Margerison McCann Team Management Profile

margerison mccann team management profile toolshero

Margerison McCann Team Management Profile: this article explains the Margerison McCann Team Management Profile in a practical way. Next to what it is (definition), this article also highlights the different roles and responsibilities including examples and a short summary. After reading, you’ll understand the basics of this powerful management tool. Enjoy reading!

What is the Margerison McCann Team Management Profile?

The Margerison McCann Team Management Profile is a model that is designed by Dr. Charles J. Margerison and Dr. Dick J. McCann, based on the work of Carl Jung, and has a trademark by TMS Development International.

It is created intending to assess the working and individual preferences of team members, but it can additionally be used to evaluate individuals’ and organizations’ working preferences and types of work.

Free Toolshero ebook

In order to identify working preferences, utilizers of the model are expected to fill in a questionnaire of the Margerison McCann Team Management Profile, and based on the results, the working preferences are more in detailed described.

The result can next to identifying the working preferences also be used for identifying elements for professional development.

The Margerison McCann Team Management Profile assesses eight different types of roles to which team members can adapt. It is important to note that all roles are required in a team for a successful collaboration and for achieving team results that go beyond expectations.

According to the model, if team members can work in their working preferences, the organization is most like going to benefit from the results. Because every member can focus on their strengths, while maintaining their weaknesses, the team achieve the best results.

It does not mean that weaknesses should not be improved, but because an individual has the chance to focus on its strengths, their weaknesses will gradually develop without compromising other work.

After the completion of the questionnaire, participants tend to demonstrate one of the following eight roles: reporter-adviser, creator-innovator, explorer-promoter, assessor-developer, thruster-organizer, concluder-producer, controller-inspector, or upholder-maintainer.

The model also includes one central activity that integrates the roles. All roles will be described more in detail in the next section of this article and are shown in the mccann team management wheel.

Margerison McCann Team Management Profile - toolshero

Figure 1 – Margerison McCann Team Management Profile

Please note that the Margerison McCann Team Management Profile does not assess individuals’ experience or competencies and skills. The model focuses on how team members’ preferences relate to others. It additionally evaluates how members organize work and how decisions are made.

Roles of the Margerison McCann Team Management Profile

Reporter-advisor

The reporter-advisor role of the Margerison McCann Team Management Profile is about a team member who is driven by gathering as much as possible information and next prioritize and consolidate this so that it is going to be easy for others to understand.

A primary objective of this role is first to understand what is going on before sharing it with others.

At first sight, it is beneficial to have such a person in the team because new information will be prioritized and consolidated as soon as possible.

It means that it saves time for other team members to research all information, time that can be invested elsewhere. On the other hand, other team members might want to be informed about new news even if it is not useful yet.

As a result, reporter-advisors are sometimes blamed for holding information. This is also because reporter-advisors are many times very patient and flexible. They do not like to be rushed.

In addition, if a reporter-advisor is introverted, the consolidated information is probably going to be written and shared. And if this individual is extraverted, knowledge is probably first going to be shard verbally, which increases their ability to build a professional network and build more trust.

Creator-innovators

As the name of the role already implies, creator-innovators of the Margerison McCann Team Management Profile are the ones who like to share bright and innovative ideas. Team members who have this role feel trusted in an organization, and for this reason, are open-minded and not scared to make a mistake.

They only way for an individual to effectively perform this role of the Margerison McCann Team Management Profile is when new ideas are valued. Team members with this role are many times stubborn because they want to follow their purposes. The positive part about this is that team members with this role work excellent independently.

A creator-innovator can work most effective without organizational barriers that limit to execute the ideas. When they have the freedom to express their innovative ideas, they are many times discussed and evaluated to identify what the benefits would be for an organization or other stakeholders.

In addition, individuals with this role have a bright perception of the future. They are optimistic and do not worry about current problems because their innovative ideas will create an opportunity out of a threat. For this reason, people with this role are not scared of intricate work.

Explorer-promotors

Team members that have this role of the Margerison McCann Team Management Profile are the ones who cannot merely agree to one idea or solution. According to these types of team members, improvements can always be made, but for that to realize, there must be explored. A typical characteristic of the explorer-promoter role is that they are very social.

This is beneficial because it enables them to gather information which can be used for researching additional or alternative ideas. Another characteristic is that these team members have a robust persuasive ability because of their communication skills.

Many times, explorers-promoters are the ones who easily motivate other team members because they can convert a sizeable complex idea or solution into easy-understood scaled activities.

Individuals with this role are also very talkative and rather spend time holding conversations with other team members instead of working independently on a task that required attention and detail.

Assessors-developers

In this role of the Margerison McCann Team Management Profile, the team member is a real executer. In comparison with the previously described roles, the assessors-developers are driven to be executing an idea until it becomes a reality.

People with this role rather implement the ideas of others instead of creating them themselves. Even though they have not always the best ideas in the group, assessors-developers are excellent researchers in terms of determining if a plan can be successful in reality with regards to resources.

Team members who hold this role have, for this reason, an analytical mindset and are great organizers.

In addition, time pressure is not an issue because of their excellent organizing skills.

Thrusters-organizers

Team members with this role of the Margerison McCann Team Management Profile gain satisfaction from results.

Results are their primary objective, and for this reason, a crucial characteristic of their working attitude is to identify the most effective and efficient working methods that enable them to achieve results as fast as possible.

Thruster-organizers put the highest priority on essential tasks, and they are therefore great decision-makers. In case a setback occurs, thrusters-organizers deal with conflict immediately so that other work will not be bothered.

It is easy for team members with this role to identify what needs to be executed because usually, these individuals plan and structure the necessary work into the tiniest details.

Another characteristic of his role is the ability to evaluate and identify the current progress of a project, and if necessary, create new plans and objectives that help the team achieve the desired results within the deadline.

Because of this, it looks like empathy is sometimes a bit excluded and could result in small conflicts with other team members. However, thrusters-organizers put work first because they are result-driven. For this reason, individuals with this role provide excellent work at the end of a project many times highly valued.

Concluder-producer

Team members who hold this role of the Margerison McCann Team Management Profile are not very flexible because they are most likely attached to a structured scheme and plan. A typical characteristic of a concluder-producer is that these individuals are highly skilled in creating plans and working systems that everyone can follow.

A change in procedure can be regarded as an interference with the effectivity and efficiency of the plan they created, and for this reason, concluder-producers like to work with fixed routines and procedures.

These team members are result-driven because their drive is to finish assignments efficiently and effectively with the highest quality. For this reason, turning back from an activity in the middle of a project is not an option. Concluder-producers are therefore necessary for a team because they work on every detail at the end of a project.

Controller-Inspectors

Controller-inspectors of the Margerison McCann Team Management Profile are indispensable in teamwork. Members who tend to have to pursue this role have obvious attention for detail. Therefore, controller-inspectors are at the front of the wheel to check is all the work has been done correctly.

Since these individuals control every small aspect of executed work, their preference is to work as much as possible independently so that they can concentrate. It is usually challenging for other team members to be isolated and control every detail, and for this reason, team members who have this role are highly valued.

A typical characteristic of these individuals is that they have an eye for numbers and that they prefer to follow all rules and procedures. For this reason, controller-inspector many times work the financial industry or quality inspections.

Upholder-maintainers

This role of the Margerison McCann Team Management Profile is mostly concerned with reaching mutual agreements in the team. A common characteristic is that these team members are great advisors. Team members who hold this role have many times their own principles and values and get along more easily with people who share the same beliefs and values. However, upholders-maintainers are driven by achieving organizational goals.

Any conflict within the team or with the work will be supported by their interference with the goal to solve the conflict resiliently.

Upholder-maintainers are loyal and are always willing to help others, regardless of the situation. For this reason, if an upholder-maintainer is in a team, it is a great human asset.

Margerison McCann Team Management Profile conclusion

The previously described roles could be the outcome of an individual’s assessment. It is useful for managers to demand the team members to fill in the Margerison McCann Team Management Profile questionnaire in order to identify what type of role each team member has.

The outcome can be useful to structure a team, and it could substantially improve team performance.

However, the described roles are simply various roles. It is more important to link the roles with the team. This means that every role is preferably required to create a capable team that realizes results that goes beyond expectations. If it happens that one of the roles is not fulfilled, the team leader should intervene and adapt to the essential role at the moment.

In addition, the team management theory looks ideal and easy, but in reality, it could be challenging to let people with these different roles collaborate effectively. The primary reason for this is because of their extreme differences.

Therefore, the right mix of personality types is also a crucial element for creating a productive and successful team. One way to assess the personality types can be done with, for example, the Myers Briggs personality test. In case the right mix of people is selected, team results will go beyond expectations.

Join the Toolshero community

Now It’s Your Turn

What do you think? Do you recognize the explanation and roles of the Margerison McCann Team Management Profile? Do you identify yourself in one of the described characters? Do you have experience with working in teams with many different roles? How was the team effectiveness? Do you have any tips or additional comments?

Share your experience and knowledge in the comments box below.

More information

  1. Margerison, C. (1988). Trends in management development: The need for some hard based rules. Journal of Management Development, 7(6), 35-47.
  2. Margerison, C. (2001). Team competencies. Team Performance Management: An International Journal, 7(7/8), 117-122.
  3. Margerison, C. J. (2002). Team leadership. Cengage Learning EMEA.
  4. Margerison, C. J., McCann, D. (1989). How to improve team management. Leadership Organization Development Journal, 10(5), 2-42.
  5. Margerison, C. J., McCann, D. (1990). Team management: Practical new approaches. Mercury Books.
  6. Margerison, C. J., Davies, R. V., McCann, D. J. (1986). Team Management on the Flight Deck. Leadership Organization Development Journal, 7(4), 1-26.
  7. Margerison, C., McCann, D. (1984). Team mapping: a new approach to managerial leadership. Journal of European Industrial Training, 8(1), 12-16.
  8. Margerison, C., McCann, D. (1984). The managerial linker: a key to the high performing team. Management Decision, 22(4), 46-58.
  9. Margerison, C., McCann, D., Davies, R. (1986). The Margerison-McCann Team Management Resource—Theory and Applications. International Journal of Manpower, 7(2), 2-32.
  10. Margerison, C., McCann, D., Davies, R. (1995). Focus on team appraisal. Team Performance Management: An International Journal, 1(4), 13-18.
  11. McCann, D., Margerison, C. (1985). Team Management Profiles—Their Use in Management Development. Journal of Management Development, 4(2), 34-47.
  12. McCann, D., Margerison, C. (1989). Managing high-performance teams. Training Development Journal, 43(11), 52-61.
  13. Senior, B. (1997). Team roles and team performance: is there ‘really’a link?

How to cite this article:
Zeeman, A. (2019). Margerison McCann Team Management Profile: Definition and Roles. Retrieved [insert date] from Toolshero: https://www.toolshero.com/management/margerison-mccann-team-management-profile/

Published on: 14/03/2018 | Last update: 02/15/2023

Add a link to this page on your website:
<a href=”https://www.toolshero.com/management/margerison-mccann-team-management-profile/”>Toolshero: Margerison McCann Team Management Profile: Definition and Roles</a>

Did you find this article interesting?

Your rating is more than welcome or share this article via Social media!

Average rating 4 / 5. Vote count: 4

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

Alexander Zeeman
Article by:

Alexander Zeeman

Alexander Zeeman is Content Manager at ToolsHero where he focuses on Content production, Content management and marketing. He is also an International Business student at Rotterdam Business school. Currently, in his study, working on the development of various management competencies and improving operational business processes.

Tagged:

Leave a Reply