THE PRESIDENT’S DECISION: AN EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE IN DECISION MAKING Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 23, 1996 THE PRESIDENT’S DECISION: AN EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE IN DECISION MAKING David Efraty, University of Houston--Downtown William E. Stratton, Idaho State University ABSTRACT This paper describes an experiential role playing exercise for imparting an appreciation for decision-making processes and the importance of communication in leading organizations. These skills are particularly relevant in today’s flattened, downsized organizations where all employees are increasingly involved in decision making processes. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND Decision making quality influences the long-term success (or failure) of organizations. The processes used to make decisions, as well as the decisions themselves, affect employees’ perceptions of the organization and commitment to those decisions. his exercise is directed to improving the decision-making skills of our students to enhance their effectiveness as future managers and decision makers. OBJECTIVES AND USE OF THE EXERCISE As instructors we should teach not only the principles of decision making--defining the problem, generating alternatives for resolution, evaluating these alternatives, and choosing and implementing the solution--but we should also offer students actual opportunities to engage in implementing and practicing these concepts and to receive feedback on their decisions. A role-play that achieves some of these objectives is “The President’s Decision” by Maier, Solem, and Maier (1975). The role-play instructions describe an electrical parts company with a new top management group consisting of the president and three vice-presidents. These four roles are provided with individual role descriptions which include data that could support opinions regarding expansion (or non-expansion) of the company’s operations. The three vice- presidents want to expand the company and expect the president to announce such plans in the forthcoming meeting. However, the president’s role description provides information on which he has based his decision not to expand operations. Thus, he calls a meeting of his three vice-presidents to announce his decision and check with them whether anything has been overlooked in arriving at his decision. Those students not engaged in the role-play receive guidelines and become observers of the decision process. They share their observations and insights following the role play session and also engage in evaluating the quality of the President’s decision. Timing and Preparation This exercise should be conducted after students have been exposed to the concepts of communication, decision making, and leadership. It gives those involved the opportunity to practice and observe the dynamics of leadership and decision making. The length and detail included in each role description require that role assignments be given prior to the class meeting. Role players should study their roles carefully, so that they are not dependent on the text during the role playing session. Feedback and Evaluation Observer instructions focus attention on the president’s verbal and non-verbal communication behaviors--his receptivity to data from others, degree of defensiveness, commitment to problem solving, and openness in communicating concerns. In addition, the merits of the solution decided upon are discussed from both the point of view of the President and that of the future of the company. Gender This exercise (originally published in 1 957), casts all the roles as males. If desired, the names can easily be changed to unisex names by substituting initials for the first names or by using names that can be either male or female (e.g., Pat, Lynn, Tracy, etc.). REFERENCES Maier, Norman A. F., Solem, Allan A., and Maier, Ayesha A. 1975 The Role Play Technique: A Handbook for Management and Leadership Practice. La Jolla, CA: University Associates, Inc. (This book is a revision of Supervisory and Executive Development: A Manual for Role Playing by the same authors, published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., in 1957.) 162 Table of Contents Volume 23, 1996 Modeling Advertising Effectiveness Simulation as an Aid to Learning: How Does Participation Influence the Process? Administering Business Simulations in Transitioning Economies: The Introduction of Simulation Gaming to Estonia Business Simulation Games: Current Usage Levels. A Ten Year Update The Relationship Between Interpersonal and Task Cohesiveness and Performance in a Business Simulation Game The Design of an ITS-Based Simulation: A New Epistemology for Learning Correlates of Learning in Simulations How Do We Know where we're going if we don't know where we have been: A Review of Business Simulation Research Making Cash Flow Come Alive and Sensible in the Classroom Enhancing Simulation Learning through Objectives and Decision Support Systems An Analysis of Deliberate and Emergent Strategies Relative to Porter's Generic Differentiator and Cost Leader: A Bias and Variance Modeling Approach Introducing Ethical Dilemmas into Computer-Based Simulation Exercises to Teach Business Ethics CEO Strategic Locus of Control Effects on Game Performance and Playing Behavior The Relational Database As a Link between Operations and Cost Accounting Goal Setting over Time in Simulations Computerized Business Simulations: A Workshop Exploring the Tutor's Role, Task & Needs Strategic Analysis of the Product Portfolio with the COMPLETE PPA Package: A Strategic Market Planning Tool Draft Standards and Registration Procedure for Assessment Instruments Perspectives on a New Generation of Business Games An Economic Multiple Regression Case In Experiential Learning Changing Institutional Norms and Behavior, Not Culture: Experiential Learning Comes to Myanmar Strategic Management and the Case Method: Survey and Evaluation Individual Differences in Internet Attitude and Use Long Live the Plan - or Should It? Examining the Impact of Detailed Strategic Plans on Organizational Performance Do Your Students Really Read the Manual? A Computerized Contextual Tool As A Surrogate for the Traditional Student Manual Pilot Analyses of Self-Peer Evaluations in an Experiential-Exercise Human Resources Management Course Leader Behavior Feedback: A Learning Exercise Dilemma-Dilemma: An Exercise for Teaching Significance Of Communication Computer Mediated Conferencing: Technology and Classroom Learning Multimedia in the Workplace: Who is really using it and where is it Headed? Using Experiential Exercises for Collecting Research Data: Integrating Teaching and Research Interactive Distance Learning as a Tool in a College's Theory and Practice The President's Decision: An Experiential Exercise in Decision Making Integrating Computer Literacy Skills in the Undergraduate Curriculum: The Advanced Accounting Experiment Imperatives for the Transfer of Experience-Based Training Deciding How to Decide The Internet as a Pedagogical Tool Internet Scavenger Hunt Two Management Exercises Based on Committee Work Multimedia in the Year 2000: How Will It Affect Our Lives? Bootstrap Benefit Segmentation: Finally A Way to Teach Benefit Segmentation without Primary Data or Those Fancy Statistical Methods Multimedia and Learning: Is There A Connection? A Changing Business Policy Collaborative Learning Through Real-Life Assignments in Accounting Classes The Necessity Of Incorporating Local Cultural Aspects Into International Business Experiential Exercises Utilizing Cultural and International Landmark Constructs to Assess Business Student's International Awareness Legal Issues related to the Use of Application Blanks: An Experiential Exercise The Family in the Classroom: An Experiential Exercise for Teaching Issues Related To Expatriate Assignments Using Internet Resources to Enhance Teaching of Information Systems Courses: A Demonstration Proposal Chalkboards to Chipboards for Teachers and Consultants How Do We Measure The Learning In Experiential Learning and How Do We Best Simulate It?