Research Reports from the Department of Operations
Document Type
Report
Publication Date
12-1-1966
Abstract
The area of investigation of this study was that of the use of a business decision simulation to determine profiles of decision-making skill and style of students in business administration. The objective of this research was to determine relationships between the educational background and training of business administration students, and their proficiency in decision-making, together with their basic modes of decision-making. The research program involved the use of a new computer-programmed general management business decision simulation which simulates an interacting, multi-firm industry which was designed primarily for teaching and research purposes. The technique used in this study revolved around the use of programmed players, called standard players, which made the decisions required for all but one of the firms in the industry, whose decisions were made by one student participant. This was done for the purpose of controlling the interactive elements of the simulation, to introduce an absolute and consistent standard of competition, and to isolate the decisions made by each student participant, while retaining the dynamic and competitive aspects of the simulation. Over 330 students participated in this study. Most were graduating seniors, some were second year graduate students, and some were business executives participating in a management development program. The research results showed that this technique was able to control the random elements of the simulated, dynamic decision-making environment. Statistically significant results were obtained for both individual and group decision differences for variables which measured both decision quality and style. Some of the highlights of the findings follow: The participants in general achieved rather poor results relative to the programmed players as measured by percentage of industry profits and sales. It was found that the undergraduate students' background factors analyzed—Age, Grade Point Average, Years of Business Experience, and Father's Occupation—were not related to decision-making proficiency. The graduate students obtained slightly better profits and were more aggressive and less conservative than the under- graduate students on the whole; but the managers' profits were the lowest of the three groups, as was their aggressiveness. The managers were also the most conservative. A sub-experiment which attempted to increase the motivational level of part of the graduate students resulted in no improvement in results, but a reduction in expenditures, cash outlays, and costs. Indices for analyzing the decision-making of the undergraduate participants by area of specialization were developed. The hypothesis that participants specializing in a particular functional area of business would emphasize that area in decision-making was basically rejected. Some general patterns emerged, however, and an alternative emphasis pattern was suggested. The pattern that was suggest is that participants majoring in specialized areas such as Accounting, Finance, and Marketing emphasized some decision areas over others and obtained better results, while those in the non-specialized areas such as Management and General Business exhibited a balanced decision-area emphasis and poorer results. Another aspect of this pattern was that participants majoring in specialization areas generally considered as line areas such as Marketing and Production placed more emphasis on the internal firm decision areas; and those participants majoring in specialization areas generally considered as staff, such as Accounting, Quantitative Analysis, and Economics placed more emphasis on decision areas primarily concerned with relationships of the firm to its external environment.
Keywords
Operations research, Business education--Simulation methods, Decision making--Study and teaching, Business--Simulation games, Computer simulation--Research, Business students-- Decision making, Educational tests and measurements--Evaluation
Publication Title
Technical Memorandums from the Department of Operations, School of Management, Case Western Reserve University
Issue
Technical memorandum no. 64
Rights
This work is in the public domain and may be freely downloaded for personal or academic use
Recommended Citation
Braasch, John M., "Business Games, Programmed Players, and Individual Decision-Making Profiles" (1966). Research Reports from the Department of Operations. 66.
https://commons.case.edu/wsom-ops-reports/66