1.3 Group working functions

The skills the project manager needs to consider in the team members are not just the required technical ones, but also the ability to carry out functions supporting group working and the team itself. This (1974) described these team and group working support functions as task and maintenance functions. People usually take on a number of roles during the life of a team and these can be placed under these task and maintenance headings, both of which are necessary for the team to achieve what it sets out to do. Task functions help to get the job done and will have an influence upon product quality by doing such things as initiating action, seeking information and opinions, clarifying and summarising. Maintenance functions hold the team together and keep good relations going between its members by such activities as encouraging, harmonising and setting standards.

Levi (2007) argues that, to function effectively, groups perform two basic types of behaviours: task and social behaviours, with the latter focusing on the social and emotional needs of group members. He cites the work of Benne and Sheets (1948) in a table of types of group behaviours.