3 Functional team roles
A useful way to look at functional roles is to focus on the tasks that are required to make a group of people function as an effective team, such as record keeping or team leadership. In theory, these roles can be allocated to anyone across the team.
Back in Week 1 you started to think about some of the teams you have been part of. You will now have the opportunity to revisit this again, focusing on the functional roles people had.
Activity 3 Functional roles within teams
Have a look back at the notes you made in Week 1 for the teams you have been part of. Choose one of these examples and think about how you would describe this team. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What was the size of the team?
- What was the overall purpose of the team?
- What task were you working to achieve?
- Who did what in the team?
- Can you identify particular functional roles that individuals took in this team?
- How did you decide who was going to do what in the team?
Use your example to fill in the table below. The first column has been filled in using an example from Jane and her experience on the School Parents Association.
| Team example | School Parents Association | |
| Purpose of team | Raise funds for school | |
| Size of team | 8 | |
| Identified roles in team | Chair: Susie Room set-up: Jane Record-keeper: Jo Coffee and tea: Tom Clothes collectors Classroom reps Newsletter |
Discussion
How did you find this activity? You might have found it hard to distinguish the different roles that people played. In reality there is often less distinction between the different tasks people undertake. It is useful, however, to have considered some of the different things that needed to be done as part of the team activity and who did these. Was there a reason for why one person took a particular task? If not, would the activity have been improved if roles had been more formally assigned?
Reflecting on Jane’s case study, perhaps Susie had strong communication skills that allowed her to keep the team on track in meetings and with tasks, whereas Jo had excellent attention to detail, so record-keeping was the best role for her. Or perhaps they weren’t able to play to their strengths and the fundraising activity was chaotic!