Changing the Way We Work

by R. Meredith Belbin

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 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 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.

132 pages, Paperback

First published March 13, 1997

About the author

Raymond Meredith Belbin was a British researcher and management consultant best known for his work on management teams. He was a visiting professor and Honorary Fellow of Henley Management College in Oxfordshire, England.