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Pre-managerial Business Education: A role for role-plays?
Abstract
Can we add real value to our teaching through a strategic employment of the role-played study exercise? This article examines the question with concentration on the integration of role-play studies into the undergraduate business curriculum. The article aims to provide a better understanding of what role-playing means (of equal value to the non-subject specialist) and to evaluate the pay-offs and pit-falls of this 'active' approach to teaching and learning. A key outcome is the establishment of advice and guidance on how to run successful exercises. The author contends that those with limited or zero management experience can benefit significantly from a unique perspective on management challenges and from simulating aspects of human interaction and decision-making in organisational settings. Employed within a business curriculum, role-plays are promoted as a bona fide teaching option and as a way to prepare participants for the real world. Bringing issues and concepts off the pages of student textbooks, role-plays can, under certain conditions, let students learn, practice, succeed and fail, all in a supportive environment.
... A promising application of learning by doing is the usage of role plays (Mercado, 2000;Sturges et al., 2009;Paschall and Wüstenhagen, 2012;Chen and Martin, 2015). Role plays can be described as an interactive process that involves participants assuming specific responsibilitiesthat is, a "role"and performing certain tasks (Solem, 1960;Börner et al., 2012). ...
... The importance of role plays as a teaching instrument for process-oriented behavior Role plays are widely used in industry and academia and have long been recognized as an effective learning instrument (Solem, 1960;Crane, 1972;Utgaard and Dawis, 1979;Krause and Amaral, 1994). Their application range from education in language skills (Horwitz, 1985), political science education (Shaw, 2004), teaching communication skills in medical education (Nestel and Tierney, 2007;Zavertnik et al., 2010;Luttenberger et al., 2014), accounting (Kern, 2000), business process improvement (Börner et al., 2012), and ecological economics (Truscheit and Otte, 2004) to industrial psychology and pre-managerial business education (Mercado, 2000). A role play exercise can be defined as a dynamic process that involves participants assuming a specified role and performing tasks accordingly (Solem, 1960;Börner et al., 2012). ...
... Moreover, this relation is also tested and confirmed by Horwitz (1985) in the context of language classes. Moreover, Mercado (2000) confirms the effectiveness of role plays as a teaching instrument for an undergraduate business curriculum. He indicates that role plays may provide better cognitive and behavioral learning and thereby confirms the outcomes of studies by Foster et al. (1980), Bredemeier and Greenblat (1981) as well as Read and Kleiner (1996). ...
Purpose
Process-oriented behavior is a prerequisite for transforming a company into a process-oriented organization, but is difficult to achieve among employees. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of role plays on adapting process-oriented behavior in daily work practices.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the theory of cognitive dissonance, the authors investigate whether role plays are an effective learning method. This study was conducted over a period of two years and included 212 participants of a financial services provider.
Findings
The results reveal that the role play used had a persistent impact on employees’ process-oriented behavior in terms of their process knowledge, their cross-functional coordination, and their continuous process reflection, but not on their process awareness. Thus, the authors conclude that despite high application costs, role plays are beneficial for financial services companies to train their employees.
Research limitations/implications
While the data stem from participants within one financial service provider only, this study contributes to the understanding how process-oriented behavior can be promoted sustainably in organizations.
Practical implications
The results indicate that companies aiming for process orientation should apply role plays to achieve a change in behavior of employees.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the understanding of role plays as an effective learning method to adopt process-oriented behavior.
... The latter authors show that learning-by-doing is superior to using documentation when it comes to learning process-oriented thinking. A promising application of learning-by-doing is the usage of role plays (Mercado, 2000; Sturges et al., 2009; Paschall and Wüstenhagen, 2012; Chen and Martin, 2015 ). Role plays can be defined as an interactive process that involves participants assuming specified responsibilities – that is, a 'role' – and performing specific tasks (Solem, 1960; Börner et al., 2012). ...
... Role plays aim to equip participants with skills and to change attitudes as well as behaviour and have been applied in a broad range of disciplines. These range from education in language skills, political science education (Shaw, 2004), cross-cultural training, business and human resources, teaching communication skills in medical education (Nestel and Tierney, 2007; Zavertnik et al., 2010; Luttenberger et al., 2014), accounting (Kern, 2000), business process improvement (Börner et al., 2012) and ecological economics (Truscheit and Otte, 2004) to industrial psychology and pre-managerial business education (Mercado, 2000). Given the lack of studies focusing on the specific application of role plays in process management education, other fields presented above are also considered in the review of the literature. ...
... The empirical evidence of a significant sustainable increase in process knowledge confirms the effectiveness of role plays as an educational instrument for adult training. In line with prior work (McGregor, 1993; McCarthy and Anderson, 2000; Mercado, 2000; Zavertnik et al., 2010; Luttenberger et al., 2014), our results confirm the effectiveness of role plays in equipping participants with new knowledge and skills. Our results also confirm that role plays support a better sustainable recall of process knowledge through direct application in a real-world scenario and increase course enjoyment through active participation. ...
We examine whether role plays have the potential to advance process-oriented behavior (i.e.employees perform their activities while considering other activities and colleagues in the process) of employees in daily work practices. Process-oriented behavior is difficult to achieve. In our paper we argue that role plays in which participants take over fictitious roles are a promising learning method.
However, effects of role plays on subsequent behaviour in daily work practices are missing so far in
the literature. Our results from 153 participants of a financial service institution reveal that the role
play used has a statistically significant impact on employees’ process-oriented behaviour in terms of
their cross-functional coordination, their process knowledge and their continuous process reflection,
but not on employees’ process awareness. Given that outcome, we argue that despite the application costs, role plays are beneficial for companies to train their employees in process orientation. Moreover, we show that there is no impact of the penetration level (number of employees trained per department) on the process-oriented behavior of the individual employee. Hence, every single employee matters. Thus it is not necessary to wait for a company-wide roll-out. Initial pilot projects can be started and employees can be trained independent from their team.
... A promising application of learning-by-doing is the usage of role plays (Mercado, 2000;Sturges et al., 2009;Paschall and Wüstenhagen, 2012;Chen and Martin, 2015). Role plays can be defined as an interactive process that involves participants assuming specified responsibilities -that is, a 'role' -and performing specific tasks (Solem, 1960;Börner et al., 2012). ...
... Role plays aim to equip participants with skills and to change attitudes as well as behaviour and have been applied in a broad range of disciplines. These range from education in language skills, political science education (Shaw, 2004), cross-cultural training, business and human resources, teaching communication skills in medical education (Nestel and Tierney, 2007;Zavertnik et al., 2010;Luttenberger et al., 2014), accounting (Kern, 2000), business process improvement (Börner et al., 2012) and ecological economics (Truscheit and Otte, 2004) to industrial psychology and pre-managerial business education (Mercado, 2000). Given the lack of studies focusing on the specific application of role plays in process management education, other fields presented above are also considered in the review of the literature. ...
... Moreover, this relation is also tested and confirmed by Horwitz (1985) in the context of language classes. Mercado (2000) confirms the effectiveness of role plays as a teaching instrument for an undergraduate business curriculum. He indicates that role plays may provide better cognitive and behavioural learning and thereby confirms the outcomes of studies by Foster et al. (1980), Bredemeier and Greenblat (1981) as well as Read and Kleiner (1996). ...
... The latter authors show that learning-by-doing is superior to using documentation when it comes to learning process-oriented thinking. A promising application of learning-by-doing is the usage of role plays (Mercado, 2000; Sturges et al., 2009; Paschall and Wüstenhagen, 2012; Chen and Martin, 2015). Role plays can be defined as an interactive process that involves participants assuming specified responsibilities – that is, a 'role' – and performing specific tasks (Solem, 1960; Börner et al., 2012). ...
... Role plays aim to equip participants with skills and to change attitudes as well as behaviour and have been applied in a broad range of disciplines. These range from education in language skills, political science education (Shaw, 2004), cross-cultural training, business and human resources, teaching communication skills in medical education (Nestel and Tierney, 2007; Zavertnik et al., 2010; Luttenberger et al., 2014), accounting (Kern, 2000), business process improvement (Börner et al., 2012) and ecological economics (Truscheit and Otte, 2004) to industrial psychology and pre-managerial business education (Mercado, 2000). Given the lack of studies focusing on the specific application of role plays in process management education, other fields presented above are also considered in the review of the literature. ...
... Moreover, this relation is also tested and confirmed by Horwitz (1985) in the context of language classes. Mercado (2000) confirms the effectiveness of role plays as a teaching instrument for an undergraduate business curriculum. He indicates that role plays may provide better cognitive and behavioural learning and thereby confirms the outcomes of studies by Foster et al. (1980), Bredemeier and Greenblat (1981) as well as Read and Kleiner (1996). ...
Learning generic process knowledge is important to transform organizations from a function- to process-orientation to gain efficiency benefits. Empirical results on the learning method are rare, only showing that learning-by-doing is superior. We set up an e-learning program containing tasks based on a learning-by-doing approach. The results reveal that learning-by-doing with the e-learning system leads to a significant learning effect of almost 20 per cent.
Keywords: process knowledge, e-learning, learning-by-doing
... Role-plays ask students to imagine, think and behave as if they were someone else in a particular situation. It involves 'as if' experimentation (Mercado, 2000) and provides students with a unique opportunity for active learning in a safe and low risk environment (Brown, 1994;Egri, 1999;Lehman and Taylor, 1994). The environment is safe and low risk for students because they can separate themselves from the character they are playing. ...
... The environment is safe and low risk for students because they can separate themselves from the character they are playing. This can be a highly liberating experience (Mercado, 2000) and important when the role-play involves expressing emotions. For example, many of the inhibitions in expressing one's own emotions are eliminated or minimized with role-plays. ...
'This comprehensive academic study will have most relevance for researchers, teachers and students interested in business management in general and entrepreneurship in particular. The book contains a wealth of empirical detail and many suggestions for further research.' © Per Davidsson, Frédéric Delmar and Johan Wiklund 2006. All rights reserved.
... Role-plays ask students to imagine, think and behave as if they were someone else in a particular situation. It involves 'as if' experimentation (Mercado, 2000) and provides students with a unique opportunity for active learning in a safe and low risk environment (Brown, 1994;Egri, 1999;Lehman and Taylor, 1994). The environment is safe and low risk for students because they can separate themselves from the character they are playing. ...
... The environment is safe and low risk for students because they can separate themselves from the character they are playing. This can be a highly liberating experience (Mercado, 2000) and important when the role-play involves expressing emotions. For example, many of the inhibitions in expressing one's own emotions are eliminated or minimized with role-plays. ...
'... I have to recommend it as the most serious and accessible book of this type I have read to date. It succeeds where others have failed in passing on the findings of rigorous research to the people who can really make sense of it.' - Marc Cowling, International Small Business Journal. © Dean A. Shepherd and Johan Wiklund, 2005. All rights reserved.
... Role-plays ask students to imagine, think, and behave as if they were someone else in a particular situation. They involve " as-if " experimentation (Mercado, 2000) and provide students with a unique opportunity for active learning in a safe and low-risk environment (Brown, 1994;Egri, 1999;Lehman & Taylor, 1994). The environment is safe and low risk for students because they can separate themselves from the character they are playing, which can be a highly liberating and important experience (Mercado, 2000). ...
... They involve " as-if " experimentation (Mercado, 2000) and provide students with a unique opportunity for active learning in a safe and low-risk environment (Brown, 1994;Egri, 1999;Lehman & Taylor, 1994). The environment is safe and low risk for students because they can separate themselves from the character they are playing, which can be a highly liberating and important experience (Mercado, 2000). For example, many of the inhibitions in expressing one's emotions are eliminated or minimized with roleplays. ...
As theory develops and increases our understanding of the role of emotion in learning from failure, entrepreneurship educators have the opportunity to reflect these advancements in their pedagogies. This requires a focus on how students "feel" rather than on how, or what, they "think." I offer suggested changes to pedagogy to help students manage the emotions of learning from failure and discuss some of the challenges associated with measuring the implications of these proposed changes. I then expand my scope to explore possibilities of educating students on how to manage their emotions to avoid failure and, more generally, improve their emotional intelligence and for organizations to improve their ability to help individuals regulate their emotions.
... For the purpose of this article, active learning methods refer to a variety of classroom activities such as interactive modules, educational games, improvisations, and role play. As an example of active learning, role play was used in different disciplines such as medical education (27), accounting (13), ecological economics (35), industrial psychology (7), and premanagerial business education (17). Van Ments (36) defined role play as follows: ...
... This study sought to investigate the effectiveness of role play in teaching and learning protein synthesis. The purpose of this research was unique in that it: Previous studies had small classes (5,7,37,38), did not research student learning primarily (37), had no pretest assessment and discussion on how comparable the two groups were (5,7) or had no study and control groups (8), targeted mostly Biology or nonmedical majors (5,7,17,22,37), did not research role play (8,9,11,13,22,25), presented no evaluation of effectiveness (3, 10, 33), and did not combine a self-reported survey with assessment scores (5,8,28,31,35,37). ...
This study investigated the effectiveness of role play in a large undergraduate science class. The targeted population consisted of 298 students enrolled in 2 sections of an undergraduate Human Anatomy and Physiology course taught by the same instructor. The section engaged in the role-play activity served as the study group, whereas the section presented with a traditional lecture served as the control group. A pretest/posttest assessment and a survey were administered to both sections and used in data analysis. In addition, overall test scores and item analysis were examined. The analysis revealed that participants in both groups improved significantly from pretest to posttest, but there were no significant differences between the groups in posttest scores. Neither group showed a significant change from posttest to the exam. However, there was a moderate positive effect on engagement and satisfaction survey questions from being in the study group (based on 255 total surveys returned by both groups). The role-play activity was at least as effective as the lecture in terms of student performance on the above-mentioned assessments. In addition, it proved successful in engaging students in the learning process and increasing their satisfaction.
... It was found that those with limited management experience can benefit significantly from a unique perspective on management challenges and from simulating aspects of communication and decision making in organization. In business curriculum, role-plays are promoted as a bonafide option to teach as and is considered a way to prepare participants for the real world (Mercado, 2000). Dasgupta et al. (2013) has observed that an assertive style of communication provides maximum support to the employees where perceived supervisory support at the workplace extends satisfaction of employees with communication of supervisor's self-esteem. ...
Purpose: Efficient managerial level is crucial to any organization for well function and betterment of the organization. Likewise, managerial communication is essential to build good relationship among managers to their subordinates. Proper communication in banks further helps to assist employees, creating sense of mutual respect and favorable working environment. This study aims to identify strategy for promoting effective managerial communication in banking sector in Kathmandu valley. Research Design/ Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional research design has been applied for this study where 405 managers (383 branch managers and 22 operating managers) of commercial Banks in Kathmandu Valley were taken as a sample using structured questionnaire survey using KOBO Toolbox. This study develops and uses Managerial communication index to identify the communication skills of managers in banking communication and decision making. Findings: Managerial Communication Index value shows that managers of banking sector in Kathmandu valley are highly aware of managerial communication in terms of identity factors, negotiation and adaptation, and decision making. Brining clarity while giving speech or talking (69.13%), regularly gathering feedback for improvement (16.54%) and changing behavior and perception when necessary (12.34%) are some of the management strategies identified for promoting effective managerial communication. Conclusion: Hence, the study concludes that bank managers must properly disseminate the information to its stakeholders which will help to convey message effectively leading clarity in the work and enhancing productivity. Recommendations: The paper recommends that there should be inclusive climate in the workplace. Further, policies supporting communication should be forwarded. Originality: This article is original and there is no potential conflict of interest with respect to research and publication of this article.
... A promising application of learning-by-doing is the usage of role plays. Role plays can be defined as an interactive process that involves participants assuming specified responsibilities that is, a role and performing specific tasks (Mercado, 2010). Because of the interactive and reflective process, role plays have the potential to promote sustainable changes in behaviour (Chen & Martin, 2015). ...
Employees are major assets of any organization. The active role they play towards a company’s success cannot be underestimated. As a result, equipping these unique assets through effective training becomes imperative in order to maximize the job performance. Despite the fact that training and development is well planned and systematic in the ministry of labour and social protection it still have issues of employees still not performing up to standard operating procedure in the work environment and labour turn over. Therefore, this study sought to determine the influence of training and development techniques on the performance of employees in the Ministry of labour and social protection. This study was guided by the following specific research objectives; to examine the influence of coaching, job rotation, role playing and apprenticeship on employee performance in the ministry of labour and social protection. This study was guided by goal setting theory and social exchange theory. The study used a descriptive design. The target population was 60 respondents comprising of 5 HRM managers and 10 supervisors and 45 Support staff. A census of 60 respondents was carried out. The study used questionnaires for the support staff and interviews for the HRM managers and supervisors. The qualitative data collected from the interviews was analysed using content analysis. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation and presented using charts, figures, table and graphs. The study conducted a multiple regression analysis to test the relationship between independent variables and dependent variable. The study examined that coaching, job rotation, role playing and apprenticeship had a positive significant influence on employee performance. The study concludes that Coaching positively impacted employees careers as well as their lives by helping them to establish and take action towards achieving goals, Job rotation increased job satisfaction because employees were exposed to various work tasks that reduced constant physical or mental stress, which could create more motivation to continue in the position and reduce turnover, role playing brought together employees and or created a positive relationship among the employees in the work environment and apprenticeships are structured training programmes offered by the Ministry which gives their trainees a chance to work towards a qualification and offers them a vast experience that enable them to work elsewhere. The study recommends that The Ministry should devise clear goals that include benchmarks and deadlines, be prepared to help with time management, frame feedback in a forthright and positive manner, follow up on feedback, emphasize effort over ability and celebrate accomplishments. The Ministry should determine the critical positions or functions to include in the program, conduct a job analysis to determine the components of the job that are most important to learn during the job rotation, determine the ideal bench strength for each role, create job readiness assessments and an evaluation process, orient the employees, measure and reward success. The Ministry should identify the objective, need, experience of trainee, the issue or task for which role play method is selected. The focus should be on maximum involvement of individuals as participants so that an overall exposure and that The Ministry should have apprenticeship programs in every section which is in line the current needs of the organization and which comply with the ever changing organizational environment. This is an open-access article published and distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License of United States unless otherwise stated. Access, citation and distribution of this article is allowed with full recognition of the authors and the source.
... Gauntlett and colleagues observed that assignments that required participants to apply what they had learned were rated by the participants as the top factor for facilitating the transfer of learning into workplace practice. Indeed, it has been found that within a business curriculum, role play is a way to prepare students for real-world interactions (Mercado, 2000). ...
Effective management of mental illness in the workplace has been identified as critical to decreasing its impact and developing a healthy workplace. Educational programs targeting managers have been held up as one way of developing effective management practices. While there are recommendations for what managers should do and how they should do it, there is little literature reflecting the managers' voices and what they value. For example, what skills would they like to learn related to mental illness and the workplace? What questions do they have about mental illness? What is their preference for how the material is delivered? Without answers to questions such as these, it is difficult to develop effective training programs for this key group. This paper seeks to add to the body of knowledge about designing mental health training programs for managers. We analyze responses of managers who attended workshops designed to teach them skills to address workplace mental health problems. The paper's three main objectives are to identify (a) aspects of the workshop most valued by participants, (b) areas of information and support managers consider helpful, and (c) barriers in the workplace that make managing mental illness challenging.
... At the beginning of the game both investor and trustee receive an amount of money X (e.g., 5 US$) from the game facilitator to create a level playing field. 2 In the first stage of the game only the investor can send an integer amount between zero and X to the trustee. The amount sent by the investor (y) will be tripled by the game facilitator so that the trustee has 3y (in addition to (2003) Role-playing Mercado (2000) Applying acquired knowledge Simulations Hames (1998) Experiential methods Immersion experience Serey (1994) Providing meaningful contact and interaction with dissimilar others Team projects DiTomaso, Kirby, Milliken, and Triandis (1998) Service learning Godfrey (1999) Jigsaw assignments Brewer and Miller (1996) ...
In response to concerns about the appropriate design and implementation of diversity courses, business schools have started to use needs assessments in order to identify topics of high priority. However, many needs assessment approaches rely on self-report attitudinal measures that are potentially plagued by self-presentation and social desirability biases. An alternative to self-reports are unobtrusive observations of actual behavior that reduce the potential for self-presentation. This paper presents a needs assessment framework describing how the trust game and the dictator game adopted from experimental economics can help measure discrimination, distinguish between stereotypes and prejudice, and determine appropriate diversity training methods accordingly. The purpose of this paper is to show how behavioral measures can complement attitudinal measures in the needs assessment process. The overall recommendation emanating from this paper is that diversity educators in business schools rely less on self-report measures and use more behavioral indicators in their attempts to design more effective diversity courses and programs.
... Most entries were role play/problem solving approaches. This could be either playing an imaginary role or playing oneself in an imaginary situation (Mercado, 2000). Playing an imaginary role allows an amount of freedom from constraints of self-image. ...
Persistent difficulties in getting students to understand certain topics in Information Systems led to a rethink of how we could meet the objectives for the particular courses taught at NBS. The paper describes some of the problems currently being met, particularly the 'concrete' thinking and 'surface' learning of many of the students and their primary concern with a degree as a passport to a job. To improve the students' performance a number of suggestions are made of ways in which more use could be made of experiential and case based learning some initial experiences and future plans. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Antill, L. (2007) 'Towards active case based learning in IS', Int. J. Teaching and Case Studies, Vol. 1, Nos. 1/2, pp.146–158. Biographical notes: Lyn Antill is a Liberal Arts Graduate who discovered Computing by accident back in the 1960s. Her career alternated between industry and academia. She has worked on several very large systems developments for major clients in different industries as well as writing for computer magazines. Her roles have included data architecture, requirements engineering and systems integration. Her academic work has mainly been in systems development methodology, working with Trevor Wood-Harper and Dave Avison on the 'Multiview' approach to integrating different methods. Now she teaches in the Business School at Nottingham Trent University and is committed to the use of case studies in research and teaching.
Creating works of fiction is an underdeveloped approach for introductory entrepreneurship education. This article describes the rationale and flow of an award-winning undergraduate course that requires students to create short animated music videos designed to teach entrepreneurship to children. It outlines the expanded benefits that accompany this creative constructionist method for teaching entrepreneurship, especially as a gateway into the entrepreneurship curriculum for undergraduate students. The article adds to the growing body of literature on uses of fiction in entrepreneurship education.
There has always been a debate between various methods of teaching for entrepreneurship learning. Present higher education system follows prescribed pattern of curriculums. The need is to provide opportunities to have advanced thinking to understand what is happening around us. The advanced thinking involves consciousness of abstracting a principle of general semantics. The essence of practicing consciousness of abstracting will come out when an entrepreneur will be able to ponder over ‘How to develop an idea’. Primarily based on the literature review and heuristic microstudy with six focus groups, this paper attempts to understand the importance of consciousness of abstracting in improving the quality of entrepreneurship education.
The aim of the research is to propose the requirements for the improvement of tourism student’s managerial skills toward English-based learning system by applying Problem Based Learning (PBL). The research focused on an industry sector approach to entrepreneurship education. The PBL empowers the learners to conduct research, integrate theory and practical elements, apply the skills and knowledge to a relevant and targeted entrepreneurship education courses to create an entrepreneurial mindset for graduates in the tourism sector. It directs them to perform within the same parameters in the real research setting and to inquire a topic which has particular resonance and meaningful. The finding is expected to improve tourism students’ managerial skills in-depth and analytically. It also attempts to develop English-Based learning Projects as a way to encourage students to encounter and struggle with substantial and voluminous ideas of managerial skills. The results show that the project can assess the students’ knowledge of concepts, content, skills and the level of depth to which students have understood them to improve the skills.
Politics courses embedded in business and commerce degree programs have soared in number in recent years. Yet how business students, often compulsorily enrolled in politics courses, learn key politics concepts is an under-researched area. The purpose of this article is to determine where the teaching and learning of political science and business intersects. This research reviews the place of the "threshold concept" in student learning, with particular reference to "power" as a political concept. This article advances three arguments: that the study of political institutions involves a series of "threshold" concepts that students must pass over before moving onto a higher plane of understanding; that the teaching of political institutions should span the three key areas of knowledge, attitudes and skills; and that a real understanding of political institutions allows students to regard business figures, in pursuing self-interest, as "political" actors like any other.
Objective. To determine the influence of an educational intervention on pharmacy students' intercultural disposition and perceived communication competence. Methods. The relationship between intercultural disposition and the intercultural communication competence of pharmacy students was assessed using a brief educational intervention in the form of a role-play and a pretest-posttest experimental design. Results. There was a strong correlation between intercultural disposition and intercultural communication competence (p < 0.01). The intervention did not have a statistically significant influence on the communication competence of the students (p > 0.01). Among the 4 dimensions of intercultural disposition, attributional complexity was the only factor that moderated the effect of the intervention on pharmacy students' communication competence. Conclusion. Methods to improve pharmacy students' intercultural competence should be further explored. Other sections of the conceptual framework should be tested in future studies.
More and more universities are now delivering courses and programs to develop social awareness, but the literature on the effectiveness of these courses is currently very limited. With the introduction of "social entrepreneurship" as a new discipline within the wider ethics and social education banner, this pedagogic study explores the effectiveness of social business plan teaching in inducing social and civic awareness and intentionality among business school students. This is compared with the case study approach that is traditionally used within the classroom environment. Our study found that both approaches can be successful in raising awareness and improving the attitudes of participating students, increasing the probability that they will support socially oriented initiatives immediately or in the future. Interestingly, many students who participated in SBP teaching develop a local awareness of social and civic matters, while many of those who participated in case study learning develop a wider national and international perspective. In addition, it is found that many of those who participated in SBP development develop a deeper managerial and technical understanding of managing organizations within the social economy.
Managers must understand, embrace, and leverage the demographic differences among their employees if they are to succeed in today's multicultural organizations. Thus, diversity management competency (DMC) has become a necessity. Two tools for developing DMC among students during their business education are the provision of diversity content and structured contact with dissimilar others. This article reviews and integrates research from several literatures in the context of Raelin's (1997) model of work-based learning to assist faculty in developing diversity courses.
The purpose of this research is to determine if role playing is a pedagogical strategy that can assist sport management educators in achieving educational objectives. This article provides a brief literature review to establish the rationale for implementing role playing in classroom, describes a role play activity created for a course in intercollegiate athletics policy, and assesses student learning using background knowledge probes, focused listing, concept mapping and written responses to open-ended questions. Results indicated that role playing meets the needs of sport management educators who are attempting to offer students an active learning environment that balances theory and practice while equipping students with the skills necessary to make decisions.
John W. Pal, Mark Stubbs and Anna Lee (c) Westburn Publishers Ltd, 2005. This metadata relates to the electronic version of an article which has been published in its definitive form in the Journal of Marketing Management, and has been posted by permission of Westburn Publishers Ltd for personal use, not for redistribution. The article was published in Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 21, Date No. 7/8, pp. 835-858, doi: 10.1362/026725705774538435 This paper examines the benefits of adopting an experiential and integrated approach to marketing education on a first year undergraduate programme through the development of a simulation. It is demonstrated that embedding the simulation in the learning process and encouraging students to reflect on a series of assessment activities has enabled them to gain better insights into the skills and knowledge required to plan the opening of a new retail outlet. The skills and knowledge expected of new marketers, as outlined by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, were used in the design of the learning activities and it is shown how a blended approach has enriched the student experience and enabled the teaching team to meet all of the CIM's 'asset requirements'.
The Environmental Round Table role-play simulation demonstrates the challenges of collaboration, consensus decision making, and group conflict in multistakeholder initiatives designed to resolve complex metaproblems in society.
Business simulations have played an important part in management development activities for many years, but the world of business is changing fast and managers’ responsibilities are changing too. If simulations are to remain relevant they must keep abreast of these changes, and preferably anticipate them. Argues that while impressive “technical” developments have occurred in the design and use of business simulations over the last few years, other, rather different changes, have to take place or simulations will risk becoming increasingly irrelevant.
Describes the importance of training and summarizes learning theory. Details the top ten learning methods: videotapes, lectures, one-on-one instruction, role plays, games/simulation, case studies, slides, computer-based training, audiotapes and films. Discusses the factors to consider when selecting a training method or combination of methods. Emphasizes the importance of post-training evaluation.
Describes a training event for healthcare managers in Saudi Arabia.
Using role playing techniques the objective was to help them to become
more effective at running meetings. The analysis showed that this method
did work in a cross-cultural setting, it is a relatively simple and
cheap option and provided the students with real meeting experience.
Examines the design, development and use of a computer-based simulation
as part of a course for executives in a leading insurance company. Uses
the case to show the benefits of such approaches to learning.
The pressure-filled, highly competitive business environment of the 1990s means U.S. firms can no longer afford such costly inefficiencies as poor communication. lbday managers must carefully plan production runs, service deliveries, and precise scheduling of employees. Now another item--communication-must be added to this list. The prudent (and ultimately successful) manager must anticipate communication problems. The communication flow should be viewed from the same perspective as the flow of autos along the assembly line or hamburgers from the grill to the customer. This mind-set motivates the manager to design the message more effectively, to recognize when the message is or is not being correctly interpreted, and to be prepared to adapt the message to fit the situation. Whether you use a script or role play, we believe this approach is an engaging way to train students to evaluate their own communication skills so they can accurately identify their weaknesses. The knowledge they gain will then enable students to develop strategies for communicating effectively on time, every time, adjust in time, a vital ingredient in managerial success in the twenty-first century.
Calls for increasing integration of ethical considerations into business education are well documented. Business graduates are perceived to be ethically naive at best, and at worst, constrained in their moral development by the lack of ethical content in their courses. The pedagogic concern is to find effective methods of incorporating ethics into the fabric of business education. The purpose of this paper is to suggest and illustrate role play as an appropriate method for integrating ethical concerns.
Experimentation in social psychology
- E Carlsmith
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