OrgSim: Using an Organization Simulation to Create a ″Live″ Case

Abstract

Presents a powerful experiential training tool in the teaching of organizational dynamics. A participant′s and a co‐ordinator′s manual have been developed to guide the training simulation portion which runs from six to eight hours, including briefing and preparation time. In this phase the participants create, operate and develop a live organization as they think that it should be structured. Following this experiential phase, an intensive debriefing and processing phase of four to eight hours is conducted. In the debriefing the participants are assisted in reflecting on both their shared experiences in creating the organization and their learnings from operating in a work community of their own making. Past participants report significant and sometimes life‐changing discoveries about themselves and how they act in organizational settings. What this represents is the creation of a “live case” that teaches through experience a great deal about power and empowerment, motivational dynamics, issues relating to total quality management and leadership, stress and ambiguity, conflict and co‐operation, and emerging issues of managing diversity.