AN EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE YOU CAN TINKER WITH--DESIGNED TO TEACH ASPECTS OF TEAM BUILDING, COMMUNICATION, LEADERSHIP, CUSTOM... Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 25, 1998 AN EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE YOU CAN TINKER WITH--DESIGNED TO TEACH ASPECTS OF TEAM BUILDING, COMMUNICATION, LEADERSHIP, CUSTOMER SERVICE AND QUALITY CONTROL Peter M. Markulis, SUNY College at Geneseo Daniel R. Strang, SUNY College at Geneseo INTRODUCTION Today, there is more and more emphasis being placed on teams and teamwork. As instructors of future business leaders, we are asked to foster team- oriented skills in our students. The following series of three related experiential exercises were designed to develop team-based skills. Like many existing team based exercises, these exercises provide for the student an experientially based appreciation of teams and teamwork, but they go farther than many existing team-based exercises by emphasizing the relationship between a professional team and a customer or client who requires the team’s services. Intended Audience. Any setting where team building is required. This includes, but is not limited to, undergraduate students, graduate students or working professionals Audience Participation. Exercise requires at least 9 participants, with a recommended maximum of 21. If the class contains more than 21 students, the remainder should serve as spectators. The spectators can become active participants in the debriefing. Time. Thirty-five to 50 minutes. Exercise Description. The exercise consists of three discrete, but related sessions, described below. Equipment Needed. (1) A large box of Tinker Toys, Legos, or an Erector Set or a set of materials for which the average person could assemble a fairly simple set of products in 5-10 minutes; (2) the instructor also needs a clear picture or photograph of two completed products; (3) the instructor needs a set of black and white pictures or photographs (from 4-6) for a third product. However, none of the individual pictures for the third product should show the complete view of the entire product. Each picture should provide an “almost” complete view of the final product, so that the viewer experiences some ambiguity and is unclear as to exactly what the final product should look like, and; (4) a stopwatch for timing each session. Session 1. During the first session, 3-7 people are selected to form a team to work on a project, ostensibly for a customer. A team leader is chosen and taken out of the room. The team leader is told that the team has to make a product. The leader is shown a picture of the product, but told they cannot show the picture to anyone else on the team. However, the leader can refer to the picture during the session. The team leader is given the packet of materials (i.e., tinker toys) and told to re-enter the room and begin work in whatever way he/she wants-just let the instructor know when the final, perfect product is completed. The leader re-enters the room, assembles his/her team and gets them working on the product. The remaining participants are told to quietly watch and observe the process. The instructor times the session. Session 1 Time: 10-12 minutes, including instructions. Purpose/Point of Session 1. The authors recommend that the instructor wait until at least the first two sessions have been completed, and preferably all three, before debriefing. The point of this session will probably be obvious to students. It is difficult to complete a team project when the leader (or someone) withholds important information or communicates vital information through one type of medium (i.e., only verbally as opposed to verbally and graphically or pictorially). 234 Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 25, 1998 Session 2. A second, new and different group is formed and a leader chosen. The leader is taken out of the room and shown a picture of a product (different from the first group’s product) to make. However the leader is told that they can do anything they want (including showing the picture to all the members) in assembling the product. The leader reenters the room, assembles his/her team and gets them working on the product. The remaining participants are told to quietly watch and observe the process. The instructor times the session. Session 2 Time - 5-7 minutes, including instructions. Purpose/Point of Session 2. At this point the instructor can de-brief the first two sessions. The instructor can get the participants to explain why the first group was slower than the second. The instructor can also discuss the dynamics each leader employed in getting the teams to assemble the products. De-briefing can take between 15-20 minutes. Session 3. This is perhaps the most interesting session. Again, a new and different team is formed. A leader is chosen and taken out of the room. The leader is told that the instructor represents a “typical” customer, who has “some idea” of what he/she wants from the team (i.e., company), but is not totally sure. The leader is shown one of the black and white pictures, which illustrates a product or object which looks “almost” complete or looks complete, but it is hard to see exactly all of the parts which are required to assemble the final product. The customer tells the leader that he/she can show the team the product, but if the leader “should need more information about the product, the leader should contact the customer (who will be in the room with more pictures) for more information. The leader re-enters the room, assembles his/her team and gets them working on the product. The participants are told to quietly watch and observe the process. Someone other than the instructor times the session. Usually, it takes about 4-5 minutes before the team is stumped as to the exact way in which the product is to be assembled. At that point, the leader tells his teammates that the customer either gave incomplete information about the product, or that the customer does not know exactly what he/she really wants. So, the leader goes and meets with the customer for more information. The customer can either provide another picture of the same product-but again with the picture being somewhat incomplete, or the customer can change the picture (and product entirely). This process can go on for about 10 minutes until the team finally is able to assemble the product exactly the way the customer wants it or convinces the customer to be satisfied with the product the way the team has built it. Session 3 Time - 10-15 minutes depending upon the points the instructor wants to make. Purpose/Point of Session 3. If the instructor has not de-briefed sessions 1 and 2, this should be done in conjunction with session 3. It is the author’s experience that it is better to debrief all the sessions together as then students can easily compare and contrast the dynamics of all them as if they were actually one large session. In terms of session 3, it can be debriefed in several ways. First, students can be asked if it is reasonable for a customer to not really know what they want and whether the team’s (or leader’s) role is to help clarify what it is the customer wants? A second aspect has to do with the clarification issue: Does the clarification problem lie with the leader, who cannot seem to get the proper information each time he/she visits the customer? Or, should the entire team meet with the customer? How should the team leader interact with the team under such circumstances? A further topic revolves around the frustrations team members have when they have to keep disassembling one prototype and starting a new one. The instructor can use this issue to discuss ways in which the team can and should handle such situations. De-briefing all three session can take between 20-30 minutes. 235 Table of Contents Volume 25, 1998 Marketing Goes to the Movies Bringing Experiential Learning to a Principles of Marketing Course Investment Analysis Application Using In-house Spreadsheet Models SugarCoated Statistics: An Exercise for the First Day of Class Improving Undergraduate Student Involvement in Management Science and Business Writing Courses Using the Seven Principles in Action Establishment and Funding for Interuniversity / Multidisciplinary Student experiences The Prospects of Creative Teaching: A Discussion with Patricia Sanders The Simulation and Classroom Assessment Techniques Developments of Management Skill Assessment Games as Instruments of Assessment: A Framework for Evaluation The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Business Curricula Threshold Solo Competitor: A Management Simulation (V1.0) a Windows-Based. Play Alone, Total Enterprise Simulation and Assessment Instrument Toward An Understanding of One's self-concept Total Enterprise Simulations and the Internet: Improving Student Perceptions and Simplifying Administrative Workloads The Expatriate an Assignment Orientation Game An Expatriate's Nightmare: An Experiential Exercise in Coping with Overseas Assignments Analyzing Experiential Exercise: Using the Scientific Method for Problem Solving The Second Component to Experiential Learning: A Look Back at How ABSEL has handled the Conceptual and Operational Definitions of Learning Predictive Models of Learning: Participant Satisfaction of Experiential Exercises in Business Education Accelerating Moral Development through Use of Experiential Ethical Dilemmas Ethical Dilemmas to use with Business Simulations to Teach Ethics The Class Approach in Behavioral Simulation in a Business Policy/Strategic Management course: A Progression toward Greater Realism An Exploration of the Emergence of Process Prototypes in a Management Course Utilizing a Total Enterprise Simulation How Organizations Are Improving Their Performance Utilizing Electronic Commerce: Examples From The Internet The Market Access Planning System (Maps): A Computer-Based Decision Support System For Facilitating Experiential Learning In International Business An Excel Workbook For Student Planning And Interface With A Simulation Game Design Of Multi-Media Based Pedagogy For Leadership Training Panel Discussion On Using The Internet For Courses Valuing And Enhancing Teaching: Sharing Tips Via The Web The Buddy Project: A Semester Long Project Aimed At Developing An Appreciation For Diversity Enhancing The Excitement And Learning Retention In The Classroom: The Power Of Magic The Supervised Management Internship: A Job Or Learning Experience Team Ware™ An Online Moderated Class Discussion Facility And Beyond A Neophyte Distance Educator's Experience Learning Management By Practicing Management: A Report Of Significant Student Service In 1997 Integration Of Academic And Service Learning: Students' Perceptions About Its Effects And Outcomes The Value Of Incorporating A Service Learning Component Into Course Content: A Presentation And Roundtable Discussion Business Games Teach: Thoughts on the Sources of Conflicting Conclusions on their Effectiveness Antecedents Of Learning In The Simulation: A Replication Using Student Journals To Enhance Learning From Simulations Technological Change And Intertemporal Movements In Consumer Preferences In The Design Of Computerized Business Simulations With Market Segmentation Integrating The Marketing Curriculum Using Collaborative Learning Teaching Time Management In A Sales Program: The Application Of A Computer Simulation Game Adapting Interactive Computer Simulations For Content Based Esl Instruction Multimedia And Student Expectations Synthesizing Data For Media Simulations Composing A Team Health Promoting Behaviors-A Decision Making Exercise Does it really Work? An Application of the Group Interaction Framework Administering the MIT Beer Game: Lessons Learned A Paperless Economy? Instructing Students on the Aspects of Successful Electronic Commerce Maximizing Learning Gains in Simulations: Lessons from the Training Literature Observing General Ability in a Total Enterprise Gaming Simulation FReach Teach: A Computer-Based System for Teaching Advertising Media Planning An Integrated Business Instruction System An Experiential Exercise you can Tinker With Experiential Exercises or Computer Simulations? Cash Flow Statements: Are They Important in Business Simulations? Holistic Cognitive Strategy in a Computer-Based Marketing Simulation Game: An Investigation of Attitudes Towards the Decision-Making Process Barnga: A Game on Cultural Clashes The Many Faces of Culture: Understanding Country and Corporate Culture Students' View of the Use of Business Gaming in Hong Kong Assessing General Management Interest What is the Future of Business Gaming? Starting a Small Music Trivia Business Exercise and Other Innovative Icebreakers An Integrated Approach to Behavioral Skill Development Career Focus: A Student and Business Learning Experience The Use of Concept Mapping in Teaching Strategic Management An Experiential Approach to Developing Mission Statements Business Games in Brazil-Learning or Satisfaction A Simulation within a Simulation: Job Layoff's and Emotional Reactions