A Tribute to Dr Meredith Belbin
Scholar, Icon & Discoverer of Belbin Team Roles | April 2025
Scholar, Icon & Discoverer of Belbin Team Roles | April 2025
Dr Meredith Belbin is internationally recognised as the scholar who discovered the Belbin Team Roles, which transformed the way management literature understood and studied the contribution and behaviour of individuals in a team. Story of the Legend and the Discovery Dr Belbin studied Classics at Clare College, Cambridge in 1945 and then going on to study anthropology, economics, and psychology, eventually earning a PhD focused on Psychology of Ageing in Industry
While at Henley Business School in 1969, working for Industrial Training Research Unit, a government funded body, Dr Meredith & wife Eunice, planned a research project to study management teams in action together with Bill Hartston (a mathematician and international chess master), Jeanne Fisher (an anthropologist) and Roger Mottram (an occupational psychologist)
Together, the research team selected managers from a number of organisations, who completed a battery of psychometric tests: including some derived by Meredith himself. Conducting 3 business games a year, with 8 teams in each game, observers methodically recorded different interactions & contributions from the players, which were scrutinised & categorised later. The research formed the basis from which Team Role theory would emerge.
1981: Meredith expounded Team Role theory in his seminal book, “Management Teams: Why They Succeed or Fail”. The book was later named as one of the top fifty management books of all time. He worked for ICI Paints and Cadbury’s Schweppes, reporting on how well individuals might be suited to a particular job, for the purposes of recruitment and selection. By the late 1980s, Meredith found that demand was well outstripping supply and he was forced to work into the night to write the reports required by hand.
1988: Meredith, Eunice & son Nigel, formed Belbin Associates to promote Belbin Team Roles around the world.
1993: Meredith published “Team Roles at Work”, with practical applications for Team Role theory in the workplace.
2022: Belbin Associates became Belbin Ltd – an Employee Ownership Trust. Meredith was appointed as patron.
Dr Belbin’s Team Roles will always remain a great way to think, work and live for individuals and teams.
We miss Dr Meredith, he is with us no more
So, to pay tributes each Team Role came to the fore
Each had something very special to say
To show love and respect in their own way
The SPECIALIST said:
“Will study his books again, gain more insight
For the deeper you dig in, they shine so bright!"
The MONITOR EVALUATOR said:
“Gratitude Dr. Meredith, for your life changing nudge
Behaviour is behaviour... life's better when you don't judge
The PLANT said:
“In his name I'll run an annual contest
That inspires in Teams a creative mindset"
The IMPLEMENTER said:
“A bouquet of methods, that worked for our team’s health
He taught us, process in anything is the only true wealth”
The TEAMWORKER said:
“How about carrying coffee and cake
To go with the warm memories, you take”
The COMPLETER FINISHER said:
“Let us develop a range of Team Intelligence apps
That uncover weak links and prevent possible gaps”
The RESOURCE INVESTIGATOR said:
“Hold on, let me check out Gen AI online
And look for tributes, heartfelt and fine”
The SHAPER said:
“Enough said, now action is a must
Make sure all your tributes reach there first”
The COORDINATOR wrapped it all up:
“Better than any eulogy we could pen
Best tribute is to keep making Belbin happen!”
Learn more about Dr. Merdith Belbin's life & work @ www.cert-india.com
