ABSEL's Historical Research Interests Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 26, 1999 ABSEL'S HISTORICAL RESEARCH INTERESTS Anthony J. Faria, University of Windsor Joseph Wolfe, Formerly, University of Tulsa ABSTRACT A review of 25 years of ABSEL Proceedings was con- ducted to determine the association's major research inter- ests. Six major themes or research tracks were discerned. Those tracks were the sources of participants' high game performance, the effectiveness of games in strategic man- agement and marketing courses, the validity of the mathe- matical models used in published games and the questions regarding what games teach and how to measure what is being taught via business games. INTRODUCTION Since its inception in 1975 a wide variety of research themes have occurred. Much of what has been presented at ABSEL's conferences has been anecdotal and demonstration-like in nature. When viewing those themes that have been consis- tently and rigorously pursued, six major themes have ebbed and flowed over the years. Those themes have involved the sources or correlates of high game performance by game participants, the effectiveness of games in strategic manage- ment courses, the effectiveness of games in marketing courses, the theoretical and practical validity of the mathe- matical models employed in various business games, the question of what do games teach and how learning can and should be measured in experiential learning environments. ABSEL's Major Research Themes During ABSEL's earliest years much interest was devoted in a post-hoc fashion to what factors seemed to be associated with high game performance. A shift occurred in the late- 1970s and early-1980s in this type of research where the fo- cus turned to these factors as predictors of high game per- formance. Research on the validity of business games in stra- tegic management courses by ABSEL's members has basi- cally been a continuation of a field of interest begun in gam- ing's earliest years. Their effectiveness was reviewed by Keys in 1976 with the greatest number of ABSEL-generated re- search on the topic occurring in the 1980s. Games for teaching marketing subjects has been their sec- ond-most common application after their use in strategic management courses. Accordingly a large number of re- search studies on their validity in marketing courses has occurred. Much of this has been associated with what has become known as the "Windsor Group" with its first paper appearing by one of its members in 1974. Their work flowered in the early-1990s. Another research theme that has had a long-term focus lies in the realm of the validity of the various models used in the games that have been played and created. Most of these discussions have been theoretical in nature with the first paper in this regard presented by Goosen in 1981. This tradition has been continued by those such as Thavikulwat, Carvalho and Gold and Pray since the 1980s. The last major research themes pursued by ABSEL's members dealt initially in a descriptive fashion regarding what games seemed to teach. This was followed by more- rigorous research in recent years by how to measure what they are teaching. ABSEL's earliest conferences, as was true for the business gaming field in general, were replete with descriptions of what games seemed to accomplish in all manner of courses and topics. That type of "research" has diminished and has been replaced by attempts to meas- ure, in an objective and standardized fashion, the type of knowledge that is gained from playing a business game. Notable work in this regard has been performed by Ander- son, Lawton and Gosen. CONCLUSION This review has covered, in a very general fashion, what research themes ABSEL's members have emphasized without considering what should have been researched, the rationality of the order the research themes have followed, or why a more cumulative research literature has not been produced given the enormous amount of scholarly activity involved. These topics are worthy of both current and fu- ture speculation. 1 Table of Contents Volume 26, 1999 ABSEL's Historical Research Interests Back From the Future: An ABSEL Merlin Exercise for the Year 2005 The Contributions of ABSEL During the 1980's ABSEL's Contributions to Experiential Exercises in the 90's ABSEL's Contributions to Experiential learning/Experiential Exercises: The Decade of the 1970's Business Simulations - Algorithms and Model Enhancements: A 25 year Review A Study of the ETS General Field Test as an AACSB Assessment Tool and the Impact of Experiential Exercises and Simulation on Learning A Framework for Assessing the Competencies Reflected in Simulation Performance Developing A Learning Culture: Assessing Changes in Student Performance and Perception Financial Simulation Using Distributed Computing Technology Analyzing Managers' Judgements and Decisions with an Educational Business Simulation Understanding Your Business through Home-Made Simulator Development An Examination of a Reanalysis of the Impact of a Market Leader on Simulation Competitors' Strategies Applying Shocks to TE Simulations: A Demonstration Increasing Efficiency of Management Skill Assessment A Testbank for Measuring Total Enterprise Simulation Learning Developing Leadership Skills - Video Live! LEADSIMM: Collaborative Leadership Development for the Knowledge Society A Team Approach to Producing Multi-Media Laptop and Video Formatted Presentation Tinkertoys Revisited: Exploring Trust Based Relationships Overall Dominance in Total Enterprise Simulation Performance Success or Bankruptcy: The Relationship between Personal and Goal Orientation and Simulation Performance Assessing the Effects of Feedback: Muti-method and Muti-directions in Multi-pedagogical Courses The Missing Ingredients in Experiential Learning Purpose and Learning Benefits of Business Simulations: A Design and Development Perspective Building Capabilities for Change through Laboratory Simulations Modeling Innovation as a Process of Design in Educational Business Simulation The Need to Measurer variance in Experiential Learning and a New Statistic to do so Assessing Effectiveness of an Experiential Oriented Course Over Time Developing Participant Satisfaction Models of Experiential Exercises in Business Education Perceptions of Learning in TE Simulations Students' View on the Use of Business Gaming in Hong Kong Management Gaming's Lost Opportunity: Meditations about the Russian Experience and Prospects for the Future Unanticipated Enhancements in the Business Strategy and Policy Game when Running in Windows 95 Using a Business Game to Demonstrate Broad Business Concepts A New Model for Business Courses (Getting the Student Connected) Seeing the Forest and the Trees: Integrating Knowledge Using Large Scale Simulations in Capstone Business Strategy Classes Is It Here To Stay? A Roundtable Discussion of the Inter-Group Interaction Interactive Tools Used in Applying Financial Concepts Strengthening Essential Skills through a Finance Exercise: Calculation of Beta A Model of Currency Exchange Rates Understanding Currency Exchange Rates: A three-part Exercise Student Experiences in the World Intercollegiate Business Game Competition Student Experiences in the International-Collegiate Business Policy Game Competition Using Boards of Directors in Simulation Environments: Comments From Board Members Sharing Best Practices: Teaching Smarter, Not Harder Star Power: A Simulation for Understanding Power and Empowerment The Marketing Game: A Marketing Principles Simulation Alexander Islands: GSSM Tiny Business Simulator on the WWW Putting Strategy into Strategic Business Games Industry Analysis, Porter's Five Forces Model and Strategic Group Maps in the Business Strategy Game Simulation The Use of Concept Mapping to Improve Student Performance and Understanding of Strategic Management Concepts: A Comparison of Techniques Transformational thinking in the Organizational Behavior Course: The Use of Metaphor as an Assessment Tool Creation of a Virtual Learning Community for the Global Virtual Enterprise Project Inter Institutional use of Educational Resources: Joint Use of Management Simulation Games Business Insights: Theory and Practice with the Aid of a Business Simulation Progress: An Experiential Exercise in Development Marketing The ABC's of teaching the Theory of Constraints to Undergraduate Business Students Demonstrating Principles of Organizational Purchasing Behavior through an Experiential Exercise The Virtual Manager: A Different Simulation for Managing Complexity When the Rules are changing and Chaos Breeds Innovation: Recapturing the Value of Constructive Thinking and Play in Simulation Training The Pitfalls, and Potential, of Actual Events as Problem Drivers Using Business Games to teach Environmental Awareness and Green Management: The International Experience with the ENSIM Game A Review of my ABSEL-Related Work Simulation of Government: A Workshop Using GEO Creating Internet-Based Games Using Perl and JavaScript Who's on First? Exploring the Concepts of Problem-Based Learning, Experiential Learning, and Lifelong Learning Students Learn Customer Service and Selling while Conducting Research So You Want to Run an NFL Football Team–An Honors Interdisciplinary Project Supervised Internship: The Employer's Perspective Using Computer Assisted Simulation to Teach International Business Strategy: A Case of the Multinational Management Game (MMG) Multi-Cultural Experiential Learning: A Computer Simulation in China An Appreciative Stance on Diversity as We Move into the 21st Century: A Timeline Exercise to Identify Key Experiences in Good Work Relationships between Black and White Peers A Day in the Life of an Interactive, Real Time, and Internet Delivered Course: A Demonstration Comparing Internet Search Engines: An Experiential Learning Exercise Total Enterprise Simulations and the Internet: Assessing Student Perceptions and Preferences Teaching Accounting Information Systems in a Practicum Format Providing Experiential Learning in Accounting through a Field Study Payroll Project A Spreadsheet Based Business Simulation Game Computer-Behavioral Simulations Training for Project Managers Simulation Scenarios - Rationale and Illustration