and
objectives.

Implementer:
An implementer is the one who turns ideas into actions and assigns all the necessary work
required to carry those actions out. He/she can be considered a bridge between ideas and
practicality. Similar to a monitor evaluator, an implementer provides a practical viewpoint to
the execution of an idea into the real world.

Implementers usually have a set mind track that is difficult for them to move away from. Once
they have charted out their plan they will stick to it religiously and be very resilient to change or
adaptation of new ideas. This can be harmful for the organization if newer possibilities arise
that can achieve a better result as the implementer would still be trying to implement his own
method without regarding the benefits of a different path of approach.

In McDonalds the more experienced staff can act as implementers as they will have the
necessary experience to know what working in their outlets is like and using this knowledge
they can work out the optimal plan to introduce new ideas and innovations to whichever field is
in question.

Completer finisher:
This role is best utilized at the end of any project. The main purpose of this role is to make sure
that everything that has led up to the final point is polished to the degree of perfection. A
completer finished ensures the best quality control and is the best bet for any team to iron out
any kinks and flaws that the project or job may still have.

Of course the downside to having a role only centered on perfection can lead to the completer
finisher being too extreme in his mission for perfection. He may point out things that are not
flaws at all and remove them, harming the integrity of the entire project. They may also worry
for no reason about things that are fine as they are so a lack of focus can be an issue for them.

In McDonalds a chef could be a completer finisher whose job is to ensure that all the food
prepared is up to quality standards or a manager who could be assessing staff behavior to see if
they are treating customers the right way or not. Even a team leader or director could act as a
completer finisher just to ensure that the project that his/her team has been working on is up
to the best that they can collectively achieve.
References:
1. Belbin Team Roles | Belbin. 2019. Belbin Team Roles | Belbin. [ONLINE] Available at:
https://www.belbin.com/about/belbin-team-roles/. [Accessed 22 May 2019].