Sim Institute Summer 2024 Updates

After publishing 10 monthly Newsletters, from now on Sim Institute will publish its Newsletters on a quarterly basis. The contents will remain focused on relevant topics for business educators and trainers with an interest in using simulation games. This month, we cover three topics that represent important events in Sim Institute’s product offer and overall development.?

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Updates to Net Zero and Coffee Shop Inc.

The Sustainability Management Simulation: Net Zero and the Business Essentials Simulation: Coffee Shop Inc have both been updated. The new versions include the option for instructors to assign students to teams, whereby one student (the 'Editor') can enter decisions and other team members provide input and follow progress. At any time, a team member can ‘Become Editor’ and obtain the power to enter decisions on behalf of the team.

Playing in teams allows for greater communication between students and enables them to learn from each other. However, the default setting in both simulations is for students to play individually and this setting can be left unchanged if the instructor prefers.

Other improvements to both simulations include an enhanced look & feel, improvements in layout and navigation, and the possibility for students to view their previous runs of the game. We have also incorporated a range of small changes that make the simulations even easier to understand and play, while maintaining the existing structure of decisions and dashboards. The underlying models, and therefore the strategies for success, remain unchanged.

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Gold Medal for Fashion Forward

The Circular Economy Simulation: Fashion Forward has won the Gold Medal at the 2024 Serious Play Awards. This recognition represents the fifth Serious Play award that Sim Institute receives and the second gold medal. The Fashion Forward simulation was published in April 2024. Some of the comments from the award judges:

• I learned a lot playing this informative game.
• Nicely polished and compelling experience.
• I enjoyed my time with this simulation!
• I always felt like I understood what I was expected to do next.

Our five award-winning simulations, including the ones mentioned in this Newsletter, are available for universities through Harvard Business Publishing.

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Sim Institute at Academy of Management Conference

Tim Rogmans of Sim Institute participated in the annual conference of the Academy of Management (AOM) in Chicago. At the start of the conference, Tim facilitated a Professional Development Workshop on ‘Teaching with Business Simulation Games’. A group of 35 participants discussed effective ways to use simulations in class and practiced their skills with the Sustainability Management Simulation: Net Zero. Compared to a similar event that was held at the AOM Conference in 2019, it was noticeable how much more advanced and experienced business school instructors have become in the use of simulation games. Discussion topics ranged from the pros and cons of team vs individual play, methods to assess learning and techniques to debrief.

A second highlight involved the use of the Carbon Emissions Learning Lab (CELL) at the premises of Rush University’s College of Health Sciences. Sim Institute has partnered with the Geneva Sustainability Centre (part of the International Hospital Federation) on the development of CELL, a simulation in which participants manage a hospital towards lower greenhouse gas emissions while at the same time managing other aspects of the hospital’s performance (such as: patient care, employee engagement and costs). Around 40 healthcare management academics and practitioners played CELL and subsequently discussed research priorities for sustainability in healthcare. It was shown once again how the simulation can bring the topic of sustainability in healthcare to life and motivate people to take action in the workplace.

One lesson from the conference was that simulations work well across cultures. In both workshops, participants came from diverse backgrounds but everyone seemed to be able to understand what to do, enjoy the exercise and reflect on their learning. Throughout the conference, interest in new and interactive teaching methods was in evidence. All this indicates that there is still plenty of room for the use of simulations to grow in different areas of management education and training.

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