3.4 Team Member Roles
Teams work best when the group has taken the time to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each group member, determined the best function for each person, and considered the various roles team members can play. Do you know what role you typically play in a team dynamic? If not, consider the various task-facilitating roles (those that help get work done) and relationship-building roles (how people interact with one another) that you and your team members may fulfill. In addition, it is helpful to recognize that some roles are positive for meeting the goals of the group and building relationship, while other roles create obstacles for fulfilling a group’s goal and can get in the way of relationship building. Table 3.1 lists task (T) and relational (R) roles that are positive whereas Table 3.2 lists roles that are negative.
| Role | Actions |
|---|---|
| Initiator-coordinator (T) | Suggests new ideas or new ways of looking at the problem |
| Elaborator (T) | Builds on ideas and provides examples |
| Coordinator (T) | Brings ideas, information, and suggestions together |
| Evaluator-critic (T) | Evaluates ideas and provides constructive criticism |
| Recorder (T) | Records ideas, examples, suggestions, and critiques |
| Harmonizer-tension reliever (R) | Uses humor to keep the team happy |
| Supporter-encourager (R) | Includes members’ viewpoints |
Source: (Beene & Sheats, 1948; McLean, 2005; Rothwell, 2018)
| Role | Actions |
|---|---|
| Dominator | Dominates discussion so others cannot take their turn |
| Recognition seeker | Seeks attention by relating the discussion to their actions |
| Special interest pleader | Relates discussion to special interests or personal agenda |
| Blocker | Blocks attempts at consensus consistently |
| Slacker | Does little-to-no work, forcing others to pick up the slack |
| Joker or clown | Seeks attention through humor and distracting members |
Sources: (Beene & Sheats, 1948; McLean, 2005)
To work best, a group will have members who fulfill a variety of roles, and can help lead, accomplish work, help keep up workflow, keep the group on track, and establish and meet deadlines. Groups require leaders and sometimes these individuals naturally emerge, sometimes they are appointed, and sometimes they are determined by a vote or by default). If your group divides leadership duties, be sure that those duties are clear. You might consider establishing an individual to lead meetings.
Robert’s Rules of Orders or another structure for running meetings, ensuring adequate discussion, and voting to make decisions can be helpful in keeping the group process moving along toward task completion. Another technique for ensuring that each person can contribute to discussions and decisions is to utilize an around the table order for discussion, questions and answers, and decision-making/voting which ensures that all group members can participate. Such an approach can be especially helpful to encourage more active engagement of quieter team members who tend to speak less during meetings or who may be more introverted.
This section is adapted from the following sources:
This section is adapted from “The Team and the Organization” in Professional and Technical Writing (2025) by Suzie Baker and is under license Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International
“Developing Successful Teams” in Communication @ Work Copyright © 2019 by Jordan Smith licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
