ABSTRACT
These roles and their descriptions make up an experience-based list of the types of social or informal roles that can be helpful to team functioning. They describe the type of roles people habitually fall into during discussion, debates and other collective activity. The roles are important because they ensure a division of labour and bring a wide range of perspectives to team tasks. They are somewhat more shallow than the professional characteristics as, although we have our familiars and favourites, they are hats we can often put on and off depending on what other people are wearing. These team social roles are negotiated tacitly, sometimes shared and sometimes neglected. They shape the style of our contributions (when, for what purpose, directed at whom), the areas and tasks that we ‘own’ or are left to us, our focus of attention, and, to some degree, our satisfaction and engagement.
