THE USE OF PRE-PLAYS IN MANAGEMENT EDUCATION Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 11, 1984 79 THE USE OF PRE-PLAYS IN MANAGEMENT EDUCATION Edward A. Powers, American Management Associations ABSTRACT The American Management Associations is in the fourth year of management education programs based upon a competency model. The model was developed for the AMA by McBer and Company and involves 18 competencies related to managerial initiative and planning, analytic skills, human resources management, direction of subordinates, and organizational leadership. Clients of the program are active managers from Fortune 500 companies. In its assessment center, courses, and developmental programs, the AMA has utilized pre-plays of expected situations which participant/managers are likely to face when they return to their work places. Such simulations provide a realistic scrimmage for participant/managers who learn in that situation whether they do in fact have a handle on the competencies they seek to utilize. The group, video recording, and the faculty mentor assist in the evaluation. INTRODUCTION The American Management Associations, a non-profit corporation, has been doing management education for sixty years. Recently its efforts have focused upon a model of managerial competency developed for the AMA by McBer and Company of Boston. The AMA’s Institute for Management Competency has developed three programs--a master’s level graduate program, an assessment/professional development workshop called the Competency Development Laboratory, and skill courses which use the competency model as foundational. Simulations, role plays, and videotape utilization play a heavy part in such programs. One technique which shows extremely high effectiveness in these programs is the pre-play (an anticipatory role play) , used at the end of courses and of the Competency Development Laboratory. THE PRE-PLAY A pre-play is a lightly scripted scenario which the participant will actually face in which he or she expects to use a particular competency. Colleagues in a class work group play the roles of others in the situation which he or she expects to face back in the work place. An extensive evaluation process ensues after the role play with the participant/manager leading off-- how did it go? did you do what you expected to? what helped you do so? what complicated your doing so? Group members then report on their experience with the focal participant/manager and then critique the use of the competencies. The faculty mentor has the last word both in critique, summation and proposing alternate approaches. The AMA uses the pre-play toward the end of the course or developmental laboratory. It represents steps 4, 5, and 6 in the Competency Acquisition Process (experimentation; practice; and application) . The first steps which have preceded the pre-plays moment in the sun are recognition, understanding, and assessment. Thus, participants have already come to understand the competency model, the particular competencies, and their own strengths in relationship to them. A developmental need has been flagged by the participant/manager and an appropriate situation where the competency’s use is applicable is identified. For example, a staff person in a loosely structured association of medical facilities sought to work on Managing Group Process (essentially team building) and chose to role play a decision meeting regarding a new program whose cost/benefit ratio was uncertain. A marketing manager was interested in doing a research project on advertising media mix and effectiveness which would be charged to participating units and in this role play sought to build a coalition (the competency-- Use of Socialized Power) to achieve the goal. THE DEMONSTRATION The demonstration will use video-tape examples of actual pre-plays done by participant/managers. In the demonstration the pre-play examples will be accompanied by distributed background information on the particular person and situation, the competencies being tried out, and the process of preparation and analysis. Demonstration participants will, thus, learn something of the AMA competency model and its utility in role play situations and in management education. Why is it effective? It builds upon the assessment process and student goals. It utilizes a group with a history of trust and effective feedback. It has a behavioral focus. The situations are real. It is video taped and then critiqued under the leadership of skilled faculty. Table of Contents Volume 11, 1984 Simulation Gaming as a Means of Researching Substantive Issues: Another Look A Further Test of the Group Formation and its Impacts in a Simulated Business Environment Impact of Economic Patterns on Student Performance in Computer Business Simulation Games Majority Fallacy Game with Independent Student Simulation and a Case Introducing the Marketing Channel Laboratory A Comparative Evaluation of a Marketing Game A Study of Comparative Effectiveness of Problem-Solving Technologies The Impact of Hierarchical and Egalitarian Organization Structure on Group Decision Making and Attitudes Risk-Free Decision Making The EX-STRA Export Strategy Game Computer Education for Management Students Developing a Computer Game/Job Simulation to Teach Functional Literacy Skills Experiencing Socialization First Hand: An Experiential Exercise in Organizational Socialization Networking Distributive Versus Integrative Approaches to Negotiation: Experiential learning Through a Negotiation Simulation Managerial Education and the Real World: Foudations for Designing Educational Tools Diagnosing Group Climate to Improve Supervisory Effectiveness Student background as a Factor in Simulation Outcomes: The Collective bargaining Example The Use of Pre-Plays in Management Education Experiencing the Process Debrief: A Workshop ABSEL Megatrend Roots MEGATRENDS for Business Simulation and Experiential Learning The Effects and Consequences of the Megatrends on Simulation Gaming: One View Opportunities for the Future: ABSEL's Role Experiential Learning-Based Discussion vs. Lecture Based Discussion: A Comparative Analysis in a Classroom Setting An Evaluation of the Minitab Package in Teaching Business Statistics Concepts A Path Analytic Study of the Effects of Alternative Pedagogies Developing and Using Weighted Application Blanks: An Experiential Exercise Building Airplanes Individual vs. Group Grade: An Exercise in Decision making A Marketing Plan Exercise: Development of Interteam Cooperation Using a Coordinated Experiential Approach Using Student Experience as the Basis for a Consumer Behavior Learning Exercise Student Evaluations of Instructors: What do Students Believe? A Description of the SOFTCAT Computer Assisted Teaching System Comparisons of Practitioners' and Professors' Perceptions of Business Policy Content and Learning Methods The Perceived Relationship Between Pedagogies and Attaining Course Objectives in the Business Policy Course The Use of Simulation in the Teaching of Business Policy A Research Study on Strategic Decisions in a Business Simulation Strategic Management Decision Making Researched Via Simulation Gaming Using Simulation to Investigate Factors in Competitive Bidding Combining Experiential Learning and management Assistance A Model for Teaching Management Skills Putting Experience Back into Experiential Learning: A Demonstration The Teaching and Behavioral Measurement of Managerial/Organizational Competencies: Developing Experiential Exercises and Simulations A Simulation Game Model for Conglomerates QCLAB - A Microcomputer Laboratory in Quality Control CTSS: A Commodity Trading Simulation System Problem Solving: An Exercise on Learning, Coaching, and Operant Conditioning A Demonstration of the Effects of Feedback as a Category of Reinforcement The Assessment of Feedback and Disclosure in Interpersonal Relations: An Experiential Exercise A Study to Determine Whether the Teaching of Basic Grammar Skills in Business Communication Classes Improves Students' Business Letter Writing Corporate Maladies Through the Eyes of the Memo Writer: A Seldom Used Experiential Tool Executive Bailout at Shake & Spear, Inc. The H.E./L&P Merger Intercultural Nonverbal Communications: An Experiential Exercise The Evolving Business Policies Course - Is Management Gaming the Logical Pedagogy? The Use of Decision Simulations in Management Training Programs: Current Perspectives Humanizing the Business of Medicine: The Use of Simulated Patients to Train medical Students Systematic Integration of Simulation Methods in a Graduate Management Curriculum Modeling Non-Price Factors in the Demand Functions of Computerized Business Using Spacial Relationships to Estimate Demand in Business Simulations Two Algorithms For Redistribution Of Stockouts In Computerized Business Simulations Leadership And Strategic Behavior A Comparison Of Two Business Strategy Simulations For Microcomputers Incorporating Decision Support Systems Into Management Simulation Games: A Model And Methodology Using Micro-Computers To Support The Analysis Of Complex Cases: It's As Easy As 1-2-3 Strategic Formulation Consistent With Pims: A Micro-Computer Application