Team members should be involved in planning objectives so they have a sense of ownership. Valuable members are committed, tolerant, encourage others, remain open, trust and support the team, listen without interrupting, seek and provide feedback. Unproductive behaviors include taking credit from others, arriving unprepared or late, missing meetings, and not completing tasks on time. The roles of team members include tasks, functions like leadership, and maintenance to develop cohesiveness.

1. Team Members
Lesson 3
Once members have been selected to
form a team, they should be involved
in the planning of the group’s
objectives. By doing this, members
will immediately develop a sense of
ownership of the project.

2. Team Members
 As well as specific talents, there are
generic characteristics that team
members must possess if they are to be
effective participants for the life of the
project.
 Valuable team members:

3. ■ are committed and enthusiastic to achieve
team objectives
■ are tolerant and respectful of individual
differences
■ positively encourage other members
■ remain open to the suggestions of others
■ trust and support others in the team
■ listen without interrupting and try to interpret
others’ points of view
■ seek feedback on their own performance
■ provide constructive feedback to other team
members
■ contribute ideas and solutions

4. Team Members
There are some behaviours that are unproductive and
clearly detrimental to the effective functioning of the team.
These should be dealt with whenever they arise.
They include:
■ taking credit for another member’s work
■ arriving unprepared to meetings
■ arriving late for meetings
■ missing some meetings
■ failing to complete tasks on time or to an acceptable
standard
■ being a passenger and not contributing to the team

5. Read the following article
 Despite the possibility of unproductive
behaviours, the value and importance of
team members to an organisation can
never be underestimated, as highlighted
in the following article on page 333.

6. Questions
 From reading the article do the following
questions on page 333
 Q1-4

7. members Role
 Task Roles
 One of the most important roles in a team is the
task role. It is important that members fully
understand the tasks that have been allocated to
them. Members should understand how the tasks
converge towards the common objective.
 Functional Roles
 Functional roles assist the team to achieve its
goals. Team members may take on one or more of
these roles as needed. Some functional roles are
outlined in figure 6.4. on page 334

8.  Maintenance Roles
 Maintenance roles help in developing
cohesiveness and unity. They ensure that the
group is working well together, and work to
maintain the team’s strengths. Some maintenance
roles are outlined in figure 6.5 on page 335
Dysfunctional Roles
 Sometimes there may be members who display
characteristics that are detrimental to the
functioning of the team. In these cases, the
behaviour should be dealt with immediately by the
group or leader. Some dysfunctional roles are
outlined in figure 6.6 pg 335.

9. Questions
 Pg 336
 Q1, Q2, Q6 and Q9