AN EFFECTIVE ROLE-PLAYING EXERCISE FOR TEACHING REQUISITE TQM SUPERVISORY ATTITUDES/BEHAVIORS Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 19, 1992 224 AN EFFECTIVE ROLE-PLAYING EXERCISE FOR TEACHING REQUISITE TQM SUPERVISORY ATTITUDES/BEHAVIORS William E. Stratton, Idaho State University ABSTRACT This paper describes the use of a classic role-playing exercise to help managers appraise their attitudes and behaviors for effectiveness in a TQM environment. INTRODUCTION Total Quality Management (TQM) and similar approaches to improving organizational performance assume that managers deal with subordinates in certain ways. To be successful the supervisory role must change from that of director, decision- maker, and controller to one of helper, trainer, and coach. This transition in managerial outlook is usually embraced intellectually by those involved, but the required changes in attitudes and behaviors often do not follow. The role playing exercise described here effectively helps managers recognize their attitudes and the effects they have in a decision situation. THE ROLE PLAYING EXERCISE A classic role playing exercise, “The Change of Work Procedure,” appeared first in a book by Norman R.F. Maier (1952, pp. 153-157) and later in Maier, Solem, and Maier (1957, pp. 82-98; 1975, pp. 75-90). The original exercise explored resistance to change in relation to the approach to change adopted by a manager. The supervisor is in possession of newly acquired time study data indicating that a group of three assemblers reporting to this supervisor could improve their productivity significantly by changing their work procedures. The workers roles imply they should favor productivity increases since they are paid on a group piece-rate basis, but they are also concerned that boredom could ensue if the new methods suggested by the time-study man are adopted. The author suggests workers will accept or reject changes depending on how they are approached. He elaborates on how “consultative” approaches, as contrasted to the “selling” of management solutions, usually result in more creative solutions which are more highly supported by the workers, and hence more likely to actually work when put into practice. This exercise does a superb job of bringing out the issues mentioned above, but it is also a very powerful vehicle for training managers in a TQM environment. THE TQM ENVIRONMENT Total Quality Management implies an environment in which all organization members are committed to continually improving their job performance. For this culture of commitment to exist, supervisors must no longer act as the primary decision-makers, telling subordinates what to do and then ensuring they do it. The supervisory role becomes one of teacher, helper, and aide to subordinates, calling for very different ways of thinking about and dealing with subordinates. Intellectually, many supervisors accept the philosophy behind TQM and the need to adopt more participative practices. In reality, however, ingrained behaviors do not change. A new approach to using this classic role-play, however, helps supervisors understand the real impact of their attitudes and behaviors. THE ROLE-PLAY PROCEDURE Participants are divided into quartets, each group designates its supervisor, role sheets are distributed, and the groups proceed to read their roles. Next, a meeting of the supervisors is called. Two approaches can be taken at this point. One is simply to instruct the supervisors to decide what they want to do, and to return to their groups and do it. The second is to instruct each of them to take on either a participative or directive leadership style and proceed to resolve the situation. The instructions in no way dictate the solution to be pursued. Participants are free to go after any specific solution (the one suggested in the role description, or any other idea they come up with), or to merely seek some improvement, and go after that. Usually the directive supervisors feel that they must solve the problem themselves. They present their proposed solutions, tend to resist any objections from the workers (whether rational or not), and often seek to exact compliance by making concessions. The participative supervisors tend to present the data to subordinates as a problem to be resolved. Subordinates generally become cooperative and suggest one of a number of possible synergistic solutions, which utilize available data more completely, are more likely to succeed upon implementation, and do not leave a residue of resentment in their wake. The learning for many participants is to see how successful change depends on the basic attitude of the supervisor entering the group, which subconsciously acts as the driving force behind the dynamics of the interaction. The exercise is a powerful experience. Those trying their very best to be effective realize that going about it the wrong way makes success virtually impossible, despite good intentions and mighty efforts to convince others to accept their solutions. REFERENCES Maier, Norman R. F. (1952), Principles of Human Relations, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Maier, Norman R. F., Solem, Allen R., and Maier, Ayesha A. (1957), Supervisory and Executive Development: A Manual for Role Playing, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc Maier, Norman R. F., Solem, Allen R., and Maier, Ayesha A., (1975), The Role-Play Technique: A Handbook for Management and Leadership Practice, La Jolla, CA: University Associates, Inc. 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