Business wargaming for teaching strategy making
Introduction
Organisations have in the past been urged to develop foresight [1], [2] and accordingly a variety of approaches and concepts, such as futures studies, strategic, corporate or organisational foresight, trend research, strategic early warning systems, strategic issue management or scenario planning have emerged. In particular scenario planning [3], [4], [5], [6] has gained increasing recognition [7] in corporations as a tool to develop alternative pictures of the future.
However, how has this notion of developing foresight in order to deal with complexity and uncertainty, in particular in respect to the future, translated into the education of management students? Schoemaker [8, p. 119] argues: “The traditional paradigm of business schools, with its strong focus on analytical models and reductionism, is not well suited to handle the ambiguity and high rate of change facing many industries today”. Increasingly master programmes on futures studies or executive education on scenario planning or corporate foresight are offered at universities, the question remains how to further integrate futures thinking into the education of management students, besides only mentioning scenario planning as a relevant tool for strategy development.
While it has been argued that simulations have positive effects on learning [9], [10], it appears that simulations, in their various formats, are appropriate for educating management students, in particular if these simulations are future oriented and therefore expose management students to futures thinking. This paper introduces and discusses a specific from of simulations, which appears to be very well suited to familiarising management students with strategising in a dynamic and complex environment. This points to business wargaming, which can be perceived as a dynamic strategic simulation.
In the following, it will be demonstrated that an increasingly complex and dynamic business environment requires new approaches to teaching strategy to management students. The role of simulations in management education will be discussed, followed by an introduction to business wargaming. Experiences with the use of business wargaming in the classroom will then be presented.
Section snippets
Challenges for management education
The critics of MBA programmes [11], [12], [13], [14] have in return been criticised for not providing evidence to support their claim [15]. Schoemaker [8, p. 122] makes the point “that the MBA culture, includes a rational, reductionism mindset that serves business well in time of stability but not when discontinuity is upon us and entrepreneurship is called for”. Schoemaker [8], who has published widely on issues such as scenario planning [5], [6] and on Ansoff's [16] concept of “weak signals”
Simulations in management education
Why use simulations in management education? Simulations have been credited with having positive effects on learning [25]. The use of simulations in education, and especially in military training, has a long history [26]; the later discussion on the history of business wargaming will underline this. Faria et al. [27] state that in the past 40 years, simulations have proliferated in many areas. Simulations have been used in strategic management courses [28], but also in operations management
Introducing business wargaming
Business wargaming has been credited as a valuable approach in fields of applications, including the military, including a historic perspective [37], management [38], in developing strategies [39], [40], [41], [42], in competitive strategies [43], testing strategies [44], [45], [46], [47], public policy [41], or for instance transportation planning [48]. In addition to the few comprehensive accounts of the military application to wargaming [49], [50], [51], recent publications on the
Reflecting on the application of business wargaming in the classroom
The aim of this section is to reflect on the application of business wargaming in the classroom. On the one hand, the author will reflect on experiences derived from six years of teaching strategy to diverse group of students, including MBAs, bachelor and management students, design und cultural studies students, as well as part-time MBAs across Europe by applying business wargaming. On the other hand this reflection will describe how a business wargame can be carried out in a classroom.
Conclusion
Meeting contemporary challenges in management education is a difficult task. The purpose of this article was to describe how business wargaming could be used to meet these challenges. The main advantages of a business wargame are that it gives some structure, while leaving room for dynamics, creativity, and discussions among the participants. Above all, it actively engages the participants in a future-oriented learning experience. “Simulation brings learning from the third person to the first
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