Whether designing a new job or restructuring an existing one, the critical activities that the job holder will have to perform must be identified. This concept of criticality is fundamental to the Team Management Systems approach to job analysis.

Margerison-McCann Types of Work Wheel

Research has shown that while many of these critical job activities can be carried out by a wide variety of people, certain key activities need to be carried out by people with particular abilities, preferences, and skills. In most jobs there are likely to be two or three activities that are critical to successful performance. If these activities are carried out effectively, it can make the difference between high and low performance in a job.

• Advising - Gathering and reporting information
• Innovating - Creating and experimenting with ideas
• Promoting - Exploring and presenting opportunities
• Developing - Assessing and testing the applicability of new approaches
• Organizing - Establishing and implementing ways of making things work
• Producing - Concluding and delivering outputs
• Inspecting - Controlling and auditing the working of systems
• Maintaining - Upholding and safeguarding standards and processes
• Linking - Coordinating and integrating the work of others

The Types of Work Profile Questionnaire, a 64-item individual or multi-rater assessment, has been designed to determine those areas of activity (defined by the Types of Work Wheel) that are critical to success in a particular job.

The Types of Work Profile Questionnaire and Profile are versatile, allowing any of the following uses and approaches:

• Analysis of existing jobs
• Job design and redesign
• Individual rating of a job
• Multiple views of the same job

For high performance in teams, ongoing assessment is a requirement. The Team Performance Profile Questionnaire and resulting Profile are tools developed to support this process. The Team Performance Profile Questionnaire is a 54-item multi-rater instrument that focuses on assessing a team's performance in nine team performance factors associated with high-performing teams.

The Team Performance Profile Questionnaire

• Provides an ideal entry point to an assessment of team performance by offering a common language and shared understanding of critical factors for high performance.
• Acts as a catalyst for team development and improved effectiveness by enabling team members to focus on areas requiring action.
• Is an ideal tool in any ongoing team development process - initial profiling of the team can be repeated at a later point to assess how team performance has improved.