Why we need "Business Games"?

I am always asked why you call “Game” to your Management Development Program(s).

So, guys, we do “PLAY” games. The origin of the word “Play” is telling: it is derived from the Old English word “Plegian”, which means to exercise.

As a verb, “Play” is often defined in terms in individual or group IMAGINATIVE activity that promotes discovery and learning , or social activity that promotes what physiologist Daniel Goleman would call social and emotional intelligence.  

As a noun, it refer to activity engaged in for enjoyment and recreation.

In both senses, it is closely tied to pleasure and strongly associated with the brain’s reward system. Neuroscientific research on mammals identified play as a primary human drive and the brain’s source of joy, which is linked to the release of a specific neurochemical of the human’s social brain. Joy provides what had been described as “emotional fuel”, which helps the brain develop and explain its synaptic network.

In early like, this neurochemical appears in lower subcortical regions, which later, contribute to the growth and development of higher brain functions associated with the frontal cortex. So PLAY is not only a psychological precursor of social and emotional maturity in adulthood; it is a physiological one as well. Thus, we should PLAY and GAME is execution of it, in different forms, environments and rules.

We use the same psychological and physiological activities for brain development in our “Business Games”. These business games gives opportunists for learning to manage variables simultaneously and provide tremendous realism within various / different environments. It provides the player / gamer a realistic and enjoyable learning experience and benefit with understanding the cross-functional relationships among various management functions, honing operative and strategic decision-making skills under constraints of time, economics and information.

Let’s PLAY “Business” GAMES…!

Reference - HBR R0711B