THE QUALITY GAME Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 19, 1992 218 THE QUALITY GAME Joao S. Neves, Trenton State College ABSTRACT The Quality Game simulates a situation in which a firm experiences all sorts of quality problems. The players are called to participate in a quality meeting to analyze the production process, the product and the firms relationship with its customers. Through the implementation of the changes of proposed in the quality meeting, the participants recognize the advantages of total quality management concepts and techniques. INTRODUCTION The Quality Game can be played in many settings. An ideal situation is a group of 15 to 20 participants. Up to twelve people will be selected to play specific roles in a hypothetical firm while the rest will act as customers, or as acute observers. The Quality Game is easy to set up. The instructor starts by explaining the purpose of the game, the nature of the activities, and the roles expected. ‘The instructor should proceed with the task assignments, and line up five desks to function as workstations. Timing of the game is useful in that it will help understand the impact of quality on cost and capacity. There can be one quality inspector. Initially the instructor may provide the quality inspector with a calculator since he/she is responsible for checking the result of all operations. The exact role of the quality inspector may be decided by the group at the quality meeting. The instructor should act as the general supervisor, making sure that the inputs reach the production process and that the final product is delivered to the customer. PRODUCT The product in this organization is a card with a number on it. This number is the result of a sequence of arithmetic operations. Customers provide two inputs and ask for the result of a particular sequence of operations. The two inputs consist of two numbers which are materialized in the form of two-index cards-an X-card and a Y-card. The two inputs go through a series of production steps arid the final product consists of a stack of the cards used in the intermediary stages stapled together. On the top surface, the result of the arithmetic operations is written. CUSTOMERS Customers come to the firm with one or more requests, that is, one or more pairs of X-and Y-cards. Customers do not know the exact sequence of operations necessary to arrive to the final product. However, they will find out very soon if the product “works’, that is, it the result is not correct, the customer returns to the firm and demands that the product be fixed. Different customers, or different orders, may have different quality specifications. For example, the final result may be acceptable rounded to the closest integer. Alternatively, one, two or more decimal places may define the acceptable limits of specification. Typically, customers do not tell these limits to the firm. PRODUCTION PROCESS The production process is organized into five workstations. Each workstation (WS) is responsible for calculating two operations. The instructor starts the game by supplying ten pairs of cards to the participants who act as customers. These cards are to be processed by the group. Many quality problems are likely to arise. QUALITY MEETING After the first batch o1 ten cards is processed and all quality problems between the firm and the customer are resolved the instructor will call a quality meeting. The purpose of this meeting is for the entire group-workers, customers, and observers-to think about quality and propose changes that will lead to a better performance. The group should focus on the causes for defectives and the means to overcome them. One of the members should take some notes. A fishbone graph may be constructed on the board. The instructor should provide some leadership in terms of assuring that different areas of quality improvement are covered. After the quality meeting, the instructor will release a second batch of ten cards. These will be processed by the group in a similar manner as before except that the quality proposals have been incorporated. Many fewer defectives will occur this time. The time necessary to complete this batch will be significantly reduced. Less people will be involved in the production process, and it will be easier to meet the more stringent quality specifications. Here are some topics for the quality meeting: (a) change the quality control strategy, from quality-at- the-end to quality control at the critical operation or to quality-at-the-source; (b) provide equipment to critical operations, that is. assign the calculator to the square root operation rather than to the quality control function; (c) specify at he beginning of the operations the number of decimal places necessary; (d) Redefine the work methods: stop stapling the cards together which makes rework very difficult.; (e) mark the cards with either an X or an Y and simplify the numbering system on the cards; reorder the cards before starting to work; (f) redefine the product: simplify the formula, eliminate operations and work stations; decide what to do with the freed workers. DEBRIEFING Depending on the circumstances, this phase should take 10 to 25 minutes and it should focus on the accomplishments of the entire group. The emphasis is on the process of analyzing the causes of defectives and on designing effective ways to overcome them rather than on issues of productivity or individual performance. 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