Creativity and Perception in Management: Roles
Our personality characteristics also influence the team roles which we are most comfortable iwth. Belbin argued that best working groups are those that have a range of people that can and will fulfil a variety of roles. His inventory, while not formally developed, has proved to useful especially due to validity and understandability of the roles Belbin put forward. But even Belbin recognized that this inventory was never designed as a full test, but more as a guideline
Belbin split the roles up in: Plant, Resource investigator, Co-ordinator, Shaper, Monitor-Evaluator, Team Worker, Implementer, Completer, Specialist.
Margerison and McCann introduced the Team Management Index (TMI), which is a lot harder to use, but has reliability and validity, splitting team roles in: Creator Innovator, Explorer Promoter, Assessor Developer, Thruster Organizer, Concluder Producer, Controller Inspector, Upholder Maintainer, Reporter Adviser, Linker. Alll these roles are related to MBTI dimensions.
Innovation roles
Creation is almost always a team effort and also moved through different stages, at which different roles might be needed. You move from:
1\. Identifying an idea = invention: Inventor, Gatekeeper
2\. Developing the idea into a product = innovation: Innovator, Champion
3\. Introducing the product to the market = entrepreneurship: Entrepreneur, Sponsor
The Gatekeeper (Belbin: Resource Investigator) keeps abreast of new information, filtering it into the company. The Champion will sponsor the product through the organization. These different roles appeal to different personality types, and some are possibly foudn in the same person.
The inventor normally works for personal job satisfaction rather than gain. They want to publish, gain peer recognition. The innovator is about turning ideas into possibilities. She needs a good amount of freedom and flexibility, while keeping focusses on getting the idea finished. They also seem to need their independence, rather than respect from peers and can be very resistant to pressures to conform.
Many innovators fared particularly well together with an entrepreneur. This is a person who needs to turn some innovative product into a marketable commodity. Entrepreneurs are achievement-oriented and extrinsically motivated. The entrepreneur has a persistance and can take risks very well, loving their independence.
A champion will defend an idea against a status quo within the company. Spence Silver invented Post-it at 3M, but he needed Geoff Nicolson to champion the idea.
In terms of rewards, it would be wise to fit them to the personel preferences of that person.