Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning(Texas Digital Library - TDL E-Journals)
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Developing Value-Driven Mission Statements
No full textA 1.5 hour ‘game ready to play’ classroom module has been developed that simulates a team-oriented development of value-driven mission statements; the underlying purpose is to provide a forum for students to develop ethical leadership strategies. Students who are exploring entrepreneurship, or who anticipate holding leadership positions within businesses and organizations benefit from the process of reflecting upon core personal values as well as communicating and negotiating with classmates to determine a set of shared core values. These shared values are incorporated into a process of constructing a shared mission statement that is then applied as a tool for reference for decision-making opportunities. The outcome of the module not only develops a value-driven mission statement (task), but also empowers students with reflection strategies and foundational tools for classroom cases and future leadership and management decisions
An Organizational Development Approach to Experiential Learning with Millennials
No full textThe current generation of students, often labeled as Millennials, present unique challenges to ABSEL educators. Certain characteristics of Millennials can produce a potential source of resistance to learning by means of experiential learning and simulation. This paper develops conceptual models based on organizational development approaches to change that can address newly emerging trends towards a preference in current students for simplicity and economy in data/information processing as opposed to the requisite willingness to address systemic complexity. Societal trends towards Millennial personality traits, including narcissism, are also examined. The characteristics of classic organizational development technologies and Millennial culture are interwoven to identify potential hindrances and opportunities for experiential learning and simulation
The Strategic Consulting Experience: Providing Experiential Learning Opportunities within an MBA Program
No full textThis paper details one business school’s experiences in devel-oping and offering an experiential learning course for MBA students nearing the completion of their programs of study. The course was designed to provide students with opportunities to work with external clients to assist them with strategic issues facing their organizations. While the benefits of the course are numerous, the primary benefit to the student is practical experi-ence in solving real-world problems using skills acquired through their MBA program. In addition, the clients receive (at no cost to them) consulting services from students who bring fresh and innovative perspectives to their organizations. A resultant benefit to the School is an enhanced image within the external business community due to the positive interaction between students, faculty, and clients. This paper provides readers with a wealth of information on course structure, as well as a full description of issues that must be addressed to ensure a positive learning experience for students and a benefi-cial consulting product for the clients
Using Simulation, 360-degree Feedback, A Balanced Scorecard, and AARs to Assess Individual and Team Performance in Different Delivery Formats
No full textThis workshop will describe the creative and innovative inte-gration of various assessment tools along with business acumen and leadership content in a graduate management course using an engaging total enterprise team-based simulation. Examples will be provided describing the simulation pedagogy and design options of implementing this course in three different delivery formats – (1) 11 weeks face-to-face, (2) 11 weeks online, and (3) a 4-day residency.This course develops skills for two of the university’s student learning priorities (information literacy and leadership) by in-tegrating finance, accounting, strategic planning and imple-mentation, marketing segmentation, and operations with team-work, managing conflict, feedback, influence, alignment, and communication and presentation skills.There are several self-assessment, team, and instructor assess-ment tools used. Collectively, they enable the students to see the correlation between a high performing team and business (financial and operational) performance. Some of the tools that assess each team’s business performance include a balanced scorecard, tailored success measures, and an analyst report.The TeamMATE evaluation tool is built into the simulation and helps information assessors evaluate individual team behavior and team performance and students diagnose their own behav-iors and overall team functionality in real time to allow for cor-rective and developmental action. Students receive 360-degree feedback on their individual performance, reflect on their ‘blind-spots’ and practice giving and receiving feedback. Additional-ly, students also complete a communication style assessment.Finally, student teams conduct a three-part after action review (AAR) after each round where they assess and reflect on what they intended to do, what actually happened, and what they need to do to improve performance the next round
A Project Management Focus: A Way for ABSEL to Grow
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to suggest a way for ABSEL to grow. It is this author’s observation and opinion that ABSEL’s major focus, business simulation design and execution, is not attracting an increasing number of members. This paper asks ABSEL members to consider trying to grow by attracting new groups of teachers and professors who teach experientially but do not focus on the kinds of games or exercises which have been ABSEL’s traditional concentration. I believe that ABSEL should try to attract those who teach via the project, especially those that teach project management experientially. This paper focus-es on project management, provides evidence that it can and is taught experientially, provides examples of courses in project management where an experiential pedagogy is used, and pro-vides evidence that other business professional pedagogical organizations have yet to feature project management as one of their topics covered
Virtual Student Club Start Up: Learning Together in Virtual Learning Community
No full textThe authors of this paper explore the evolution of a virtual student club from an online university into a virtual learning community and as an innovation relevant to the future of higher education. The student club is considered as a means for development and sustainability of academic organizational culture wherein learning, multi-directional mentoring, and ongoing social network development provide a foundation for contributing to student success and alumni engagement The challenges of creating such a club in a virtual environment are examined from faculty, student, and alumni perspectives. Various aspects of learning in a virtual community including, but not limited to whole person learning (Palmer, 1976; Hoover, et al, 2010, 2013), deep smarts (Leonard & Swap, 2004), grit (Pappano, 2013; Kundu, 2014; Kelly, et al, 2014), and knowledge sharing (Allen, et al, 2006; Gibson, 2011; Senge, 2007) are delineated as pertinent to club sustainability Multi-directional mentoring and the development of sustainable social networks are considered as relevant to student success (Kram, 2014). Community development is investigated as an end unto itself using Peck’s (1989) community building model. These community building models are inspected for their relevance to the club as it is and in future developmental stages, as well as related to successful student career development and alumni engagement
A Study of the Acquisition of Competitive Information in Business Simulations
No full textThis paper addresses the question of the use of competitor in-formation in computerized simulations. Specifically, it exam-ines if, and how, students playing a generalized business simu-lation purchase, and use, competitor information to assist them in making strategic decisions. The paper first reviews the liter-ature on the topic, which surprisingly is sparse. The remainder of the paper is an examination of a series of hard data (actual purchasing decisions) and self-report data relating to the stu-dents purchasing rationales. The paper concludes that students purchase information but use it mainly to watch their competi-tors. In general students do not seem to know what else to do with competitor information. Finally, the study notes that stu-dents purchasing significant amounts of competitor information do not necessarily perform better than students purchasing less competitor information
Influencing Attitudes Towards Entrepreneurship with Digital Game-Based Educational Experience in Secondary Education
No full textThe paper presents a quasi-experimental research conducted on 349 students from 11 secondary schools in Poland. The students were engaged in a digital-game based course on the basics of economics and entrepreneurship. Their attitudes towards entre-preneurship were measured before and after the learning expe-rience, and subject to a quantitative analysis. The aim of the study was to discover the effects of game-based experience on the change of attitude towards entrepreneurship. Many statisti-cally significant changes have been observed, leading to the conclusion that secondary school students do change their atti-tudes towards entrepreneurship. In addition, a series of gender and external variables influence effects have been discovered.Key words: digital game-based learning, serious games, entre-preneurial attitudes, quantitative research, gender effect
Expansion Set For Intermediate Measures of Performance – Achievement Systems In Simulation Games Development
No full textRecent attention around using game design elements and techniques in non-game contexts which is recognized as gamification (Deterding 2011) has got influence on the games medium as well. That includes serious games and its subcategory – simulation games. As gamifying simulation games Author suggest implementation of game mechanism called ‘achievement’
Drama Measures Applied to a Large Scale Business Game
No full textWe propose different measures for the quality criterion Drama, using a generic game model. Drama can be described as the possibility to win the game for someone in a weaker position. We extend the current criterion, proposed by Thompson and formalized by Browne, for two player games with a single winner to multiplayer games, and validate it in a national football championship, studying the evolution of Drama among different competitions. Also, we evaluate the Maximum Drama Path (MDP) concept in a large scale business game. The analysis investigates how the changes in some of the game parameters influence the overall Drama in different series, at the same tournament edition, and in different tournaments of the game. This paper introduces player position as a feature taken into account in the analysis as well the Maximum Drama Path (MDP) concept. Furthermore, it also shows how the Drama measures can be used as a tool to improve the game’s appeal as well as the players’ engagement in a business game.We propose different measures for the quality criterion Drama, using a generic game model. Drama can be described as the possibility to win the game for someone in a weaker position. We extend the current criterion, proposed by Thompson and formalized by Browne, for two player games with a single winner to multiplayer games, and validate it in a national football championship, studying the evolution of Drama among different competitions. Also, we evaluate the Maximum Drama Path (MDP) concept in a large scale business game. The analysis investigates how the changes in some of the game parameters influence the overall Drama in different series, at the same tournament edition, and in different tournaments of the game. This paper introduces player position as a feature taken into account in the analysis as well the Maximum Drama Path (MDP) concept. Furthermore, it also shows how the Drama measures can be used as a tool to improve the game’s appeal as well as the players’ engagement in a business game