Roles of Team Members
Whichever environment or setting people find themselves in nowadays they are more than likely to find themselves being placed into teams. Members of teams are called upon to play certain roles on the teams they belong. These roles, when performed properly go a long way to ensure the success of their teams.
According to The Teaching and Learning with Technology Unit of the Information Technology Services of Penn State Schreyer’s website (2007), within teams a number of roles can be implemented or used depending on the type of team being assembled, but on a majority of them one is sure to encounter the following roles:
• The leader
• The initiator
• The recorder
• The devil’s advocate/skeptic
• The optimist
• The timekeeper
• The gatekeeper
• The summarizer
The Teaching and Learning with Technology Unit of the Information Technology Services of Penn State Schreyer’s website (2007) states that “A leader is typically responsible for setting a base agenda, facilitating meetings, and monitoring progress with communicating with members as needed. But all actions must be agreed to by the team” (Defining your roles section, para. 7). Concerning the other roles, the initiator is the one who comes up with new ideas and the initiator role is not usually restricted to one person. The devil 's advocate/skeptic is the one who looks for potential flaws in an idea, whereas the optimist is the one who tries to maintain a positive frame of mind and facilitates solution searches. The timekeeper tracks time spent on each portion of the meeting and the gate keeper ensures that each member gives input on an issue. One way of ensuring everyone contributes is by asking members to give voice to their opinions individually. Vote casting is another way of polling opinion of members of a team. Lastly the summarizer summarizes lists of options that may have been discussed during meetings. (The Teaching and Learning with Technology Unit of the Information Technology Services of
According to The Teaching and Learning with Technology Unit of the Information Technology Services of Penn State Schreyer’s website (2007), within teams a number of roles can be implemented or used depending on the type of team being assembled, but on a majority of them one is sure to encounter the following roles:
• The leader
• The initiator
• The recorder
• The devil’s advocate/skeptic
• The optimist
• The timekeeper
• The gatekeeper
• The summarizer
The Teaching and Learning with Technology Unit of the Information Technology Services of Penn State Schreyer’s website (2007) states that “A leader is typically responsible for setting a base agenda, facilitating meetings, and monitoring progress with communicating with members as needed. But all actions must be agreed to by the team” (Defining your roles section, para. 7). Concerning the other roles, the initiator is the one who comes up with new ideas and the initiator role is not usually restricted to one person. The devil 's advocate/skeptic is the one who looks for potential flaws in an idea, whereas the optimist is the one who tries to maintain a positive frame of mind and facilitates solution searches. The timekeeper tracks time spent on each portion of the meeting and the gate keeper ensures that each member gives input on an issue. One way of ensuring everyone contributes is by asking members to give voice to their opinions individually. Vote casting is another way of polling opinion of members of a team. Lastly the summarizer summarizes lists of options that may have been discussed during meetings. (The Teaching and Learning with Technology Unit of the Information Technology Services of
References: Clutterbuck, D. (2002, March). How teams learn. T + D, 56(3), 67. Retrieved May 16, 2008 from ProQuest database Ezarik, M. (2001, April/May). How to be a team player, Current Health 2, 27(8), 18. Retrieved May 17, 2008 from EBSCOhost database Penn State Schreyer Institute. (2007). Building blocks for teams, Retrieved May 19, 2008 from http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/teams/student/roles.html