Business games and enterprise competitions : what works?

This paper provides the underpinning evidence on business games and enterprise competitions. Schools, colleges and providers of careers and enterprise programmes are invited to use this evidence to inform the programmes that they are running and developing. The paper draws together academic and ‘grey’ literature (such as policy papers, speeches and programme evaluation reports), with the aim of, first, clarifying possible impacts from business games and enterprise competitions and, second, exploring what effective practice looks like.The Careers & Enterprise Compan

Organizing for collaboration in simulation-based environments: An affordance perspective

Extant research has identified the significance of technological affordances in computer-supported learning environments. However, until recently, there is scarcely empirical research on affordances for organizing collaboration in these learning environments. To address this gap, this study empirically examines affordances for organizing collaboration in a simulation-based learning environment. We focus, in particular on understanding how the organizing affordances of the learning environment are perceived and employed by the learners during a simulation-based learning task. The study was executed among 177 undergraduate higher education (HE) business students from 10 universities in Belgium, China, Estonia, New Zealand, the USA, Austria, and Finland. The data were obtained from the students' reflective essays, and analyzed with a qualitative content analytical approach. The results of our analyses yield in four types of organizing affordances: (1) organizing the division of work, (2) managing information and resources, (3) managing tasks, and (4) strategizing. Each type of organizing affordance was required in the joint learning task. The study offers an advanced understanding of affordances for organizing and of their use/nonuse in simulation-based learning environments. The findings of this study have theoretical and empirical implications and can contribute to both the development of pedagogic and educational practices as well as the design of learning tasks and environments

Redesigning the Traditional Business Gaming Process—Aiming to Capture Business Process Authenticity

The constantly changing business environment has forced many organizations to move away from focusing on individual tasks and functions to focusing on more integrated and coordinated ways of work. Higher-level business and information systems (IS) education is also in a state of change, as the traditional curriculum does not coincide with business realities. The mission of IS is shifting from developing and supporting information processing applications to developing, managing and supporting the information technology infrastructure for the entire organization. This requires knowledge of business operations. As educators in universities we should take these changes into consideration when we plan IS curricula. This means critical examination of the content of teaching. On the basis of the evidence from some business school and IS education literature, the authors point out the need to teach the cross-functional nature of business operations. In this paper we present an example of a business learning environment that presents business organizations as dynamic, time dependent networks of business transactions. We aim at representing real-world complexity and authenticity in the learning environment. This aim is justified by introducing the constructivist view of learning which supports the use of learning environments which capture th

Diseño de un juego serio para enseñar y reforzar el liderazgo ético organizacional

Un elemento esencial para el desarrollo de las organizaciones es identificar el liderazgo necesario para crecer y sostener. En ese sentido, la literatura sobre liderazgo describe que este es una condición temporal de las personas, en la que ciertas destrezas y competencias se muestran. El liderazgo ético y responsable también es una condición temporal. Se produce cuando concurren, en una persona o personas, un sólido código ético y una escala de valores, así como el ejercicio de la responsabilidad. Este liderazgo puede ser practicado por cualquier persona y revelarse mediante ella en una amplia variedad de circunstancias. El rol del líder ético es esencial en las organizaciones, más en los momentos de crisis. En consecuencia, es importante incentivar virtudes del liderazgo ético en líderes actuales y del futuro utilizando herramientas como el diseño de juegos serios. Estos son instrumentos pedagógicos que permiten a personas y organizaciones aprender y reforzar conocimientos por medio de actividades lúdicas, que simulan situaciones específicas y deseadas de la vida organizacional cotidiana, con el objetivo de determinar variables y características presentes en los comportamientos y decisiones tomadas por los participantes Se expone los conceptos básicos del liderazgo ético, a través de una metodología pedagógica, un juego serio que parte de un marco teórico de referencia y criterios de selección, el cual genera oportunidades de enseñanza del liderazgo ético como método científico complementado con diversión.Abstract: An essential element for the development of organizations is to identify the leadership necessary to grow and sustain. In that sense, the literature on leadership describes that this is a temporary condition of people, in which certain skills and competencies are displayed. Ethical and responsible leadership is also a temporary condition. It occurs when a solid ethical code and a scale of values, as well as the exercise of responsibility, concur in a person or persons. This leadership can be practiced by any person and revealed through it in a wide variety of circumstances. The role of the ethical leader is essential in organizations, more in times of crisis. Consequently, it is important to encourage virtues of ethical leadership in current and future leaders using tools such as the design of serious games. These are pedagogical instruments that allow people and organizations to learn and reinforce knowledge through playful activities, which simulate specific and desired situations of daily organizational life, in order to determine variables and characteristics present in the behaviors and decisions made by the participants. It exposes the basic concepts of ethical leadership, through a pedagogical methodology, a serious game that starts from a theoretical frame of reference and selection criteria, which generates opportunities for teaching ethical leadership as a scientific method complemented with fun.Maestrí

The design and evaluation of distributed virtual environment to support learning in global operations management

The primary goal of this research is to design and develop an education technology to support learning in global operations management. The research implements a series of studies to determine the right balance among user requirements, learning methods and applied technologies, on a view of student-centred learning. This research is multidisciplinary by nature, involving topics from various disciplines such as global operations management, curriculum and contemporary learning theory, and computer aided learning. Innovative learning models that emphasise on technological implementation are employed and discussed throughout this research

Definición de un método para el diseño de juegos orientados al desarrollo de habilidades gerenciales como estrategia de entrenamiento empresarial

Las organizaciones actuales reconocen el conocimiento como un activo estratégico que les permite alcanzar una ventaja competitiva perdurable en el tiempo. Por esta razón, existe un interés creciente en todas las actividades asociadas con la creación, transformación y difusión del conocimiento organizacional, que se congregan en la disciplina “Gestión del Conocimiento”. Una de las herramientas de esta disciplina es el aprendizaje organizacional, que cuenta entre sus estrategias con los experimentos cara a cara tales como los juegos basados en experiencias para la difusión del conocimiento tácito de la organización. Sin embargo, a pesar de que el entrenamiento basado en juegos se utiliza ampliamente en disciplinas como las áreas de negocios y administración, al intentar identificar los elementos (métodos, enfoques, técnicas) en los que se fundamenta el diseño de juegos basados en experiencias, estos no se presentan explícitamente para este tipo de juegos, convirtiendo su concepción en una actividad subjetiva que depende exclusivamente de la persona que lidera el proceso de formación. Por todo lo anterior, en esta Tesis de Maestría se propone un método para el diseño de juegos basados en experiencias con propósito educativo, con el objetivo de convertirlo en un insumo para los docentes interesados en llevar las temáticas de sus asignaturas a formato de juego, así como para las áreas de gestión humana y las entidades de consultoría en capacitación empresarial, que optan por procesos de formación que conjugan la socialización de conocimiento y la lúdica. / Abstract. Currently, organizations recognize knowledge as a strategic asset for achieving a long-term competitive advantage. As a result, there is a growing interest in all activities related to creation, transformation, and communication of organizational knowledge, gathered under the discipline of Knowledge Management. One of the tools belonging to this discipline is organizational learning that possesses among its strategies face-to-face experiments like experience-based games for communicating experience-based tacit knowledge. However, although game-based training is widely used in disciplines like management and business areas; the elements (methods, approaches, techniques) on which design of experience-based games is based are not explicitly identified, leading to the assumption that experience-based game design is a subjective activity, because it exclusively depends on the person leading the training process. The above reasons lead me, in this Master’s Thesis, to propose a method for the design of experience-based games with educational purposes. My main concern is the creation of a resource for tutors interested in using games in teaching, and for management staff of human resources offices and business training consulting firms in choosing training processes, combining the communication of tacit knowledge and playful activities.Maestrí

The design and evaluation of distributed virtual environment to support learning in global operations management

The primary goal of this research is to design and develop an education technology to support learning in global operations management. The research implements a series of studies to determine the right balance among user requirements, learning methods and applied technologies, on a view of student-centred learning. This research is multidisciplinary by nature, involving topics from various disciplines such as global operations management, curriculum and contemporary learning theory, and computer aided learning. Innovative learning models that emphasise on technological implementation are employed and discussed throughout this research.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo