At the Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Regensburg, TOPSIM business simulations have long been valued as a practical and efficient teaching method. For this reason, OTH Regensburg not only offers a special “Business Simulation” module, but also a professor who was appointed particularly for this subject area. Prof. Dr. Sabine Jaritz has been implementing Mastering General Management and other TOPSIM business simulations in her courses for nine years and told us all about how she successfully uses the simulation to achieve the greatest learning effect for her students.
Mastering General Management as an Integral Part of the Curriculum
At the Faculty of Business Administration, which was ranked second in its field in the current nationwide CHE ranking, several study programs benefit from the use of business simulations. For Bachelor students in the 4th oder 5th semester of Business Studies or the 7th semester of European Business Studies, a business simulation is an integral part of the curriculum. In Mastering General Management, they take on the role of entrepreneurs who manufacture and sell photocopiers. Here, they get to put their theoretical knowledge of business administration into practice.
In a preparatory kick-off meeting with all 150 participants, Prof. Dr. Jaritz and her colleagues Prof. Dr. Michael Höschl and André Philipps introduce the simulation, including the participants’ manual, and provide technical and theoretical input. Since understanding the manual is essential for a successful participation, it is even tested in an open-book reading test. Explanatory videos on the individual company departments and the haptic balance sheet management game SEED are also used in this introduction. Before the simulation begins, students complete an online survey about their personal skills and professional aspirations. Based on this information, the instructors create balanced teams that cover all areas of responsibility.
Full Semester of Intensive Coaching
After an unevaluated practice period, the teams, divided into seven to eight courses and between the three instructors, meet once a week at the regular seminar time. The lessons consist of a theory session, a quiz on the previous week’s content and a game phase. Here, the teams discuss their strategies, create Excel spreadsheets to calculate their productivity and other key figures, make decisions and receive intensive coaching from the lecturers. One of the goals of this coaching is to ensure that the students take a well-founded approach to the simulation and do not just rely on their gut feeling. At the end of the seminar, each of the six courses organises its own general meeting, at which the teams hold final presentations about their companies and must answer questions from their shareholders – played by the seminar instructors and other students.
Why Does OTH Regensburg Rely on Mastering General Management?
According to Prof. Dr. Jaritz, Mastering General Management, our most-played management simulation, is especially suited to this course because it offers advanced students a level that corresponds to their skills and previous knowledge.
In the game, students learn to develop a big-picture view of the interrelationships in their company and their market, but are not overwhelmed with a plethora of decision options right from the start.
What makes this business simulation particularly suitable is the holistic approach, but also the fact that it has a certain complexity. You can really play it for a whole semester, it starts off easy and steadily increases in difficulty, which I think is very valuable.
Creative Challenge Draws Crowds to University Photocopier
Prof. Dr. Jaritz and her colleagues have developed some additional tasks for the simulation game to ensure a varied seminar. For example, the individual teams each produce a short promotional video to market their company’s unique selling points. Prof. Dr. Jaritz laughs as she recounts the challenges of filming:
The other day we received a complaint from the library management because numerous teams were blocking their photocopiers one after the other. Because obviously, everyone wanted to shoot their video there. We hadn’t considered that.
In addition to providing students with practical marketing experience and fun, this creative task even has an influence on the course of the business simulation. The reason for this is that the instructors have the videos rated by the other students and adjust the companies’ awareness levels accordingly. Otherwise, they do not manually intervene in the simulation. According to Prof. Dr. Jaritz, this is usually not necessary due to the intensive personal coaching. Nor would it be fair, since the results of the simulation ultimately affect the grades.
Grades Based on Portfolio Exam
The final grade is based on a portfolio examination, half of which is a written exam and half of which consists of points earned during the business simulation. Prof. Dr. Jaritz and her colleagues award points for the promotional video, the final presentation, the improvement in the share price compared to the previous simulation period and for a good final result in the game. The students’ scores are communicated to them on an ongoing basis to motivate them to actively participate.
Teamwork and Fun for the Participants
In general, the feedback from the participants is very positive. For them, the business simulation seminar is a welcome change from the often theoretical courses from previous semesters. Students enjoy the teamwork, which not only improves their organizational skills, but also creates shared sense of achievement. In addition, the simulation game allows students to become active participants themselves, have a fun learning experience and apply their knowledge in practice. This encourages them to transfer their knowledge and enables them to think holistically across departmental boundaries.
I’m a big fan of game-based learning approaches. I also use Lego, other game ideas and anything that is gamified in some way. Of course, business simulations are part of that. I am convinced that you learn in a different way than in a traditional lecture. I strongly believe that a simulation game is no replacement for a lecture, but offers a valuable consolidation of knowledge.
Thanks to these didactic advantages and the strong, positive response to the module, the members of the Faculty of Business Studies at OTH Regensburg plan to continue integrating the business simulation into their teaching. We are pleased to contribute to this interesting seminar with our Mastering General Management simulation and would like to thank Prof. Dr. Jaritz for the informative interview.