STUDENT PERCEPTIONS: SIMULATION AND THE CORPORATE POLICY COURSE New Horizons in Simulation Games and Experiential Learning, Volume 4, 1977 110 STUDENT PERCEPTIONS: SIMULATION AND THE CORPORATE POLICY COURSE Nancy Sampson, University of Denver Constantine Sotiriou, University of Denver INTRODUCTION Although the teaching objectives of corporate policy courses are many, there is consensus of opinion among experts that the major objectives are: (a) to teach students how to apply business concepts, and (b) to integrate material from the various functional areas of business. The various approaches used by universities to teach corporate policy can be classified into four categories: (a) lecture and discussion, (b) case studies, (c) case studies and a simulation, and (d) simulation. To date, two major research studies have been conducted to compare student learning in corporate simulation classes using different teaching methods. Both studies measured learning primarily through testing rather than the use of students’ perceptions of the relative effectiveness of each method. The first study was conducted by Anthony P. Raia [1]. This study tested student learning in understanding general course material and skills in applying forecasting techniques and breakeven analysis. It compared a group where cases alone were used, a group where cases and a simple simulation were used, and a group using cases and a more complicated simulation. It was found that (a) the groups using cases and simulation outperformed the case group, and (b) that complexity of simulation did not improve performance. The second study was performed by Joseph Wolfe and Gary R. Guth [2] and found that learning for concept and factual knowledge was superior for case and simulation as compared to case alone. This study was designed to complement the findings of the previous studies by investigating student perceptions relating to simulation and the corporate policy course. METHODOLOGY In the spring quarter of 1976 a study was initiated to examine the perceptions of students in the University of Denver’s corporate simulation course. Students were asked to state their perceptions of simulation as a teaching method as well as their perceptions of their preparedness for the simulation. The evaluations occurred at the beginning and at the end of the corporate policy simulation course. In order to determine perceptions of simulation as a teaching method, students were asked to compare simulation to “lecture- discussion” and “case” formats in teaching students how to New Horizons in Simulation Games and Experiential Learning, Volume 4, 1977 111 apply business concepts and teaching students the interrelationships between decisions made in the various departments of an enterprise. While it is recognized that corporate policy may be taught using lecture-discussions, cases, cases-simulation, and simulation, the course is only taught using simulation at the University of Denver. Then, by necessity, comparisons were made between simulation for teaching corporate policy and other methods (lecture-discussion and cases) in general. Finally it should be noted that, at the time of the study, simulation was not used in any other business courses at the University of Denver. Students were also asked to state their feelings of the need for refresher lectures in core course areas. This was done to determine student perceptions regarding preparedness for the simulation. The rationale for using core course areas as a base is that all core courses are prerequisites to the corporate policy simulation course and that the simulation is designed to integrate relevant theory from the core in decision-making situations. The research study was conducted over a period of three academic quarters and included seven sections of the course under the direction of two faculty members. Students were asked to complete the same questionnaire at the beginning and at the end of the quarter. Two hundred and fifteen students completed the questionnaire at the beginning of the quarter and 199 at the end of the quarter. The corporate simulation class at the University of Denver is required for all senior and first year graduate students. The text used is The Business Policy Game by Richard V. Cotter [3]. The course is offered for two credit hours on a pass-fail basis. Students meet regularly in class for four to five weeks (8 decisions) before completing a full day of decision-making (8 decisions). Final corporate reports, evaluations and a de-briefing are completed two weeks prior to the term’s end enabling students to concentrate on the corporate policy course prior to other end of term efforts. FINDINGS Table 1 shows student responses to the statement "Compared to a lecture and discussion course, I believe that a simulation is more effective in teaching students how to apply business concepts.” New Horizons in Simulation Games and Experiential Learning, Volume 4, 1977 112 Table 2 shows student responses to the statement “Compared to a lecture and discussion course, I believe that a simulation is more effective in teaching students the interrelationships between decisions made in the various departments of an enterprise.” Table 3 shows the responses of students, who in the past had taken at least one case course (75%), to the statement “Compared to a ‘case’ course, I believe that a simulation is more effective in teaching students how to apply business concepts.” New Horizons in Simulation Games and Experiential Learning, Volume 4, 1977 113 Table 4 shows the responses of students, who in the past had taken at least one case course, to the statement “Compared to a ‘case’ course, I believe that a simulation is more effective in teaching students the interrelationships between decisions made in the various departments of an enterprise.” Table 5 shows the answers given by students to the statement, “I believe that I need refresher lectures in some areas of business (accounting, finance, marketing, etc.) to do well in this course.” This question was in the questionnaire completed by students at the beginning of the course. TABLE 5 NEED FOR REFRESHER LECTURES IN SOME AREAS OF BUSINESS --BEGINNING OF COURSE QUESTIONNAIRE— number Relative Adjusted Cumulative Responded Frequency Frequency Adjusted (Percent) (Percent) Frequency (Percent) Strongly Agree 23 10.7 10.7 10.7 Agree 65 31.2 30.2 40.9 No Opinion 59 27.4 27.4 68.4 Disagree 54 25.1 25.1 93.5 Strongly Disagree 124 6.5 6.5 100.0 Total 215 Tables 6 through 10 show student answers to the statement, “I believe that I needed refresher lectures in the following areas before making decisions to do well in this course: understanding financial statements, forecasting techniques, sales force management, product pricing, business law, other.” This question was included in the questionnaire completed by students at the end of the course. New Horizons in Simulation Games and Experiential Learning, Volume 4, 1977 114 TABLE 6 NEED FOR REFRESHER LECTURES ON UNDERSTANDING FINANCIAL STATEMENTS --END OF COURSE QUESTIONNAIRE-- number Relative Adjusted Cumulative Responded Frequency Frequency Adjusted (Percent) (Percent) Frequency (Percent) Strongly Agree 17 8.5 8.6 8.6 Agree 51 25.6 25.8 34.3 No Opinion 30 15.1 15.2 49.5 Disagree 71 35.7 35.9 85.4 Strongly Disagree 29 14.6 14.6 100.0 Total 198 TABLE 7 NEED FOR REFRESHER LECTURES ON FORECASTING TECHNIQUES --END OF COURSE QUESTIONNAIRE— number Relative Adjusted Cumulative Responded Frequency Frequency Adjusted (Percent) (Percent) Frequency (Percent) Strongly Agree 40 20.1 20.1 20.1 Agree 98 45.2 45.2 65.3 No Opinion 26 13.1 13.1 78.4 Disagree 31 15.6 15.6 94.0 Strongly Disagree 12 6.0 6.0 100.0 Total 199 TABLE 8 NEED FOR REFRESHER LECTURES ON SALES FORCE MANAGEMENT --BEGINNING OF COURSE QUESTIONNAIRE— number Relative Adjusted Cumulative Responded Frequency Frequency Adjusted (Percent) (Percent) Frequency (Percent) Strongly Agree 12 6.0 6.0 6.0 Agree 56 28.1 28.1 34.2 No Opinion 50 25.1 25.1 59.3 Disagree 66 33.2 33.2 92.5 Strongly Disagree 15 7.5 7.5 100.0 Total 199 New Horizons in Simulation Games and Experiential Learning, Volume 4, 1977 115 TABLE 9 NEED FOR REFRESHER LECTURES ON PRODUCT PRICING --BEGINNING OF COURSE QUESTIONNAIRE— number Relative Adjusted Cumulative Responded Frequency Frequency Adjusted (Percent) (Percent) Frequency (Percent) Strongly Agree 14 7.0 7.0 7.0 Agree 70 35.2 35.2 42.2 No Opinion 33 16.6 16.6 58.8 Disagree 67 33.7 33.7 92.5 Strongly Disagree 15 7.5 7.5 100.0 Total 199 Table 10 shows the breakdown, by major, of students who answered the questionnaires. TABLE 10 CLASSIFICATION OF RESPONDENTS BY MAJOR Classification Beginning of Course End of Course Questionnaire Questionnaire (Percent) (Percent) Accounting* 13.1 14.0 Econimics* 3.5 2.8 Finance* 13.6 11.2 General Business* 5.0 3.3 Hotel & Restaurant Mgt. 13.0 15.0 Management 16.6 17.3 Marketing 10.6 8.9 Real Estate 8.5 7.9 Statistics .5 .0 MBA 13.6 16.8 MSBA .5 1.9 Grad-other 1.5 .9 * Undergraduate Table 12 shows the cross-tabulation of “student grade point average” versus “cumulative percentage of students who ‘strongly agreed’ and ‘agreed’ on the need for refresher lectures in specific areas of business” (end of course questionnaire). New Horizons in Simulation Games and Experiential Learning, Volume 4, 1977 116 TABLE 12 STUDENT GPA VERSUS NEED FOR REFRESHER COURSES ON: Student Understanding Forecasting Sales Product Business GPA Financial Techniques Force Pricing Law Statements Mgt. (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) Below 2.00 100.0 100.0 50.0 50.0 50.0 2.00-2.50 46.1 66.7 43.6 48.7 20.5 2.51-3.00 44.8 67.2 41.7 50.7 10.6 3.01-3.50 15.8 65.5 22.4 31.0 12.0 Above 3.50 27.3 57.6 27.3 36.4 4.0 Differences are real at the (see across) level of confidence (chi-square test) 97.2 48.0 91.1 60.5 86.6 Cross-tabulations of “student major” versus “need for refresher lectures in specific functional area” shows that students perceive their understanding of their own academic major area to be adequate for the corporate simulation. Therefore, perceived need for refresher lectures was lowest when major area matched the topic in question. For example, accounting and finance majors indicated the least need for refresher lectures on financial statements (end of course questionnaire). CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The results show that the largest percentage of the students who participated in this study believed that as compared to “lecture and discussion” or a “case course” in general, simulation was the better approach to teach them (a) how to apply business concepts, and (b) the interrelationships between decisions made in the various departments of an enterprise. In addition, the results show that a larger percentage of the students felt that simulation was the better approach at the end of the course than at the beginning. The above may be attributed to the fact that most of the students had not been exposed to a rigorous simulation prior to taking this course, especially if all prior course work was at the University of Denver. It is recognized that favorable perceptions of simulation may be due to any or all of the following: 1) uniqueness of simulation to the corporate policy course at the University of Denver 2) pass-fail grade (all other business courses are graded A-F). New Horizons in Simulation Games and Experiential Learning, Volume 4, 1977 117 3) completion of the course well in advance of the end of the term. The results could well change as more courses adopt simulations to supplement other material, a phenomenon which is just now beginning. The results of this study also show that a large percentage of the students who participated in the study felt that they needed refresher lectures on understanding financial statements, forecasting techniques, sales force management, and product pricing in order to do well in the corporate simulation class offered at the University of Denver. The only exception was when the topic was the same as the student’s major. If we accept the premise that “doing well” in a course implies that the learning objectives of the course are achieved, then, offering refresher lectures prior to the actual simulation is necessary. It is suggested that persons who teach a specific simulation course at a specific university do the following: 1. Once Only a. Establish minimum knowledge needed by students in order to “do well” in the simulation. b. Test students to find out their level of knowledge. 2. In subsequent quarters/semesters, offer refresher lectures to bring the students’ knowledge to the desired level prior to the start of the simulation. Professors may select to make attendance optional for students whose major is the same as the topic of the refresher lecture. REFERENCES 1. Raia, Anthony P. “A Study of the Educational Value of Management Games,” Journal of Business, Vol. 39, No. 3 (1966), pp. 339-352. 2. Wolfe, Joseph and Gary R. Guth, “The Case Approach Versus Gaming in the Teaching of Business Policy: An Experimental Evaluation,” Journal of Business, Vol. 48, No. 3 (1975), pp. 349-364. 3. Cotter, Richard V., The Business Policy Game, (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1973). Table of Contents Volume 4, 1977 Double Play for Gaming Effectiveness Adaptive Rule Changes in Computer Simulation Gaming Œ A Means of Pedagogical Reactive Interchange Monte Carlo Simulation in Personnel Management Training Teaching About the Implementation of Job Redesign Using Simulation and Group Discussions An Interactive Simulation of Private Sector Collective Bargaining Leadership Evaluation and training through Behavioral Simulations: Method, Results and Future An assessment of the Effect of Experiential, Simulation and Discussion Pedagologies Used in Laboratory Sections of an Introductory Management Course An Experiential Understanding of the Trust Dimension Using Consulting Cases to teach Business Policy An Experimental Testing of Teaching Methodologies in Marketing Interpersonal Skill Development: The Experiential Training Unit (ETU) and Transfer of Training An Analysis of the Relationship between Personality characteristics and Preferred Styles of Learning Analysis of Effective Communication Skill Development in Graduate Business and Engineering Experiential Education Changing Perceptions of Learning in a Simulated Environment Student Perceptions: Simulation and the Corporate Policy Course Degree of Uniformity in Achievement Motivation Levels of Team Member: Its Effect on Team Performance in a Simulation Game Channel Conflict, Cooperation and Control: an Experiential Learning Exercise Differences in Experiential and Non-Experiential Learners' Reactions to Conflict between Individual and Organizations Behavior The Evolution and Evaluation of a Required, Senior-Level Course in Experiential Business Applications Building Management Skills through Problem Solving A Live-Case Approach to the Business and Society Course Experiential Learning: Toward the Development of a Theoretical Base and the Identification of Variables and the Hypotheses to Guide Research The Role of the Administrator in Experiential Learning and Simulations Some Thoughts on a Theory of the Use of Games and Experiential Exercises Three Applications of the Management of Learning Grid An Analysis of ABSEL: Its Past Achievements and Future Prospects New Horizons in Simulation Research Prediction of Academic Achievement in a Simulation Mode via Personality Constructs Sex Differences in a Bargaining Simulation COM-GAME: A Commodity Trading Game for Use in an Introductory Business Statistics Course A Financial Institution Management Game with Direct Participant Interactions A Non-Computerized Marketing Planning and Strategy Game Delphi in the Classroom: A Demonstration of Forecasting Economic Activity The Potential of Programmable Calculators for Processing Small Business Simulations Can a Small Predominantly Clack University Incorporate the Computer Simulation Gaming Teaching Methodology into it Curriculum Measuring the Effect of an Experiential Exercise Experiential Learning - Analysis of a Partial Success Predicting Participants' Performance and Reactions in an Experiential Learning Setting: An Empirical Investigation A Simplified, Non-Computerized Marketing Channels Game Manufacturers and Retailers: A Negotiation Game for Beginning Management Students Petroleum Management Game A Securities Dealer Simulator SIM ECO SOC with Business Curriculum Modules: A Simulation for Business Ethics and Morals The Picnic: A Perceptual Errors Exercise Salt III; an Experiential Exercise to Highlight the Interpersonal Dynamics Involved in the Negotiation Process Experiential Exercise on Values, Attitudes and Conflict Resolution in Organizational Behavior Kick'N Go: A Product Management and Social Responsibility Dilemma The Use of Self-Assessment Work-shops in a school of Business Administration The Dilemma of Self-Perception