Changing the Way We Work

How many problems at work arise from the way in which jobs are set up? Either people don't have a clear understanding of their duties and responsibilities spending time and energy disentangling them from those of their co-workers or they are hemmed in by job specifications that allow no room for movement and initiative. An alternative system is needed where jobs can grow and develop: where communication about the work can flow up as easily as down. Dr Belbin describes a radical approach incorporating colour-coding and information technology derived from experiments now being undertaken in three countries. Workset is a new means of delivering greater efficiency in a dynamic process that equally involves managers and jobholders. Dr R. Meredith Belbin regarded as the father of team-role theory for his widely-read Management Teams: Why they succeed or fail and its successor Team Roles at Work obtained his first and higher degree at Cambridge University. Later in a research lecturing or consulting capacity he has visited and worked in many countries. In 1988 he founded Belbin Associates which produces Interplace a computer-based Human Resource Management System now used world-wide.