THE GENERATION AND APPLICATION OF EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR MANAGEMENT POLICY AND STRATEGY SIMULATION GAMES Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 9, 1982 73 THE GENERATION AND APPLICATION OF EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR MANAGEMENT POLICY AND STRATEGY SIMULATION GAMES Eugene G. Gomolka, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University William A. Ward, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Mary Ann Parrot, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University ABSTRACT The use of computer simulations as a methodology for college teaching has become widespread. A new generation of sophisticated and innovative classroom exercises that imitate real situations has been spurred by technological developments. Such simulations have found applications in such diverse fields as history, medicine, law, and business administration. Accompanying the application of simulations in business administration courses are a variety of methodological questions, including the choice of level of difficulty, simulation content, form of team or group composition, mechanics of simulation operation, integration of the simulation with the remainder of the course content, and course emphasis on the simulation. This paper will consist of a review of these methodological issues, a summary of the appropriate applications of simulations in one particular course, Business Policy and Strategy, critique of various simulation games, and a sharing of experiences from authors, teachers, and students at various educational levels. EVALUATION CRITERIA The decision by a trainer or teacher to utilize a Management Policy and Strategy Simulation (MPSS) game in a training or academic setting can be arrived at in a variety of ways. Dissatisfaction with the traditional case/lecture method, based upon perceived ineffectiveness or tiredness with this methodology, can be one rationale. Reports of positive experiences by colleagues, journal articles researching this methodology, previous experience as a student, departmental policy, and/or the desire to experiment can be other supportive reasons. Whatever the means by which this decision was reached, the decision-maker faces a number of alternatives to choose from. Simulations such as The Multinational Management Game(1), STRATSIM(2), The Executive Game(3), The Executive Simulation(4), The Management Game(s), and Tempomatic IV(6) are six of the possible choices which exist. Without spending a large amount of time to read, understand, and evaluate each possibility, the trainer or teacher is faced with the possibility of making a choice which is suboptimal or nonsuitable for his/her situation. The objective of the present paper is to present a set of evaluation criteria for MPSS games which the authors have developed and found to be useful, and to compare and contrast, on these criteria, the six simulations mentioned above. In order to compare and contrast MPSS games, a review of various sources was undertaken in order to assess the construct of the simulations. This review revealed that MPSS games primarily differ in the scenario presented, the types of functional decisions to be made, and the structure of the game. These criteria are summarized in Table 1, and briefly discussed below. The scenario Includes the Industry in which the game is set, the products manufactured, the inclusion or exclusion of international sales markets, the broad economic indicators utilized, and the nature of demand curves for the product(s). In the functional areas of Marketing, Manufacturing, Finance, and Administration, a wide degree of difference in emphasis and decision capability exists among MPSS games. In the Marketing area, the types and numbers of products, price setting capability, advertising, sales (including people, reimbursement, hiring, and training), market areas, seasonal variations, quality control, R&D, and delivery of merchandise are possible variants. Manufacturing decision variations often include plant capacity, raw material purchase, labor costs, engineering study, production schedule, the handling of over-time, plant expansion, new plants, depreciation and maintenance schedules, and cost of goods sold. Finally, in Finance and Administration, company organization, stock sale and purchase, dividends, accounts receivable and payable, notes payable, loans(planned and unplanned), bonds, reinvestment of funds, taxes, and administrative expenses are handled in entirely different manners by the various MPSS games. The game structure consists of aspects such as the number of companies/teams which can be handled, the number of decisions to make, the number of products handled at the wholesale versus the retail level, whether the company is a new or existing company, the number of quarters or time periods for the game, the number and types of market reports available, and the number and form of output documents provided to the students. Additional concerns in this area include the capability of the instructor to change or modify the MPSS variables, the availability and usefulness of an instructor’s manual, the ease or difficulty of bringing the game onto a computer center system, the ease or difficulty of assembling each quarter or time period’s inputs, the handling of the new company carryover history generated with each quarter or time period, ease of debugging the inevitable errors which appear, the availability of auxiliary programs to extend or enrich the MPSS, and the clarity of the student manual for the game. APPLICATION OF EVALUATION CRITERIA In the presentation of this paper, a complete set of tables will be distributed to trace the application of the enumerated scenario, functional decisions, and game structure criteria to compare and contrast the six MPSS games previously listed. The inclusion of this information allows the decision-maker to, at a glance, trace the variations which can be encountered, and to select those constraints which outline the limitations of a particular MPSS application. On the attached Tables 2, 3, and 4, the economy and industry of each game is reviewed, the richness and weaknesses of each game’s functional applications are summarized, the use of decision tools are specified, and comments on the MPSS manual itself are detailed as examples of the kind of analyses which can be generated from these criteria. For example, if the instructor wishes to utilize a MPSS which has a strong Marketing and Production orientation, STRATSIM offers this combination, at the expense of a weak financial orientation. The Business Management Laboratory appears to be the most complex of the MPSS Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 9, 1982 74 games surveyed, indicating a preferable choice in a graduate or executive training situation. There is some variance in the uae of Accounting ration as decision tools, and more emphasis placed on other tools by The Executive Simulation and The Multinational Management Game. In reviewing the participant’s manual for each of the games, while they are all rated as good or better, The Business Management Laboratory has some features which make it the highest rated in this category. The discussion of this information and the more detailed information included in the full set of Tables will be the major points addressed in the presentation of the paper. REFERENCES [1] Edge, Alfred C., Bernard Keys, and William E. Remus, The Multinational Management Game (Dallas: Business Publications, Inc., 1980). [2] Evered, Roger and Richard A. Craig, STRATSIM (Champaign, Ill.: Stipes Publishing Co., 1979). [3] Henshaw, Richard C. and James R. Jackson, The Executive Game (Homewood, Ill.: Irwin, 1918, 3rd edition) [4] Keys, Bernard and Howard Leftwich, The Executive Simulation (Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 1977, 2nd edition). [5] McFarlan, F. Warren, James L. McKenney, John A. Seiler, The Management Game (New York: MacMillan, 1970) [6] Scott, Charles R. and Alonzo J. Strickland, TEMPOMATIC TV: A Management Simulation (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1980, 2nd edition). TABLE 1 COMPARISON AND CONTRAST CRITERIA A. Flipchart of Comparison I. The Economy: The Scenario II. types of Decisions a. Marketing 1. Types and numbers of products 2. Price setting 3. Advertising 4. Sales: people, reimbursement, hiring, training 5. Market area 6. Seasonal variations 7. Quality control, existing product 8. R & D Product development-new products 9. Delivery of merchandise b. Manufacturing 1. Capacity 2. Raw material 3. Labor costs 4. Engineering (process) study 5. Production schedule 6. Overtime 7. Plant expansion (existing plant) 8. New Plants 9. Depreciation and maintenance 10. Cost of goods sold c. Finance and Administration 1. Organization Vertical/Horizontal Centralized/Decentralized 2. Stock sale and purchase 3. Dividends 4. Accounts receivable 5. Accounts payable, notes payable 6. Loans; planned, unplanned 7. Bonds 8. Reinvestments of funds 9. Taxes 10. Administrative expenses III. Game Structure a. number companies/teams b. number decisions to make enumerated? Y/N number forms, how grouped/categorized c. number products wholesale vs. retail defined? YIN d. Existing vs. New Company (past financial info Y/N, how much) e. Length of game f. Market reports available? Y/N what kinds B. Evaluation Table I. Richness/Complexity a. Marketing b. Production/Manufacturing c. Finance II. Decision Tools a. Use of standard accounting ratios, instruction in use of b. Other decision tools Ill. Manual organization a. Format b. Content detail IV. Ease of reading and/or reference Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 9, 1982 75 Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 9, 1982 76 Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 9, 1982 77 Table of Contents Volume 9, 1982 The Value of Conjoint Analysis in Enhancing Experiential Learning The Effect of Participation in a Collective Bargaining Simulation on the Expectations and Attitudes of Union and Management Representatives Conflict Resolution in Experiential Learning The Use of Simulation to Test Theories of Bargaining in a Business Context The Nominal Group Technique: A Vehicle for Improving Case Method Courses A Framework for Developing a Business Policy Case Produce Your Own Video Cases for Classroom Use: A Demonstration An Experiential Effect from Charismatic Encounters Nine Topic Oriented Mini Simulations: Descriptions, Purposes, and Observations A Hospital Simulator (HOSPSIM) A Report of the Model and Results Expected from Field Testing An Evaluation of SLIM (A System Laboratory for Information Management) An Experiential Exercise Introducing Students to the Role Ambiguity Faced by Salespersons The Advertising Research Project as an Innovative Experiential Learning Technique The Small Group Research Project: An Experiential Learning Approach for Undergraduate Marketing Research Students The Relationship of Cognitive Style Maps to the Preference for Experiential Learning of Undergraduate Students The Learning Style Inventory Debate Revisited: An Empirical Assessment fo the Construct Validity Issue Related to Experiential Learning Theory Conducting a Classroom to Facilitate Career Goal Attainment Corporation Executives' Ratings of Policy Learning Techniques The Generation and Application of Evaluation Criteria for Management Policy and Strategy Simulation Games Experiential Opportunities with Microcomputers Leading Students to Learning: The Teacher's Obligation An Experiment in Teaching Principles Courses: The Mini Debate Formula Developing Creative Thinking Through Experiential Learning Heuristic and Systematic Evaluation of Policy: Exercise in Decision Making A Case Study Approach for the Litigation Decision: Employing Decision Analysis to Determine When a Business Should Settle or Go to Court Learning Negotiation Skills Through Simulation Union vs. Management: A Simulation of Collective Bargaining in Action Inside the Black Box: An Analysis of Underlying Demand Functions in Contemporary Business Simulations A Review of Channel Exercises and the Description of a New Alternative SIMCON I: A computer Based Simulation Model for Evaluating Physical Distribution Strategies Involving Order Consolidation Toward Competency-Based Management Education: The Interpersonal/Communications cluster The Value of Pre-Teaching in Role Playing Some Effects of Positive Personal Reinforcement upon Socializing Students in an Experiential Learning Course Who Gains and Who Does Not from Experiential learning Toward the Ultimate Experiential Exercise, the Student View Simulating Professional Writing Experiences in the Classroom The Johari Window as a Measure of Personal Development Windows Into Management: A Participative Aid to Learning Get Your Faculty Involved A Pedagogical Approach to Business Gaming for the Commuter Student Super Service for Computer Game Administrators Expand the Role of Simulation with Creative Scenarios The Delivery, Administration, and Evaluation of an Executive Development Program Using a Total Enterprise Business Game An Application of Experiential Learning in International Trade and Foreign Direct Investment International Management: Building Bridges Analysis of a Business Simulation Exercise: Organizational Survival and Success The FALRIS Organizational Scavenger Hunt Trainee V. Trainee Subordinates' Evaluation of Experiential Learning Longitudinal Analysis of an Innovative Teaching Intervention Student Perceptions of Effective Teacher Behaviors Revisited Realism and Learning: The Evolution of a Management Game A Merger and Acquisition Simulation A Stock Market Investor Simulation Experiential Learning in Consumer Behavior: Perceptual and Attitude Change Exercises The Recycling Industry Problems of Women in Management: A Role Playing Exercise for a Course in Contemporary Organizational Problems Experimental Three Weekend Course: Empirical Results A Process for the Analysis and Development of Course Content and Instructional Methodology for Large Class Sections Problems Associated with the Assessment of Experiential learning Using the Multiple Choice Test Combining Lecture and Simulation Teaching Methodologies Qualitative Determinants of Team Performance in a Simulation Game The Effects of Different Team Sizes on Business Game Performance Comparison of Problem-Solving Technologies: A Free Simulation Approach Consistency in Business Games A computer Simulation of Personnel Selection Decisions Giving Praise Exercise Job Enrichment A Look at the Spoken and Written Word in Organizations A Pattern of Group Communication A New Generation in Business Simulation Adapting Mainframe Business Simulations to Min Computers File Access is the Essential Prerequisite to Time-Flexible and Interactive Computer Simulation A Microcomputer Simulation for Teaching Retail Location Strategy Blocks & Chips: A computer-Assisted, Geno-Typical Entrepreneurial Game Development of a Self-Paced Course in Business Statistics The Involvement of Student Bodies in the Teaching of Advanced Technical Concepts Systems Learning Sequence: An Experiential Course Module for Management Information Systems An Experiential Approach to Developing Managerial Competencies Communication Research, Inc. An Experiential Learning Activity Developed as a Practicum for a Course in Organizational Communication