ME & MINE, INC: AN EXERCISE IN MANAGEMENT THEORY Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Learning, Volume 24, 1997 ME & MINE, INC.: AN EXERCISE IN MANAGEMENT THEORY Denise Potosky, The Pennsylvania State University Great Valley Graduate Center ABSTRACT Me & Mine, Inc. is an exercise that enables participants to analyze and share their own assumptions about organizing and managing people, and to then connect these assumptions with well-known “textbook” perspectives. INTRODUCTION Organization and management theory is reviewed near the beginning of almost every management textbook. Typically, classical, behavioral, quantitative, “integrating” (e.g., systems theory and contingency theory), and contemporary management perspectives are used to establish a foundation for the study of management. Yet the relevance of theory to applied management situations is sometimes a difficult connection for students of management to make. Me & Mine, Inc. was designed to allow participants to examine their own assumptions about managing people in relation to various textbook theories, and to decide which of the perspectives are most meaningful to them. The format for the exercise follows Pfeiffer and Jones’ (1985) experiential’ learning cycle. Instructor guidelines relevant to each stage of this cycle have been incorporated into the exercise description provided below. THE EXERCISE Learning Objective By the end of the Me & Mine, Inc. exercise, participants should have a clearer understanding of the major management perspectives as well as where their personal approach to management converges with these perspectives. The exercise assumes that participants have read basic information about the management theories to be addressed in the activity. The exercise is intended for 15 to 30 participants, and requires V2 to 2 hours to complete. Stage 1: Experiencing In order to bring participants’ personally held assumptions about management into focus, the instructor should ask each participant to imagine that he or she is completely in charge his/her own successful organization. As owner and CEO of Me & Mine, Inc.. everything about the organization is as each participant wants it to be, and of course, Me & Mine, Inc. is an “excellent” organization. Ask participants to write out a descriptive outline of Me & Mine, Inc. (10 minutes). Then ask participants to form discussion groups of three to five members. What kind of organization is it? What is its mission? How are employees of Me & Mine, Inc. managed? Group members should briefly describe each of their organizations to the other group members, and should ask questions of each other so they understand the similarities and differences between each person’s vision of Me & Mine. Inc. (15 minutes). The instructor should then display an outline of the major management perspectives and organization theories. Ask each group to classify the descriptions according to the outlined management perspectives. Which theories best describe life in each of the organizations they heard about? It is important to remind participants that their objective is to classify each description of Me & Mine, Inc., not to reach consensus about how an organization should be run. Stage 2: Publishing Once participants have had the opportunity to apply the outlined perspectives and theories to the descriptions of Me & Mine, Inc.. ask them to report 177 Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Learning, Volume 24, 1997 what happened during the activity. Record all reports; be careful not to allow interpretations or conclusions about the exercise until participants are satisfied with the raw data presented. Stage 3: Processing Ask participants to examine the flipchart information and interpret the data generated in the publishing stage. Participants should be encouraged to look for patterns in the information recorded. How can their observations about the activity be categorized? All responses should be recorded on a flipchart. Stage 4: Generalizing After participants have interpreted their experience, they should take a moment to consider the management perspectives outline in light of their interpretations. The focus at this stage of the exercise should be on what participants have learned about organization and management theory. Very often, in the course of drawing conclusions about the theories, different individuals may assert their opinions about how an organization should be run. For example, participants may divide themselves into Theory X, Theory Y, and Contingency theory “camps.” New small groups of participants should be formed, preferably around similar sets of assumptions or management perspectives. Each of these groups should record, in “bullets,” the key points of their theory, and can post these points on the wall(s) of the room. The instructor should be prepared to make necessary corrections and to add details about each theory. Stage 5: Applications Ask, participants to consider how they might use this learning. How might they apply this learning to improving their work experiences? EMERGENT CONCEPTS There are several definitions of “excellent.” During Stage I of the exercise, participants generally have a great deal to say about how things would be in an organization if only they had the power to create and change things. Yet when they come together in-groups, they soon recognize different definitions of “excellent.” Sometimes participants will add others’ ideas to their own descriptions. However, participants sometimes reject ideas that conflict with their preferences and assumptions. I am NOT a Theory X Manager! This may be the first time some individual participants have examined their own philosophies of management. Participants are often surprised when their descriptions of Me & Mine, Inc. fail to depict what others would consider to be a "happy” place to work. The theories are meaningful and useful. Participants generally find categorizing their personal descriptions fairly straightforward. Sometimes a description falls into two or more theories or perspectives, but rarely does it happen that a description cannot be classified. Participants leave the Me & Mine, Inc. experience with greater understanding of management theories, and they recognize how their own and others’ assumptions fit in with these theories. REFERENCES Pfeiffer, J. W., & Jones, J. E. (1985) The experiential learning cycle. In J. W. Pfeiffer (Ed.), Reference Guide to Handbooks and Annuals San Diego: University Associates pp. 5-8. 178 Table of Contents Volume 24, 1997 Incorporating Computer Telephony into the MIS Course A Learner Oriented Infrastructure for videoconferencing Based Distance Education Courses The Identification of Temporally Related Structural Elements of the Experiential Component of Electronic Spreadsheet Tasks Does Involvement Influence Learning from Simulation Participation? Some Relationships with Helpfulness and Performance Outcomes Musings on Business Garne Performance Evaluation Performance on a TE Simulation: What does it represent? The Business Policy Game: An International Simulation - An Assessment Tool Students in Free Enterprise as Experiential Learning The Role of Computer Models in Wargames: A Practitioner's view Using Focus Groups as a Tool to Research Learning: A Demonstration and a Discussion Using Medical Simulations to Teach Multi-Cultural Diversity Using the World Game to Internationalize International Exchange Game Community Services Needs Assessment: An Innovative Approach Introducing Students to Potential Total Quality Management Ethical Dilemmas Privacy in the Workplace: A Situational Analysis Antecedents of Learning in Simulations Demonstrating the Learning Effectiveness of Simulation: Where we are and Where we need to go The Use of Computer Simulations as a Pedagogical Aid in Teaching Management Information Systems Evaluating Simulation Learning in a Distant Learning Instructional Model Financial Engineering of Global Investments The Labor History Game: Playing with the Past Perks Participation Assessing Negotiator's Proficiency with a Negotiation role-play The Art of Negotiating Enhancing Learning and Employee Development through the Assessment of Learning Pedagogy Preferences across selected Dimensions of Culture: A Preliminary Investigation Cooperative Learning: What are we Learning? Effective Use of Mastery Based Experiential learning in a Project Course to improve skills in system analysis and Design Simulations and Learning: Can we prove a relationship? (Seminar) Predicting and Reviewing NYSE Stock Prices by use of Basic Statistical Analysis and Logic Toy Car Depreciation Exercise ABSEL as Home Community: An Interactive Exploration Service Learning: Linking Academic Study to Community Development and Business Enhancement Ability of Efficient Evaluation of Knowledge-Based Management Strategies Corporate Ethics Training Programs Modeling Attributes in Demand Functions of Computerized Business Simulations: An Extension of Teach's Gravity Flow Algorithm Expert Systems Combined with Neutral Networks: Tools to Benefit the Marketing Researcher Computer Game Design: New Directions for Intercultural Simulation Game Designers Consistency in Simulation Performance over Time and Across Simulation Games The Impact of an Artificial Market Leader on Simulation Competitor's Strategies Business Plans, Case Studies, and Total Enterprise Simulations: A Natural Co-existence An Exploration into the Non-Use of Business Simulations The Market Game: Interactive Learning Through Market Simulation Plotting Brand Trajectories with the COMPLETE PPM package: A Market Segmentation Analysis and Positioning Tool Me and Mine Inc: An Exercise in Management Theory Learning to Differentiate Leadership from Managerial Position Business Ethics Survey: A Perspective from the Retail Industry Experiential Learning in Demand Analysis for an Agricultural Commodity Marketing on the Internet: A Pedagogical Exercise College Students Need Simple Computer Simulations, Especially for International Business Courses An Analysis of Student Attitudes, Performance, and Strategies in a Simulation Competition Based on a Controlled Product-Market-Entry Game Structure The Crystal Enterprise: Application of a Non-Computerized Simulation Model in a Process of Organizational Change Threshold: A Windows-Based Behaviorally Oriented Total Enterprise Simulation Coaching Business Game Teams Using a Decision Variable Optimizer Rock and Roll is here to Stay: Enhancing Experiential Pedagogy with Musical Exercises An Example of Business Process Analysis Simulation for Customer Software Support The Use of Business Gaming in Hong Kong Academic Institutions Using the Integrative International Simulation INTOPIA Mark 2000 in a Concentrated MBA Curriculum A Group Experience as an Integrated Part of the Core Management Course Empowered Learning in the Classroom The Inter-Group Interaction: An Innovative Approach to Cooperative Learning Courses that Utilize Student Team: An Approach to enhancing their Effectiveness Thoughts about the Measurement of Learning: The Case for Guided Learning and Associated Measurement Issues Measuring Student Learning Using Business Simulations: A Theory Based Perspective On the Use of PC Fingame in an Undergraduate Finance Course How Managers get Things Done: A Virtual Soundbite Internet Experiential learning in the Principals of Marketing Classroom: A Pedagogical Approach Current Student Perceptions Relative to Business Simulations Beyond Capitalism: Designing Business Policy and Social Justice The Use of Boards of Directors to Evaluate Reports and Presentations in an Undergraduate Business Policy Course Beacon Lumber: An Experiential Introduction to Financial Accounting The Application of Organizational Motivation Principles: The Experiential Business Simulation Motus Manufacturing Avoiding a Bogey: Grading Case Discussions Scientifically Communicating Consumer Behavior II: A Modified Exercise Using Personal Consumption Journals in Condensed Courses Designing Instruments for Assessing the Effectiveness of Simulations, (Seminar) 360º Performance Feedback: Appraisal vs. Assessment The Cafeteria Approach to Managing an Academic Career: Remaining Non-Perishable while Doing Your Own Thing An Experiential Exercise Related to Person-Organization Fit and it's Consequences For Today's Dynamic and Changing World, Business Simulations need to be expanded to encompass Much Greater Complexity: A Demonstration The Incident Process: A Case in Reverse Contextually-Anchored Business Simulations The Energy Factor: Building Motivation in the Simulation Gaming Environment The Design of an Internet Game