THE GOOD COOKS GUIDE TO TRAINING Development In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 18, 1991 153 ‘THE GOOD COOKS GUIDE TO TRAINING’ Alan Cudworth and Clive Loveluck Training Consultants Limited It may seem an odd title for a workshop in Management training: ‘The Good Cooks Guide to Training’. The analogy is with a chef, and, indeed, in many ways a trainer has the same sort of tasks to undertake. For the purposes of this paper and workshop we use the word ‘Trainer’ to mean everyone involved in a training or learning process whether based in Learning Institutions such as Colleges, Universities and Management Centres or those based in Industry, Commerce and Business. The Trainer, like the Chef, cannot produce the same material time after time, but must vary the diet. But this variation can only be made within certain limitations - the ingredients may differ from time to time, but they are not unlimited. We can look at these ingredients as in the Figure overleaf. The Trainer finds that although his facilities and resources change, they are not unlimited: His costs must be contained, his time limited. There is a close link between these limitations and the participants on his course - is he to treat them as individuals, teams, or groups or all three? Furthermore, what is her to teach -analysis or action; numeracy or lateral thinking? Will he use structured training methods, or experiential methods? All these questions must be answered before the Trainer is in a position to decide whether he is going to lecture, or to “play games”, and when the decision is made, he must search for materials or must go through the exhausting process of constructing his own. This workshop is based upon a recent publication called ‘The Management Trainers Cookbook’ (c) written by the two presenters. The ‘cookbook’ provides the trainer with about thirty ‘ready to go’ examples of different types of training exercises, problems, simulations and games. It aims to provide the trainer with simulation models which can be used as a basis for constructing other exercises and as the workshop will show, provide a mix of ingredients which together -in the appropriate proportions -can help to bring variety into training courses. The workshop will be conducted in three stages Firstly the presenters will introduce the seminar by looking at different styles of management, games/simulations and consider how these can be used effectively as part of an experiential learning programme. Secondly the participants will be divided up into small groups representing Junior Managers and compete with each other to solve a series of management tasks. The tasks have been chosen to cover a range of management problems to ensure their appeal to an audience with very diverse needs. We hope that all delegates will be able to relate to some of these problems which will include ‘thinking’ type problems involving logical/lateral thinking, strategic management and human resource management problems is Each task will be taken from ‘The Cookbook integrated and developed as part of a learning scenario. Particular emphasis will be placed upon the method of solving the problem or management strategy used to arrive at the most suitable solution. Each group will present a short report to all participants and show how those strategies used to solve the problems might be incorporated into a real life situation within a large company. Thirdly the presenters will de-brief the participants by concentrating on the important management issues developed in solving the tasks. It is hoped that this will open out into an informal discussion forum and provide valuable feedback to all those taking part. Finally, the presenters will try to gain some feedback themselves on the value of the workshop as a learning experience and the value of the ‘cooking model’ as a framework for developing other innovations. 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