DOES PRACTICE MAKE PERFECT? OBSERVATIONS ON SIMULATION TRIAL Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 19, 1992 205 DOES PRACTICE MAKE PERFECT? OBSERVATIONS ON SIMULATION TRIAL Nancy Brown, Rhode Island College ABSTRACT The primary purpose of this paper is to explore a pedagogical simulation approach using pre-game trial. Suggestions for future performance will emerge from the discussion. Observations of the effects of practice or trial simulation on the dynamics of team interaction, decision making and subsequent performance are the focus of this report. Trial appears to generate good will toward the simulation and course, increase motivation and confidence and induce greater group cohesion. In practice decision periods, risk taking increased, as did experimentation. Observed limitations of announced practice include tendency to generate a predisposition towards impulsive and tactical rather than planned, deliberate strategic decision making. INTRODUCTION In the literature, simulation performance has been linked with academic achievement and aptitude, with problem solving styles, with various gaming behaviors such as cohesion demonstrated by cooperation, information exchange and open discussion, and structure defined by group policy making and the conduct of meetings. Interesting albeit inconclusive and sometimes contradictory results have emerged in the search for factors having (qualitatively) significant impact on simulation performance. For example, using a simple Likert Scale survey and content analysis of student semester journals, Gosenpud and Miesing (1983) identified and tested 28 variables in six categories for predictive powers in business game outcome: Academic Ability, Confidence, Motivation, Interests, Cohesion and Organization. The resulting profile of the simulation contender with the best prospects for success emerged as that of an accounting major with a high GPA, teamed up with people he/she knew prior to class. Teammates who were well-organized, engaged in formal decision making, liked each other, and who maintained a desire to play the game as it progressed also appeared to have the best chances for success in the simulation. OBSERVATIONS ON THE EFFECTS OF “PRACTICE Gosenpud and Miesing’s (1983) findings confirm conventional wisdom regarding individual and group traits, which would be expected to predict simulation success. Another such bit of conventional wisdom relates to the axiom that “Practice makes Perfect.” Is it true that students experienced with the format and operational procedure of the simulation will perform better than those who have no prior knowledge of or experience with the mechanics of the simulation? This work explores the influence of practice as a determinant of performance in computer simulation. It is preliminary to more formal research and is exploratory. Journal entries, comments and team performance as measured by cumulative net marketing contribution of five teams who experienced a pre-simulation pedagogical approach were compared with the five teams who had no trial prior to competing in the simulation. RESULTS No differences in performance were apparent to suggest the influence of trial on outcome of the simulation by those who experienced practice as compared with the class of five teams who had no trial run. A number of striking differences did emerge from the journal entries and personal comments of the two classes. It seems that trial generates good will toward the simulation and course, even though it did not have a noticeable impact on the outcome of the simulation. The class with trial pedagogy exhibited a greater degree of motivation than the group without trial. Confidence was more in evidence in the trial class. Group cohesion was clearly more apparent in the trial team’s statements. Although risk-taking predominated decisions in the trial periods, the trial groups tended to adopt more conservative approaches (similar to those employed by the non-trial teams) in post-practice simulation. Experimentation seemed to scale back to a conservative level similar to that used by non-trial groups in actual simulation play. Due to the exploratory nature of these observations, no conclusions are intended. By design, simulation involves experiential learning, which emphasizes trial and error. Pre—simulation practice sessions, e.g., “trial” before the trial and error, may simply be redundant to the experiential learning process. Based upon the observations reported herein, the axiom of “Practice Makes Perfect’ might be aptly modified to conclude that “Practice Makes Motivated, Confident, Cohesive and Impulsive.” REFERENCE Gosenpud, Jerry and Paul Miesing “Determinants of Performance in Computer Simulations,” Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Exercises, 1983, pp. 53-56. Table of Contents Volume 19, 1992 The Pedagogical Utility of a Management Simulation Game in a Business Policy Course Modeling Economic Environments in Business Simulations: Some Comparisons and Recommendations Experiential Learning and TQM Principles: Teaching Behavioral Science in a Business School The Use of Poster Presentations as a Final Project in the Business Policy Course The Device Business: A Management Simulation for Strategy Formulation The Advantages of Experiential learning in the Auditing curriculum A Framework for the Identification of Moderated and Mediated Performance consequences of Pedagogical Alternatives Simulating Qualitative Research Relating to Values and Lifestyle Segmentation A New Market Demand Model for Business Simulators Interactive Optimization Using the Method of Relative Improvement Preferences: Methodology and Empirical Evaluation The Service Trainer Simulation Benefits of Internet Computer Networks for ABSEL Members How Should We Measure Experiential Learning? An Assessment of Simulation Usage in Management Accounting Courses The Influence of Myers-Briggs Type and Group Dynamics on Simulation Performance Effective Leadership Behavior in the Desert Storm Arena: An Application of the Vroom-Yetton-Jago Model Installing and Consolidating Work-Team Values: The Effects of a Multicultural Outdoors Experiential Program Key Determinants and Decision performance in a Business Simulations and Experiential Learning environment Multi-Cultural Experiential Learning: A Computer Simulation in Indonesia Attitudes Toward and Emotions Related to Women as Managers: A Replication and Beyond Scenario Approach to Simulating Consumer Expenditures: A Cross-Cultural Analysis Insights into Ethical Decision making Activities and Organizational Performance: A Management Simulation Analysis of College Students and Managers Evaluating a Business Simulation Program for Joint Venture Negotiation and Management Teaching Business Interviewing Strategies with an Experiential Approach Cooperative Learning Across the Business Curriculum Modeling Total Quality Elements into a Strategy-Oriented Simulation Teaching Business Decision making using a Simulator Extending the Educational Utility of a Simulated Competition within the Confines of an Established Undergraduate Marketing Curriculum Expert Systems Versus Traditional Methods for Teaching Accounting Issues Confidence Extremes Diminish Quality Performance in a Total Enterprise Simulation Can Ethics Be Taught? A Simulation Tests a Traditional Ethics Pedagogy Through The Looking Glass, Inc.: Organizational Climate Research as Experiential Pedagogy The use of Cluster Analysis for Business Game Performance Analysis Power and Ethnicity: An Experiential Learning Exercise (How to Sensitize Students to Diversity) Directed Development of Critical and Creative Thinking Skills for Case Analysis Implementing Total Quality Management in a Computerized Business Simulation Product Quality in Business Simulations Use of Simulation for Ethics Education in Management Satisfying the University's Customers through Total Quality Management Instruction: A Case Study Personality Characteristics and Group Performance in Total Enterprise Simulations Concepts of Interval Estimation and Quality Control Charts via Computer Simulated Sampling An Examination of the Effect of Team Cohesion, Player Attitude, and Performance Expectations on Simulation Performance Results The Effectiveness of Inventory Management and Production Scheduling Training in a Total Quality Management Environment Peer Group Indicators of the External Validity of Business Games: A five-year Longitudinal Study Political Strategies and Personal Actions Does Practice make Perfect? Observations on Simulation Trial The Use of A Non-Business Computer Simulation to Teach Marketing Management BankPro Commercial Bank Simulation The Production Game Pursuing Excellence: Work Strengths, Assets and relevant Values (An Exercise) Test of a Short Outward Bound Experience for College Students What is it that we want Student To Learn? Using Two TQM Philosophies when Playing Blackjack The Lagged Effects of Decision Variables on Financial Performance Measures Used in Two business Simulations The Development of an Experiential Exercise for Career Planning and Effective Job search Performance Measuring Quality in Management of Business Pedagogy Exploring Quality and Productivity Improvement: Using and Experiential Process Toward a Generalized Architecture for Intelligent Reactive Management Systems The Quality Game TQX: Using Expert Systems to Improve Training in Total Quality Management A Simulation of the Effect of the Medicaid Payment Lag on the Financial Position of Community Pharmacies The Use of a Board of Directors to Evaluate and Validate Decisions in a Competitive Graduate Management Simulation Course The Impact of Academic Dishonesty on Business Simulations and Experiential Learning Activities Picture Project: An Experience of Icebreaking and/or Decision-Making An Effective Role-playing Exercise for Teaching Requisite TQM Supervisory Attitudes/Behavior Computerized Management Simulations and Some Correlates of Students' Satisfaction The Timing and Stability of Reactions to Market Structure in a Single Player Simulation Environment A Graphics Application Extension for a Simulated Decision Support System Environment Aspects of a Group Project Utilizing Actual Business data and a Computerized Accounting System The Role of Universities' Extended Learning Department in Assisting Organizations Implement Total Quality Management A three-dimensional Learning Experience to Develop Total Quality Management Skills Estimating Quality Costs by Computer Simulation Applications and Examples of Quality Control Software Assessing Business Pedagogy A Demonstration of an Experiential Process for Exploring Quality and Productivity Improvement Processes An Action-Ethics Dilemma: A Demonstration Org Sim Jr.: A 2-3 Hour Version of the 2-Day Blanchard/Murrell Organization Simulation Building Buildings: An Experiential Exercise in Organizational Structure, Communication, Leadership and Group Dynamics Expert Systems for Organization Design: A Demonstration A Demonstration of Product Quality in a Business Simulation: Version 2 of CEO Two Revolutions, Total Quality Leadership, and the Baldy: The Story of Milliken Total Quality after the Award - The Xerox Story Building a Competitive Advantage through Customer Satisfaction and Reengineering Human Resource Planning: Managing the Only Renewable Resource for a Competitive Advantage Using Simulations to Teach International Issues: An analysis of the Multinational Management Game's Learning Environment Quality Function Deployment: A Tutorial Care and Nurturing of Teams Making a Good Thing Better: Adding TQM to Participative management Empowering Organizations to Redesign and Transform Themselves - Eastman Chemical Using Simulations in Field Management Development of an International Life Insurance Company Reinforcing the TQ Environment via Simulation Transforming a Business College into a Total Quality College