DESIGN OF GAME MANAGE-ART, A PROPOSAL TO TEACH

MAKE - DECISION
DISEO DEL JUEGO GERENCI-ARTE, UNA PROPUESTA
PARA ENSEAR TOMA DECISIONES
MIGUEL ROJAS
Ph.D. Associated Professor, Minas School, National University of Colombia, Medellin, mdrojas@unal.edu.co

JUAN ALIS
Minas School, National University of Colombia, Medellin, Juan_alis@hotmail.com

LAURA LONDOO
Minas School, National University of Colombia, Medellin, lmlondonov@unal.edu.co
Received for review 2012, accepted, final version

ABSTRACT: Make-decision is a process that takes place daily in the lives of all people and is essential and critical
in everyday situations. Making the wrong decision can cause damage to persons; can lead to a poor strategic
planning or even the bankruptcy of a company. Thus, a management game is developed, in which it is intended to
show, identify and teach, how making tactical decisions in complex and dynamic conditions become a critical
process in companies management and planning, and how knowledge and experience within team work, take an
important role in organizations success. Then a process of validation of the game is done and finally the results are
shown and analyzed.
KEY WORDS: Tactical decisions, management situations, making decision, logical thinking, teamwork.
RESUMEN: Tomar decisiones es un proceso que toma lugar a diario en la vida de todas las personas y el cual es
esencial y crtico en las situaciones cotidianas. Tomar la decisin equivocada puede causar dao a las personas;
puede llevar a un plan estratgico pobre e incluso a la quiebra de una compaa. De esta manera se desarroll un
juego gerencial, en el cual se intenta mostrar, identificar y ensear cmo las decisiones tcticas en condiciones
complejas y dinmicas, se convierten en un proceso crtico en la gerencia y planeacin de las empresas, y cmo el
conocimiento y la experiencia en el trabajo en equipo toman un rol importante en el xito de las organizaciones.
Posteriormente se muestran algunos resultados obtenidos con la aplicacin del juego.
PALABRAS CLAVE: Decisiones tcticas, situaciones gerenciales, toma de decisiones, pensamiento lgico, trabajo
en equipo.

1. INTRODUCTION
Management games have had a great develop
during the last years, rapidly becoming as one of
the most important and useful tools for training
personnel in companies, or to teach new skills or
knowledge and reinforce some concepts in
students or workers [7].
Traditionally, games have been used to train and
develop non-technical skills in individuals and

students, and more recently are used for

preparation of operational teams. Games help
decision makers to simulate situations, enhance
experience and accumulate memories, leading to
a rapid response and to an accelerate reaction
capacity in daily situations [9].
Tactical decision games are used for training
decision making in different environments as
daily situations and especially in critical
moments of a company, using teaching

techniques as exercises, simulations, case

studies, conferences, lectures, among others. One
of the principal characteristics of a tactical
decision game is to develop a difficult and
complex scenario which leads to a dilemma or
unusual situation [3].
This type of games are designed specifically to
introduce the players to a dilemma or to a
difficult daily situation, where is not easy to
obtain the "correct" answer and it is not obvious.
Players have to use their prior knowledge and
experience to assess the situation and find a
possible solution to the problem [10].
As stated above, the necessity of designing a
game oriented to develop management skills is
identified, focused on teaching the factors that
affect the decision making process and the
identification of factors and variables involved in
the process. Similarly, the central objective of
the game is to show how the different ways of
decision making become key successful factors
for effective teamwork.
2. MANAGEMENT GAMES
One of the main bases for the design of
management games is game theory, which
studies the ideal decision making when it
depends on others, with known restrictions [15].
Game theory studies the way some decisions are
made using strategy thinking, and the possible
results of the parts involved in the process of
decision making, these factors become the main
basis for the simulation and the interpretation of
the games results.
In the case of management games as simulations
of business situations, they have to be modeled
with some parameters that allows to keep its
governance and from which every decision
affects the entire system in a process of causeeffect.
When talking of management games, is
necessary to identify the concept of strategy, as a
general action program and the incorporation of
skills and resources to obtain the main objective.
They are important because their bases are not
random and results are conditioned to correct

decision making during the game, thus, it is

necessary to create a strategy to obtain
satisfactory results, which will undoubtedly be
affected by the change of variables not easily
manipulated or controlled by players, but under a
strategic decision can be transformed into more
efficient [2].
Within the management games are some
applications to strengthen of specific areas as
finances and operations control, but games are
used for training personnel in companies or to
teach and reinforce knowledge to students,
becoming one of the most important tools for
capacitating.
3. DECISION MAKING PROCESS
Decision making is the study of identifying and
choosing alternatives based on the values and
preferences of the decision maker. Making a
decision implies that there are alternative
choices to be considered, and in such a case we
want not only to identify as many of these
alternatives as possible but to choose the one
that best fits with our goals, objectives, desires,
values, and so on [4].
It is important to define problem solving to
differentiate it from decision making, because
these two concepts are complementary. Problem
solving is a continuous, conscious process which
seeks to reduce or correct the difference between
the actual and desired conditions. Decision
making is one of the steps in the larger process
of problem-solving [16].
There are several approaches to the making
decision process that take into account different
phases and factors involved, which differ
according to the author. Following, an
approximation of the decision making process is
made [4]:

Define the problem.

Determine requirements.
Establish goals.
Identify alternatives.
Define criteria.
Select a decision making tool.

Evaluate alternatives against criteria.

Validate
solutions
against
problem
statement.

But the decision is not always done individually;

usually in companies are teams to make
decisions. Therefore, it is important to strengthen
and enhance the skills of each team member, to
make an effective decision.
Group decision is usually understood as
aggregating different individual preferences on a
given set of alternatives to a single collective
preference [4], in current processes each team
member have different skills, knowledge and
experiences that could influence the way they
conceive the problem and the solution
alternatives.
4. TEAMWORK
Globalization demands organizations to change
their strategies, giving importance to innovation
and the generation of knowledge; a suitable tool
to achieve this change is the team work, which
must be progressively develop in organizations,
taking into account the dynamic environment
and the constant technology developments. This
obliges organizations to search cooperation and
join work, to consolidate instructions, activities
and flexible communication channels, through
an effective team work [1].
However, teams are not always effective and
efficient, and occasionally fail to achieve the
high performance expected from them [14],
therefore it is essential to train team members to
exploit their capacities.
A common problem present in organizations is to
link a set of different persons to achieve an
organizational purpose or firms goals; this is
difficult because every person has necessities,
interests,
knowledge
and
experiences,
expectative and different motivations that form a
diverse team [6]. The function of a leader is to
consolidate this variety of expectations into a
common one, and link the members into a team
with the same goals and horizons.
It is important to differentiate between group
work and teamwork. Group work is a group of

persons that realize activities and have a

manager that directs and indicates what to do,
how to do it, the time to do it and communicates
the expected results; Group members do what
they are told separately and in an individual way.
Teamwork is a group of persons that work
together in a synergic way to achieve a common
goal [13].
Teamwork is formed by people committed to the
achievement of common and defined goals and
objectives, sharing methods and/or economic
resources, with complementary skills and
knowledge, so teams achievement is greater
than the sum of the success of the individual
efforts [11].
But not all teams work in the correct way,
principally because people have not been
properly educated to work as a team member, to
contribute with team success [12].
Efficient teams have [8]: (See Table 1)
Table 1. Characteristics of effective teams.
Tabla 1. Caractersticas de los equipos efectivos.
Mutual interaction with an integral
mutual recognition.
Common goals
Conformation of Behavioral rules
Achievement of objectives
Establishment of roles
Interaction limits for personal and labor
relations
Different leadership patterns between the
members.
Problems in teamwork are common, generally
because of different personalities, behaviors and
temperaments of the members. These individual
and group difficulties have to be identified by the
leader, who has to analyze them and develop
corrections if it is necessary, to maintain a
comfortable work environment.
In the game is expected that teamwork improves
individual results in the decision making,
encourage team discussion and that team
members find mechanisms to agree and take
successful decisions, with the constrain of time.

5. METHODOLOGY
For the design of the game with educational
purposes Manage-art, a methodology proposed
in Minas School, National University of
Colombia [5] is used. It is composed by 10
fundamental steps:
(1) Identify the theme of the game;
(2) Establish the game purpose;
(3) Identify the instructional objectives of the
game;
(4) Identify and define general concepts of the
theme;
(5) Select candidate techniques;
(6) Select the appropriate technique(s) according
to characterization;
(7) Incorporation specific knowledge to the
game;
(8) Develop of initial tests;
(9) Develop the final version of the game;
(10) Elaborate an evaluation survey.
In Table 2 design of the game Manage-art and
the results obtained with the mentioned
methodology are shown.

Identify
and
define general
concepts of the
theme

Select candidate
techniques

a decision making process to

obtain the best results
possible, individually and by
teams, to share experiences,
compare results and identify
failures.
By searching and reading
general aspects of the
decision making process, to
identify characteristics and
critical factors that can affect
the performance of teams
and common behaviors
between participants.
Through
planning
and
mental conception of the
phases and elements that
would be present in the
game.
Then,
desired
characteristics
were
determined and existing
games
that
could
accommodate
with
the
games objectives were
chosen.

Table 2. Methodology and design of the game

Manage-Art.
Tabla 2. Metodologa y diseo del juego
Gerenci-Arte.
observing
and
Identify
the By
theme of the investigating, the necessity
of a game to strengthen the
game
process of decision making
was
identified,
as
a
fundamental
process
in
companies and in teamwork.

Finally an initial game model

was adjusted, with which
some tests and subsequently
the necessary adjustments of
the game were made, to get
the final and definitive
version
of
the
game
Manage-Art.
A system of points was
Incorporation
of
specific developed, with the purpose
knowledge
to of obtaining a winner
participant and a winner
the game
team during the game.

The process is critical in

companies because many
people do not have the
knowledge, experience and
capacity to make decisions in
teams, to communicate their
ideas to others or to obtain a
satisfactory result in the
process.
Establish
the The purpose of the game is
allow players to take part of
game purpose

Additionally, during the

initial tests of the game, a
continue feedback with
participants was made, in
order to identify failures in
the decision-making process
and in teams performance.
an An inquest is applied to
participants to obtain points
of view, suggestions and to
establish if the game meet

Elaborate
evaluation
survey

their
expectations
and
improve the decision making
process.
6. DESIGN OF THE GAME
The game is a specific situation of a company
that has problems and crisis, players have
different alternatives or possibilities to solve the
companys problem, but they have to make
decisions to save the company by establishing an
importance order of the different alternatives
presented and obtain a sequence. The objective
of the game is to enumerate the alternatives in
the best order possible, to save the company.
The same problem is given to all participants,
and each one has 5 to 10 minutes to classify in
order of importance the 10 proposed alternatives.
During this time players cannot talk with other
people or use any electronic devices, the game in
the first stage is individually. Two alternatives
should not be used in the sequence to save the
company, and participants have to decide which
shall not be in the final list.
After people have solved the problem
individually, they have to form groups of 4 to 5
people. Each group will have 20 minutes to
discuss, analyze, evaluate and examine each
alternative and the individual results of each
team member, with the objective of obtaining a
common response to the problem by consensus,
authoritarianism, and democracy, among others.
Finally individual, collective and optimal results
are compared to establish differences, make a
feedback of them and obtain conclusions of the
individually and team decision making process.

answer, and it corresponds to the optimal

sequence.
The optimal sequence for the situation was
established by four experts in the field of
management, finances and strategic planning
(Four professors of the National University of
Colombia, Medellin Campus), although they did
not have the same answers, the results showed a
trend with which the optimal result was defined.
The game focuses on teamwork, tactical
decisions making, individually and by teams,
situation control, common welfare, logic steps to
obtain the best solution possible and competition
between teams to obtain the most logical
response.
6.1

The initial problem of the game and which

participants must take the right decisions shows
a manager of a company with some financial and
production problems, as described below:
You are the manager of a large national company
that is facing a crisis; its current situation is as
follows:

Critical financial situation. The company has

a debt level of 60%. Currently the debt is up
to date; however sales forecast shows that
the company will not satisfy this debt over
the next two months.

The company has machine with 40% of idle

capacity and tending to increase.

There is a new technology product

fabrication in market, to acquire it the
company require a high inversion in
machinery, infrastructure and workers
training, that will allow production at lower
cost, in less time and better quality.

The company has 3 production plants

(Manufacturing capacity of each is 33, 3%).

Sales force is composed of people of high

trajectory in the company; however these
persons are close to retirement.

The winner of the game would be the person and

the team that have all or most of the alternatives
presented, in the order established by the experts.
To determine the winning participant and team,
scores will be given to the responses. For each
correct answer will be given 5 points, if the
answer is a place above or below the correct
answer will be given 3 points and if the answer
is 2 places above or below the correct answer
will be given 1 point. The maximum score of the
game is 50 points, 5 points for each correct

Game scenario

Brand products has a high position in

market, however competition has been
gaining market participation due to its
innovative capacity and a very aggressive
marketing campaign.

It is known that a tender will be opened in 4

months, where several companies of the same
sector compete for a large-scale business that
could ease the financial crisis of the company.
However actually the products quality, the
manufacturing time and the working capital do
not let the company has a good opportunity in
the tender.
The company needs you as the manager, to make
good decisions to avoid going bankrupt and to be
in competitive conditions at the time of the
tender.
6.2

Alternatives for decision making

The following alternatives should be evaluated

by participants, to list them in the order that it
would be applied to save the company.
1. Acquisition of an efficient and automated
technology that allows the realization of
innovative and differentiated products in
market.
2. Downsizing.
3. Reengineering of
the
organizational
structure, in directive and operational areas.

Distribution of work.
Bureaucracy reduction
chart revision)

(organization

4. Redesign and implementation of a marketing

plan from a previous study, which promotes
products based on the new technology.
5. Capitalize; sell a percentage of the company
that is including a new partner, keeping a
major participation for decision making.
6. Revision of the strategic plan of the
company (mission and vision).

Revision of strategies (what to do and

who it is done).
Product specialization.

7. Recognition systems, training and searching

for the organizational memory of the human
resources of the company.

New technology training.

Create mechanisms to facilitate the
knowledge transfer.
Remuneration for meeting objectives:
Base salary plus commissions and
extralegal bonuses.

8. Close one of the three production plants

(which one is indifferent)
9. Cost reduction sacrificing the quality of raw
material.
10. Market investigation

New products or improvements trough

new technologies.
Types of packaging redesign.
Expand the product line.
Create added value to products.

After participants list the alternatives to save the

company, they are going to repeat the game but
making decisions by teams. At the end of the
game, each participant and team is going to
compare their lists with the optimal result, to
determine and analyze the way individual
persons and teams make decisions and the
influence some people have over others.
7. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
The final game was applied to a group of 17
students and 1 teacher of the subject Project
management of postgraduate programs, in
National University of Colombia, Medellin
Campus, Minas School. The objective was show
and demonstrates to participants the importance
of decision making and the influence of some
people in teamwork.
Initially the game was played individually and

then 2 groups of 4 persons were formed, the

group # 1 were only women and the group # 2
were only men, Groups # 3 and # 4 were 5
people each and were mixed, the teacher of the

group was in the group # 4.

Figure 1 shows individual, team and optimal
results of the game.

Figure 1. First results of the game Manage-art.

Figura 1. Primeros resultados del juego Gerenci-Arte.
None of participants or groups, obtained the
optimal sequence of alternatives to save the
company, however most of the groups improve
individual performance of participants, which
initially indicates that is better and more efficient
to have a team to discuss and decide, in the
making decisions process.
Group # 1 formed only by women, obtained the
best results, both individual and group. Its results
did not improve in group as expected, but
remains stable. Player # 1 had better individual
results, but other members of the team persuaded
her and influence her initial decisions or she did
not have the correct arguments to convince her
partners of a better sequence.
Group # 2 formed only by men, obtained good
team results, however player #5 had the worse
individual results and had a great improvement,
probably because the experience and arguments
of other team members convinced him of a better
sequence. Teamwork improved the results of all
team members, even over the group average.
Group # 3 formed by women and men, obtained
good individual and team results, very close to

the group average. All team members had similar

results and these were maintained in the group,
probably because all of them easily agree whit a
sequence.
Group # 4 formed by women and men, was the
group where the teacher was. Player # 15 (The
teacher) had the worse individual results of the
team; other team members had good individual
results even over the group average. In this
group the teamwork did not produce satisfactory
results, because the presence of a possible expert
in the subject (the teacher) changes the thinking
of the other team members. The way of thinking
of the teacher marked the groups tendency, the
individual results of the teacher is practically the
same of the entire group, which does not allow
team members to discuss and analyze the
alternatives and the possible sequences, because
they thought the teacher had the correct answers.
None team member had improved on the
individual result and that was the group with the
worse performance.
In almost all teams, individual results improve as
expected, but the presence of a possible expert
produces a opposite results, because team

members discharge all responsibility in the

expert and accept all his decisions without
questions or propose new alternatives. Is
recommended that team members do not
conform with the responses of others and to
evaluate all possible decisions and reach to a
common response.
The game was applied a second time to a group
of 24 students of the subject management games
of postgraduate programs, in National University
of Colombia, Medellin Campus, Minas faculty.
The objective was show to students the way a

game is designed and implemented in groups

training, in order for participants to obtain bases
to design, validate and apply their own game, as
main objective of the subject.
The game was played individually and then 4
groups of 5 persons and 1 group of 4 persons
were formed, the group # 1 were only women
and the group # 2 were only men, Groups # 3, #4
and # 5 were mixed.
In Figure 2 individual, team and optimal results
of the second game are shown.

Figure 2. Second results of the game Manage-art.

Figura 2. Resultados del Segundo juego de Gerenci-Arte.
Something particular in second results is that two
participants, players # 5 and # 6 found the
optimal sequence of alternatives when playing
individually, but in teams they could not obtain
the same results.

players with good results influenced the other 2

players, obtaining the best group results, very
close to the optimal sequence.

Group # 1 formed only by women, had a

participant with one of the best individual results
and they obtained the second best result by
teams, however was expected that the persons
with the highest individual score, had more
influence in other team members, based on clear
arguments and individual experience.

Group # 3 formed by women and men, initially

had regular individual results compared with the
group average, because all team members had
scores below average; however they had a good
improvement in team results, close to the group
average, probably because team members were
not completely satisfied with their responses and
reached an agreement by discussing the different
alternatives and a conscious decision making.

Group # 2 formed only by men, had 3 of the 4

participants with the best individual results, but
also had the player with the worse individual
score. Their teamwork was successful because

Groups # 4 and # 5 formed by women and men

obtain similar results, probably because
individual scores of the team members were very
similar and they did not had any problem to

reach an agreement on the sequence.

In first test, women obtained the best team
results and in second test men obtained it. It is
not possible to conclude which genre takes better
decisions, but is clear that mixed teams results
were not as good as women or men teams
results, possibly because in making management
decisions is easier to discuss and reach an
agreement with people of the same genre.
In Table 3 a comparison between game tests are
shown.
Table 3. Comparison of the game tests.
Tabla 3. Comparacin de las pruebas del juego.
FIRST
SECOND
TEST
TEST
27
50
Best score
5
10
Worse score
18
25
Average
In the first test, no one could found the correct
sequence of alternatives and the best score
obtained by a participant was about half of the
maximum possible score, in the second test, two
participants found the correct sequence and
generally better results were obtained, the
average was 7 points higher and the worse score
was 5 points higher. Differences between results
of the tests are possibly because participants in
the second group have more training and
knowledge in concepts related to management
and strategy and participants in the first group
have a more heterogeneous formation, so
experience and formation were key factors in the
success of game results.
This way, by the application of the game
Manage-art a group could be trained in different
skills as decision making and teamwork, but also
many conclusions of the process, teams and
individual persons could be made, allowing
managers to form high qualified, effective and
efficient teams and to take individual and
collective corrective actions to improve personal
and teams performance in companies.
Management games as teaching tool presents an
opportunity for students, employees and
executive to participate in an experience that

reinforces the principle of learning by doing,

focusing in the development of abilities and
skills for management under uncertain
conditions, especially in the making decision
process and in planning, with a continuous
feedback and time constraints.
The results obtained before were the product of
tests to gratuate students, in future work the
game will be applied to companies employees
with the objective of train them in decisionmaking and allow companies to work in the
failures of members and conform eficient and
effective teamworks
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