COMPUTER-BEHAVIORAL SIMULATIONS TRAINING FOR PROJECT MANAGERS Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 26, 1999 COMPUTER-BEHAVIORAL SIMULATIONS TRAINING FOR PROJECT MANAGERS Lawrence V. Suda, Management Worlds, Inc. Robert H. Zeh, Management Worlds, Inc. ABSTRACT Business organizations have historically been slow to invest in and fully adopt the project man- agement concept. The normal process for imple- menting a project management is to select or standardize on a project management software package, without commitment to the necessary training to implement the proper concepts and systems. In other words, the technology is adopted, but the work patterns and the support systems are not changed. With this approach, the investment to automate project management is bound to create more problems than it solves, es- pecially if the same investment is not made in the people who are to use it. The reality is that most project management envi- ronments are very complex; and, a new compan- ion reality must teach people to manage this com- plexity not to minimize it with simple models, statements, or techniques. For project management to be effective, changes must hit the organization at all levels - powered not only by new technology and information, but directed by a clear vision and purpose. The changes must not only be driven by top manage- ment, but also by the project managers them- selves. Project managers need to actively imple- ment the project management philosophy and concepts. They need to view project management as not only a set of tools and techniques, but as a “frame of mind.” Today, there exists a highly sophisticated, and complex computer-behavioral simulation that rep- licates a hypothetical project. Participants take- over and manage a real life project right in the classroom. They must apply management skills effectively, i.e. planning, scheduling, control, problem-solving, etc., along with demonstrating effective application of team leadership skills, i.e. conflict resolution, negotiation, team building, influence, etc. This presentation and “hands-on” experience will highlight the twenty years of research, design, de- velopment, and modification efforts to develop the model; and, trace the evolution of the original design effort with a focus on the problems and solutions. The overall goal being exposure of ABSEL members to a very robust and sophisti- cated computer simulation for teaching project management skills. WHAT IS THIS SIMULATION AND, THE REASONS FOR ITS USE? HOW DOES IT TEACH? First developed in the late 1970’s, the Project- Leadership Simulation has been experienced by over 50,000 participants from over 100 different organizations in various industries (including Merck, G.E., NASA, Lockheed-Martin, EDS, Nortel, USAA, Prudential Insurance and the U.S. Navy) and evolved into a very comprehensive and interactive experience with new features being continually added. Since it centers on projects, it is exceptional for organizations with practicing project staff, but can also be worthwhile for graduate students in any technical discipline. A simulation’s strength resides in the participant engaging in a realistic representation of a real-life environment. Correspondingly, once assigned to a project, participants experience a level of uncer- 360 Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 26, 1999 tainty and ambiguity which creates an appropriate level of anxiety and creative tensions. They even have to accept seemingly impractical constraints from their “management.” The simulation’s life- like feel comes from its use of standard project management techniques, such as a project scope, work breakdown structure, milestones and re- sources allocation. A team’s first 8 to 12 hours is spent building a defensible project plan which defines the scope, risk, and priorities (time, cost, quality, personnel). Project planning software is built into the simula- tion for use in calculating budgets, schedules, and staffing. The next 12 to 16 hours are spent implementing the plan and controlling the project. When the simulation triggers any of the hundreds of possi- ble “real” problems, participants immediately for- get that this project is not real. Tracking project progress and communicating status, important to project management, is done on a “weekly” basis in this simulation. To successfully accomplish a project, it is critical to have a high-performing team of people. Thus, simulated human performance proves to be a critical factor in reaching the objectives. Further enhancing the realism of the simulation are: • constant tradeoffs among the factors of cost, schedule, quality and personnel. • a continual need to re-plan quickly. •communication and interaction with the simu- lated project staff, vendors, consultants and con- tractors. • dependence on an elaborate project management information system. • typical project problems such as absenteeism, staff diverted to higher priorities, design prob- lems, technical problems, changed customer re- quirements, personality conflicts, overstaffing and resignations. The instructor can change the simulation’s deci- sions and parameters in order to constantly chal- lenge any team’s performance, mimicking a real organization’s specific culture, policies and pro- cedures. Participants are encouraged to think “outside-the-box,” to challenge the systems, and to justify the pursuit of creative methods of ac- complishing the work. Learning occurs in four distinct areas: • Project integration skills: THE PROJECT LEADERSHIP SIMULATION places the partici- pant in a complete project environment. By avoiding the artificial isolation of working with one skill at a time, they work with and observe the interrelationship of problems. Solutions lead to greater insights and understanding of complex systems and relationships. • Team management skills: This simulation provides an environment to explore team-building methods in a relatively risk free manner. In an atmosphere free of criticism and evaluation by higher management, teams work through the steps of effective team development while encountering problems similar to those faced by real teams. Because they see the immediate results of their corrected decisions they remember the lessons. • Project management fundamentals: This simulation provides practical, repeated practice in the use of project management principles, tools and techniques. • Performance under pressure: The simulated risks create situations to perform under life-like business pressures. The duress created by the un- certainty of the results makes this a very real ex- perience. SIMULATIONS’ DEVELOPMENTAL CHALLENGES AND PROBLEMS 361 Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 26, 1999 362 Early advocates of management simulations train- ing tried to convince skeptics that simulations were not just classroom stunts, but effective learn- ing vehicles, and in many ways more effective than traditional classroom lectures, role plays, and case studies. However, there were very good rea- sons whey the skeptics avoided simulations in the old days: • Early simulations were run on mainframe computers, creating administrative nightmares to get the simulation running and receive timely output without interruption. • Software was difficult to use, and very often poorly written. • Simulation documentation, when it existed, was not descriptive of the simulation and merely consisted of game rules with mathe- matical formulas. The rules left participants with the impression that they were playing a large-scale, number-crunching, management game. Many times the information contained on the simulation reports did not make a lot of sense. • Instructors were typically “game administra- tors,” which meant they helped trainees un- derstand the game rules and the computer in- put routines. The game administrator was of- ten kept busy just interpreting the rules of the game or the simulation outputs. • Workshop designs were dominated by the simulation dynamics, without concern for the learning outcomes the simulation supported. The instructor focus was biased toward the simulation details, rather than the learning ob- jectives and workshop design. WHERE WE’VE COME/THE PRESENT STATE Considering all these problems, one might ask: Why did organizations continue using simula- tions? The answer to the question is really quite simple: Because even with all the distractions, people still reported richer, deeper insights than provided by more traditional teaching methods. After more than three decades since the appear- ance of the first computer-based management simulations, major developments and significant contributions have changed the growing field of simulation-based training, including: Better hardware and software. New technology has made it possible to accomplish now what one could only dream of less than 15 years ago. Simu- lations are much easier to use now thanks to user- friendly software and the availability of powerful desktop hardware. Richer, more robust simulation. Simulation de- signers sharpened the focus, became “smarter” about how to work with this newer training tech- nology, and now create more realistic simulations suitable for the classroom. Designers now develop simulations that demonstrate business and project dynamic relationships and eliminate the cumber- some details that present distractions to learning. This makes the simulation easier to learn, provid- ing a sense that trainees are managing a real pro- ject, and away from the mentality of playing a large-scale number-crunching game. Integrated learning designs. In the past, the simu- lation dominated the learning design. Now, spe- cific content, concepts, and principles are intro- duced throughout the experience by traditional methods such as lecture and discussion, video, group exercises, personal instrumentation, small cases, role plays, etc., and the simulation is used as the vehicle to practice and apply skills. Better facilitation. The development of more ro- bust and “friendlier” simulations frees the instruc- tor to do more teaching. The instructor now has many varied functions in the workshop: (1) lectur- ing on key topics, (2) facilitating the team proc- ess, (3) playing the role of the boss or customer, Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Volume 26, 1999 (4) facilitating the simulation debriefings, as well as (5) managing the simulation and workshop ex- ercises. Richer, deeper learning outcomes. By no means last in its importance, the customer—trainees and their managers—receive higher quality, more re- alistic training in many different skill areas. They are now freed from learning cumbersome simula- tion mechanics and mathematics, to learning what has meaning and relevance for their jobs as pro- ject managers. THE REAL AND UNREAL IN A PROJECT MANAGEMENT SIMULATION At the beginning of the exercise, the simulation introduces a tolerable level of uncertainty and ambiguity to create an appropriate level of anxiety and creative tension in the participants. The pro- ject team makes assumptions and judgements based on partial information. The challenge they encounter generates excitement levels because it feels and appears like a real project, and becomes the basis for their total intellectual and emotional involvement in the exercise. One of the simulation’s many characteristics that makes it feel “life-like” is the presence of a pro- ject definition, work breakdown structure, mile- stones, and task definitions. The project must be planned within the cost, schedule, and quality constraints provided by the instructor. Several other attributes that enhance the realistic quality of the simulation include: • Existence of simulated people with personali- ties, skills, salaries, availability, vacation schedules, personal work preferences, and other morale factors that make them lifelike; • Existence of tradeoffs among cost, quality, schedule, and people; • Use of vendors and contractors to support full- time staff; • Presence of unexpected events which can pe- riodically disrupt the project plan and create the need to re-plan quickly; • Existence of project status meetings and other project communications; • Existence of project management control in- formation including schedules, resource histo- grams, project metrics, bar charts, network diagrams, financial baselines, hours and per- cent complete baselines, people reports, and control and tracking reports. The simulation is also programmed to link up with commer- cially available spreadsheets and the partici- pants have the option of creating more control charts and graphs to track the project’s pro- gress. The large number of issues contained in the simu- lation make it a rich information project environ- ment. Rarely do participants attend to all the is- sues that they might want to if they were given unlimited time to participate in the simulation. As a result, participants must learn to manage the in- formation needs, balancing the large picture vs micro-managing details. The simulation has real- istic time pressures and provides an ideal context for studying the team’s process in handling the project’s issues and problems. What issues did the team find most important? What key issues were ignored? How well are they working together as a team? These are examples of some team process issues we will now address in this presentation’s practicum. 363 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