Raymond Meredith Belbin - graduated in Classics and Psychology at Clare College, Cambridge and gained his second degree for his doctoral dissertation on Older Workers in Industry. After training at the Institute of Engineering Production at Birmingham and a Research Fellowship at Cranfield, he became a management consultant working in a wide range of industries. Later he returned to Cambridge to become, in turn, Chairman of the Industrial Training Research Unit, Director of the Employment Development Unit, the first lay member in Cambridgeshire of the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Panel on the Appointment of Magistrates and Senior Associate of the Institute of Management Studies in Cambridge. After three years as Visiting Professor in Leadership at Exeter, he is currently External Examiner for the Department of Engineering Management in the University of Bristol. In a consulting capacity Dr Belbin has advised the OECD, the US Department of Labor, the Commission of the EEC and many manufacturing companies and public service organizations.

"Strong and powerful leaders surrounded by weak followers have dominated human history. The evolutionary pattern had much success during the era when territory was won through war. That pattern has become obsolete.

The cult of the personality as it was termed in Russia prejudices the opportunity to deploy the full talents of a team and to create a dynamic and interacting network. Now the high technology society is introducing a major change in human organization".

Dr Meredith R. Belbin will outline the nature of these changes, the benefits they bring and what managers can do to bring them about .