Q.1. which role did EACH of the nine Avengers adopt? Use the Belbin Team Roles model to discuss (make sure you have read the assigned article). Did some of them have more than one role? If so, what multiple roles did they have? Describe what the team member did that made you assign that particular role. What did they do in the movie that made you pick that role for them? Did roles change as situations changed? Explain.
The roles based on their expertise as seen in the movie are based on their respective strengths and weaknesses. For instance, from a thorough analysis of the characters that are assembled to deal with the threat of Loki, and his mind control over an alien army, to steal the Tesseract. Dealing with this issue, S.H.I.E.L.D needed to arrange and build a team based on a proper combination of each member’s skills while supporting each other in their weakest points. For this purpose, Nick Fury (Director of S.H.I.E.L.D) assigns Agent Coulson and Agent Natasha Romanoff (Resource Investigators) to go through the list of superheroes to put together a team that could deal with the problem at hand (Loki’s army which can be seen as an organizational goal, for this scenario). The Resource Investigators (Coulson & Romanoff) decide on adding one of their own Hawkeye (Specialist) who joins them after he has been cleared of mind control, Hulk (Completer Finisher), Captain America (Implementer), Ironman (Shaper & Plant), Thor (Shaper), Bruce Banner (Monitor & Evaluator), and Nick Fury (Coordinator).
As seen in the movie that at time of need Ironman took on the role of Shaper and Plant, to get the team goals set and accepted any form of challenge thrown his way. Although at the end of the movie, he takes on Complete Finisher’s role as he sets out to divert the catastrophe and throws himself in harm’s way to protect everyone else. Bruce Banner when he is not hulking out can be seen taking on the role of Monitor and Evaluator due to his abilities to be rational and logic driven thinking. Captain America while in battle, takes on the role of Coordinator as he gives out orders and instruction when needed the most but in a manner most suitable according to each member’s strengths and weaknesses. Thor, Hulk, Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff), and Hawkeye were persistent with their roles, whereas the other’s took on a role most suitable according to the given scenario in front of them.
Q.2. what were the three strengths of the Avengers team? What were the three weaknesses? Explain your answers.
The strengths and weaknesses of the Avengers if listed down into three most prominent types will be,
Strengths
The team shows a strong sense of responsibility towards a shared goal
The team is highly dedicated and depicts good teamwork skills
Every member is well aware of their strengths and how exactly to utilize them
Weaknesses
At times, they find each other harder to trust
Ironman being a solo player has trouble coordinating strategies in a team
Hulk being the completer-finisher is at times out of control and cannot fully be relied on. His major flaw within the team is his anger which if not monitored can be his downfall.
Q.3. Discuss the formation stages of the Avengers team. Use Tuckman’s Team Formation model to discuss (make sure you have read the assigned article). Who brought the Avengers together? Why? How did they act with each other at the beginning of the movie? Describe some of the issues the Avengers team had during their “storming” phase. What crisis brought the Avengers out of their “storming phase” and triggered their “norming”? How did they act when they were “norming?” In which scene do we see the Avengers start really performing as a team? What changed in the way the Avengers act toward each other at the end of the movie?
As the world recognized the threat that came along with Loki being in possession of the Tesseract in Avengers, the organization responsible for safeguarding earth against Alien invasions, S.H.I.E.L.D employed the help of various superheroes to protect them. Nick Fury, Director at S.H.I.E.L.D, assigned agent Coulson to put together a team from a list he was provided. Coulson assembled the team, considering each person’s strengths and weaknesses. The team he put together was named under the name codename AVENGERS. Most of the heroes that were put together were exceptional at what they could do but they had little to offer towards the concept of teamwork. So, at first when they met each other and tried to engage themselves in actual fieldwork, they were unaware of each other’s strengths, while some tried to show off their skills to the others, essentially it can be concluded with the team having trust issues.
Storming: The team, consisting of strong players, each an expert and specializing in a specific ability, find it impossible to be thrown into a team together. It’s as Dr. Bruce Banner mentions while they are all sitting around the table, he takes a quick look around and states that this is not a team but a mixture of strong chemicals that are bound to fuse together to give birth to chaos only. Their distrust starts when Ironman, who’s egotistic, gets knocked out when Thor makes his entrance and strikes ironman with lightning. In a shortened form, Thor is reckless, full of pride and unaffected since he considers himself a Norse god, Ironman is egotistic and cocky over his intellectual surpassing that of others around him, whereas Hulk is always on edge and finds it hard to calmly work with the team.
Norming: They eventually come out of their “storming” phase as they come to realize that they all share an interest towards a common goal. However, even though they know what their end goal is, conflict is bound to arise among them. Loki takes advantage of it and keeps pitting them against each other as he is aware of their weaknesses.
