THE ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM Development In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 18, 1991 139 THE ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM Wendy Klepetar, College of St Benedict, Department of Management Barbara Edwards, St John’s University, Department of Management John Parley, College of St Benedict, Department of Management ABSTRACT The Organizational Leadership Program is a yearlong simulation including role playing, reading, and management curriculum for a select group of students. They are actively involved in the learning process, with emphasis placed on the dynamics of leadership. This paper highlights information about the program’s development, goals, structure, and activities. THE PROGRAM The Organizational Leadership Program is a year-long, sixteen credit organizational simulation that serves as the management major for a group of sixty-four students annually. Experiential learning becomes the primary instructional method, not just for a course, but for the entire curriculum. Students build their own organizations within which they enact managerial roles. Application to the Organizational Leadership Program is the first step in the simulation. Junior management majors are invited to attend informational meetings in the Spring Semester. Application procedures mirror the recruitment and selection procedures employed by firms seeking entry-level managerial personnel. A selection committee consisting of current faculty and students is formed. Applicants are individually interviewed by teams of three committee members, using a standardized interview format. The teams then meet as a committee of the whole to make selection decisions. The new recruits attend organizational functions in the spring as a form of orientation. They are assigned summer readings as preparation for the Pall. All participants meet daily for two hours in September for a Seminar, “Developing Managerial Competence.” Topics include organizational and managerial theory, review of the functions of typical business organizations, and orientation to The industry selected by the faculty and ‘-o the external environment. The seminar is designed to review, expand, and focus the material learned in the first three years of collegiate business education. Students are divided into their organizations by the third week of classes. Diversify in terms of functional interests and gender guide team formation. Each organization is headed by a CEO who is selected by the firm’s Board of Directors. These Boards are composed of the faculty members who are teaching the Program. All Program participants are invited to nominate themselves for the CEO positions. They submit letters of application, resumes, and letters of recommendation. They are individually interviewed by the Board. A common set of interview questions is again used. The Board selects the best applicants, who then go through further selection procedures, which have varied from year to year. The Board then selects the CEOs and begins to give assignments to the companies. The last assignment in September is the preparation of an Industry Characteristics report. The firms then begin operations. Each one is given an office, which is available to members of the firm throughout the day. We are in the manufacturing sector of the economy and this office represents corporate headquarters. Each firm also possesses a simulated factory and warehouse, with accompanying workers and salespeople. The students begin to compete weekly within a computer simulation, which requires them to make a full range of business decisions. A series of statements are generated to reflect their performance and their competitive position within the industry. We are involved in an on-going effort to improve this computer simulation in order to mirror the richness of the experience within the OLP. We are also developing a computerized database describing the employees who work outside of corporate headquarters. The simulation administration works closely with the students to incorporate their innovations within the simulation. By the end of October the companies must define their mission statement, describe their produc’ line, and begin to envision factory layout, marketing plans, etc. As the year progresses operations are expanded. During the first week they are encouraged to begin the task of designing their organizations and their jobs. The bulk of the student’s’ work consists of the daily operation of their businesses. There are also assignments planned by the faculty. Each firm must negotiate a labor contract with faculty who enact the roles of labor leaders. Twice a year the companies present annual reports to the stockholders. At the end of the year, each firm devises a five-year strategic plan. Each student must attend four of the Management Development Seminars. The Program is also enriched by inviting in members of the academic and business communities to give workshops and presentations of interest to the students. They have introduced variations such as major reorganizations, including mergers and acquisitions and international expansions. There have been EEOC suits when firms have engaged in discriminatory personnel practices, and industrial sabotage. Performance in the OLP is evaluated by peers and faculty. Students receive two grades each semester; one based on individual performance and one based on The performance of their company as a whole. The students also evaluate the Program and instructors. Faculty roles in the OLP include advisor, teacher, Board member, counselor, union negotiator, and program administrator. The Organizational Leadership Program has been very successful. The number of applicants to the OLP has increased from forty-two to ninety-four. Corporate recruiters have been enthusiastic about its graduates, and informal discussion with alumni indicates a high level of satisfaction. REFERENCES ARE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST Table of Contents Volume 18, 1991 Personality Types and Total Enterprise Simulation Performance Using DIS 'n DAT as a Decision Support System for a Marketing Simulation Game Theoretical Derivation of a Market Demand Function for Business Simulators The Ethnographic Case Study: An Experiential Approach to Teaching Retail Management Electronic Bulletin Board Systems (BBS): Support Software for Computer Simulations The New Budget Game Negame: A Cross-Cultural Role-Play to Introduce Students to the Familiarization Stage of Negotiations Modeling Short-Run Cost and Production Functions Using Sheppard's Lemma in Computerized Business Simulations Increasing Simulation Realism through the Modeling of Step Costs Predicting Simulation Performance: Differences Between Groups and Individuals A Facility Location Case to Stimulate Classroom Interaction Educational Effectiveness of Business Simulation Gaming: A Comparative Study of Students and Practitioner Perspective Ethical Dilemmas in Experiential Learning: Issues and Strategies A Critical Review and Assessment of ABSEL's Award-Winning Procedures and Protocols Political Risk: A Simulation for Business Practitioners Upside Down: A Cross-Cultural Game in Experiential Learning Gorby's Dilemma: From Communism to Free Enterprise in Two Hours Strategic Market: Planning with the COMPLETE Product Portfolio Analysis Package: A Marketing Decision Support System Career Concepts and Total Enterprise Simulation Performance Experiential Learning in Human Resources: A Performance Appraisal Application Managerial Motivation and Realism Among MBA Student as Viewed through The Looking Glass, Inc. Simulation An Experiential Approach to Teaching Data Analysis Using MYSTAT: Rationale, Procedures and Results Practicing What Was Preached: A Sequential Learning Model put to the Test Student Attitudes about Policy Course Simulations An Investigation of the Relationship Between Simulation Play, Performance Level and Recency of Play on Exam Scores The Effect of Leadership and Cognitive Processing Styles upon Peer Performance Evaluation: Implication for the Utilization of Simulations in Business Pedagogy On the Transfer of Market Oriented Business Games to Socialist Cultures An Application of Financial Analysis of the Business Firm in a Simulated Competitive Environment Collective Bargaining Simulation: An Exercise based on a Familiar Theme Making Business Policy a Strategic Management Experience A Student Exercise for Intergrating the Concepts of Power and Motivation The Boundaries Extended: An Experiment Comparing Dialectical Inquiry, Devil's Advocacy and Consensus Using the Executive Game Using a Simulation Package to Develop a Simulation Exercise in Cost Accounting Success Factors in Experiential Training for Creative Problem-Solving Teams An Experiential Approach for teaching Quality management Critical Success Ratios: A Comparison of Two Business Simulations in a Multi-Year Environment Stocklogs: A Classroom Exercise for Teaching the Logistical Relationship of Location and Inventory The Organizational Leadership Program Simulating Business Decision-Making: Using Statistical Cases for Classroom Exercises Scripting for the Classroom Upgrading the Business Strategy and Policy Game Developing Student Team-Building and Leadership Skills Using Computer-Aided Experiential learning Strategies Organizing and Outward Bound Field Trip An Architecture for Extensible Simulation Games Performance in the Capstone Business Course: What is the effect of Pedagogy, Learning Styles, and Student Motivation? Operational Strategy with Participant-Modifiable Parameters An Example of a Personal Selling Case Transformed into a Role Play Scenario Instructional Software: It's Evolution and Current State of the Art in the Business Curriculum Ascertaining Performance Variables for use in Determining Student's Grades in Courses Employing a Business Simulation Designing Management Seminars Using Business Simulations The Accounting Information Systems Course: Bridging the Gap between the Classroom and the Real World The Good Cooks Guide to Training Excellence: Working with Passion A Demonstration on Multiple Data Collection Methods: Seeing Strategic Issues Through the Looking Glass Simulation Systems Analysis and Design: Why Undergraduate Education gets a Failing Grade Accommodating Organizational Culture: An Evaluation of Management Development Delivery Modes in Varying Organizational Cultures Modeling Total Quality into Business Simulations The Political Futures Game Meeting Meeting Objectives