Roles in Groups

All groups create roles for members to occupy. In very small groups a single member may have to take on many roles at the same or different times. In a large group, there may not be enough distinctive roles to go around, creating a sense of anomie (role-lessness, for present purposes) for many members.

Does a learning group have necessary roles?

One of the most-quoted and extensive studies of role in groups is Belbin's work on management teams (2004). He identified eight roles which characterised successful management teams—but only management teams. You wouldn't expect to run an effective football team with a front-row Shaper–Chairman–Completer/finisher line-up. Nor should you expect to find the same roles in a learning group. Management is a complex task, usually undertaken in a fight/flight environment: learning is different, and often takes place in a dependent environment. The successful outcome of management is usually evident at a corporate level, but learning is something which—in the final analysis—is acquired by individuals. So forget Belbin!

For a more academic discussion see Salazar (1996) here

Even so you will remember your classes in school. There was one formal role—that of teacher—but he wasn't really a member of the class. There may have been several other informal roles, which pupils acquired as the class developed, such as:

swot

rebel

joker

teacher's pet

dunce

scapegoat

chatterbox

bully

victim

Even in a large class of 30+, there were rarely any more distinctive roles, and while there may have been two or three incumbents for some of the roles, others might have been doubled up. The interesting phenomenon is that even if the class changed, with some children moving out and others moving in, it is probable that the same roles re-established themselves, although not necessarily with the same people in them.

The class seems to need them. Projection may be at work here. But does the class need them as a learning group, or simply as a social system? And do they continue to exist in the less cohesive class groups of post-compulsory education? We don't know.

Fixing

What experience does suggest, however, is that since learning is about change, the dangerous thing is for anyone to get fixed in any role. This happens when the expectations of the other members are such as to insist on interpreting every contribution in the light of the role—nothing the joker says is ever taken seriously, for example.

It is not even to a student's benefit to be the class "swot". Both fellow-student and teacher expectations can be such that the swot dare not get anything wrong, dare not fail, and dare not confess failure to understand. The pressures can inhibit openness to real learning.

Some people have roles thrust upon them, sometimes to their distress, as in the case of the gay or black or disabled student who is regarded as deviant. Others set themselves up, sometimes because the pattern of interaction the role engenders is one they are comfortable with—they would not know how to cope in a different role. Such people will take up the same role in every group, given the chance, perhaps as butt of the jokes, but perhaps as leader. In the latter case, fixing is less obviously disadvantageous, but it can still deny opportunities to others or lead to factional in-fighting.

So do all you can to keep the social structure of the group flexible. That doesn't mean keeping everyone off-balance so that you can exert your power, but

it does mean getting the quiet members to contribute a bit,
It means taking answers from all members of the class.
It means selecting less obvious people to chair small groups
It means finding something useful in the most inane contributions
It means not relying on the "usual suspects" when things go wrong
It means picking up on lateness etc., by the "good" students as well
And of course it means not discriminating against anyone on the grounds of their basic roles

You may not be able to change the class culture, but at least you can avoid colluding with it.

BELBIN M (2004) Management Teams—why they succeed or fail (2nd edn.) Oxford: Elsevier [Back]

To reference this page
copy and paste the text below:
(Note that if you are using Internet Explorer, and it is doing its "nanny" thing, the full reference will not display. There will be a bar across the top of the screen advising you of "blocked content". Click on it and select "Allow blocked content" and confirm in the pop-up box. I know it's a pain, but we're stuck with it.)

ATHERTON J S (2005) Teaching and Learning: [On-line] UK: Available: Accessed:

Back to top

Click here to send to a friend