The quality of project leaders is a decisive factor in the success of any project. Simulation games are highly suitable tools for training project leaders in their roles. Moreover, games also allow other staff to train in their roles and interact in a project. In this article we discuss the nature of simulation games and the ways in which they can be applied as teaching methods.
Developments in Project Management
More and more organizations are adopting the project approach in order to solve complex issues. The problems that have led them to apply this method are increasingly:
- Large-scale—such as the Delta works and the Channel Tunnel
- Less tangible—resulting, for instance, in policy concepts and new legislation
- Complex in terms of coverage—involving more and more parties/organizations, such as agreements in the area of town and country planning and the environment
- Politically sensitive or aimed to generate social support—such as plotting railway lines or drawing up development plans.
As the nature of projects change, so does the role of the project leader. Framing and supervising increasingly composite projects is more complicated and places greater demands on the project leader's professional skills in approaching intricate problems as well as on social skills.
The project leader's role is that of the “spider in its web”: directly surrounded by the principal, capacity managers and project staff, and, at a somewhat greater distance, by sponsors, financiers, suppliers, advisors, users and “victim” (see Figure 1).
Central to any project is the interplay between the client (or commissioning organization) and the project leader, resulting in a practicable project task. This task indicates the direction of the project and the way in which it is to be managed. This “contract” is renewed in every phase of the project. In order to ensure applicability of this contract, its makers first need to tune in to the environment in which it is to be carried out. One particularly important factor is the generation of commitment among staff and their “superiors” involved in the project.
The contract contains a description of the objectives, results, approach, and control instruments involved in the project concerned. However, it is at least equally important for the cast to comply with the rules of the game and the roles, tasks and responsibilities, and qualifications it provides them. The client needs to be sufficiently aware of the client role to be able to perform it with a clear view of the demarcation of tasks and powers between client and project leader. The client's role includes trying to prevent the project leader from getting stuck in private interests or modes of thought and having to check and approve their own decisions; isolating and protecting the project from other managerial levels in the organization; making timely decisions or choices for smooth progress of the project.
The project leader has a crucial role, including ensuring that the principal agrees with the demarcation of the proposed project result and approach; negotiating with future project staff and their superiors (capacity managers) about the deployment of capacity; fixing plans and schedules and other control techniques; gaining the principal's approval (in relation to the partial results achieved); informing, motivating and activating the project staff; establishing team spirit; and managing progress.
Figure 1. Atocrates® Project Team Model
Figure 2. The Four Problem Quadrants (after Duke) [1]
The other staff members who are direedy involved, such as the capacity managers, also have their own roles. However, throughout the project it is the project leader who plays the key role. The project leader operates as the dynamic leader in the center of the project. The means available for support in this role can be summarized as:
- Methods and techniques for project-oriented activities (for example, network planning, quality checks, budgetary information, and risk analysis)
- Style of management, communication, and interaction.
A management game/simulation provides an extremely useful opportunity for the project leader to practice with means and grow familiar with this complex role. In addition, games also allow other staff members to practice their roles and the interaction among themselves. Below we shall provide a definition of management games and discuss the objectives they help to achieve, the ways in which the simulation benefits can be realized, as well as the pros and cons of games as a means of training. We shall then discuss the way in which games are realized, and finally give a brief description of the schematic that underlies the project management game developed by Twijnstra Gudde.
What is a Management Game?
Simulation is understood to refer to the imitation of a system, by havingindividuals simulate the processes in that system in an abstract form and in different, though connected, roles. According to the views of Professor Richard Duke [1], a prominent expert in the field of game development, games are pre-eminently suited for learning how to control the type of problems covered by quadrant number 4 in Figure 2.
Projects should also be categorized in this quadrant. There is no single correct solution to these cognitively highly complex problems with their numerous variables and hidden relationships. Games are therefore a good medium for developing the knowledge and skills required in a project environment.
The experiences gained by participants in a soundly balanced game contribute to improving their insight into complex current and future processes. Simulation games are dynamic and interactive; the participants’ actions cause the situation to change continuously, enabling the players to try out new strategies, tactics, attitudes, and views for each different situation in a safe environment. In simulation games, the participants learn to grasp a particular course of events through direct experience. They understand the various interests and angles and their consequences. In this way, participants develop an integrated overall vision of their work and of reality This personal vision may serve as a stimulus to reinforce their contribution to the organization both now and in the future.
Objectives
In general, analysis of management games reveals two central objectives: the integration of functional (management) areas and the acquisition of teamwork skills.
The former is based on the need for staff to comprehend the connection between secondary decisions concerning production, staff, marketing, finances, etc., and to be able to formulate an overall strategy. In the specific context of project management games, the key issues are secondary decisions concerning activities laid down in a phased plan, and the control of capacity deployment and execution periods, costs and revenues, quality control, the allocation of powers and responsibilities and documentation management.
As for teamwork, simulation games offer the opportunity for staff to practice with various styles of cooperation, and with casting and group dynamics in general.
Management games may also serve as a means to:
Team learning is an exercise in cooperation.
- Visualize knowledge, insight, attitudes and skills already present in the organization
- Present new expertise
- Practice skills
- Influence attitudes
- Experiment with forms of communication and cooperation
- Increase motivation for adopting new working methods and encourage confidence in them
- “Break the ice,” or as a recreational facility.
Simulation Benefits
Learning means changing behavior in such a way that the new behavior is more effective in the view of the person concerned. Moreover, this behavior should contribute to the objectives that the organization is striving toward. The criteria for effectiveness are determined by both the individual and the organizational context. This means that learning takes place on the cutting face of organizational change and individual development. Project-oriented methods are particularly effective in providing renewed challenges to the individual and the (temporary project) organization.
Kolb's classic learning cycle [2], shown in Figure 3, is a model for the way in which individuals and organizations learn.
Experience is gained by doing (concrete experience). This phase is followed by contemplation and analysis (reflective observation) of this experience. Conceptualization makes the experience comprehensible and applicable to future situations which, as a result, are treated differently based on the experiences already processed (active experimentation). Then the cycle is repeated. Through frequent repetition of this cycle, ingrained behavior is changed and new behavior is practiced.
Comparison with conventional teaching methods provides a good illustration of the educational benefits offered by simulation games. There is no difference between the two methods in terms of the acquisition of knowledge. For acquiring insight into abstract concepts, however, simulation games are more effective. For learning new role behavior and making roles mutually consistent, simulation games are the preferred method.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Games
The use of games has many advantages:
- Enables staff to experiment with future scenarios safely
- Emphasizes the importance of learning by experience
- Encourages participants to mobilize their own personal expertise
- Makes long-term problems surveyable
- Is pre-eminently suitable for revealing connections within a complex of variables
- Can provide immediate feedback on effects.
Figure 3. Learning Model Developed by Kolb [2]
Simulation gadgets draw parallels from their real-life counterparts.