Learning Business using Management Simulation Games

摘要

Often students acquire theoretical knowledge but lack the competence to use their knowledge in practice. Management simulation games pretend to bridge the gap between theory and reality by offering a theoretical, and at the same time, reality-related approach to management processes. Typically, the participants act as board members of a virtual company. During several periods each team has to compete with several other teams in a simulated market. A complex, computer-based simulation game handled by the instructor processes the decisions taken by the companies and simulates the competitive environment. After each decision period the participants learn from their results whether or not, and to what extent, their actions were successful thus experiencing the consequences of their decisions. In the following TOPSIM-eCommerce is described as an exemplary management simulation game where the participants act as board members of a virtual company which sells mobile phones and accessories in the Internet. In a second step, the analysis of the learning contexts and outcomes shows based on a constructive approach of teaching and learning that management simulation games like TOPSIM-eCommerce provide a learning environment that combines authenticity, multiple contexts, social learning arrangements, and instructional support. Thus, they should enable learners to make fast and sustainable progress in developing a wide range of competencies. In a third step, an empirical study based on participants from China, the US and Germany using three different management simulation games (TOPSIM-General Management, TOPSIM-Marketing, TOPSIM-easy Management) examines the learning outcomes of typical management simulation games.