 "AROUSAL":
A Model to Match Reality
by Peter Lansley, Assistant Director of Research, Ashridge Management College, UK |
| "AROUSAL":
A Model to Match Reality
by Peter Lansley, Assistant Director of Research, Ashridge Management College, UK |
In the search for more effective learning methods, "real life" simulations
have many attractions although their development requires a sound base
of information about business practice and the translation of this knowledge
into a form suited to simulation.
The AROUSAL system has been developed to provide highly flexible
simulations having a wide range of management development applications.
The system simulates the "world" of the senior management
team of a medium sized enterprise. Using audio visual and written case
study material supplemented by a computer based model, a group of participants
in the simulation can manage this enterprise into the medium term future.
They meet issues which would typically arise in real life, and face the
eventual consequences of the way they handle these issues. AROUSAL incorporates
organisational, job design, and detailed personnel information as well
as the production, marketing and financial factors usually associated with
business simulations.
Introduction
Current literature on management training reflects a quest for a
greater understanding of learning processes and for the development of
a wider variety of structured learning experiences. This is an account
of the recent development of the AROUSAL system, instigated by the search
for more effective learning experiences for managers needing to improve
their knowledge and understanding of the functioning of the business as
a whole. The simulation system in its present form is centred on the construction
industry but is capable of adaptation to a wide range of businesses and
industrial settings.
This article considers some of the issues involved in the
development of more challenging learning experiences focusing particularly
on the potential of real life simulations. The AROUSAL system is then described,
followed by an account of some recent applications. The views of industry
are briefly discussed.
Specific Problems
Whilst the development of AROUSAL was based on an awareness of general
problems in management training, the main focus was on satisfying the need
for individual companies to develop their staff rapidly to handle highly
specific problems which their organisations might face. Such a focus seems
more realistic than one which presupposes that industry is seeking, and
would support, general management training.
Clearly, different problems are likely to generate different
training requirements, ranging from the acquisition of knowledge, the development
of problem solving skills, and the changing of attitudes to the enhancement
of interpersonal skills. However, the problems share a common thread in
that any learning that takes place needs to be easily translated into enhanced
problem solving ability. The issue which arises here is that to be successful
the transfer of learning to the work-place must commence before the
participant returns to his normal job. The application of learning has
to be part of the total training experience.
One way of satisfying this need is through the use of highly
realistic simulation models of an organisation, in which an individual
or a group of participants run a business as its directors or senior managers.
In turn such simulations can provide the major vehicle for meeting certain
training requirements[1].
Whilst a major constraint is the availability of suitable
simulations, their potential usefulness is considerable; they provide contexts
for learning, with which participants can readily identify, with resulting
gains in involvement and commitment. Other likely benefits derive directly
from considerations of the action related experiential learning nature
of simulations. This is especially so when these are combined with opportunities
for the participants to examine critically their own decisions and actions
under the guidance of an experienced teacher or counsellor.
Real Life Simulations
Simulations vary considerably in their levels of sophistication.
They range from computer based finance, production and marketing decision-making
exercises, involving a single participant, to loosely structured events
focusing on interpersonal relationships and communications between the
members of a group of individuals. However, many of these bear little relationship
to real life situations. Whilst their level of reality may be sufficient
to facilitate useful learning experiences, they often fail to provide a
full opportunity for the participant to apply learning in the context of
his own real world.
Simulating Reality
An important requirement of the real life simulation is that the
context it provides should be immediately translatable to the work situation.
This means that the issues generated by the simulation, and addressed by
the participant, must be expressed in a way similar to that which would
occur in reality.
Where the simulation focuses on interpersonal relationships
the background to the simulation may be rather passive. Once the context
has been set, the real-time relationships between participants take over.
Other simulations, however, require a close and dynamic interplay between
the decisions of a group or an individual and the context: such as when
they are running a business. In these cases the information provided must
be given in a manner typical for the business being simulated. It may be
easy to provide routine production reports, profit and loss accounts and
balance sheets but considerable imagination is required in generating and
reporting "soft" information which in practice would not be formally reported.
The issues generated by the simulation and handled by participants
need to be sufficiently sophisticated to have implications which require
decision-making at a variety of levels. Strategic issues cannot be resolved
solely by strategic decisions. They require an understanding of, and an
ability to handle, consequential operational issues. Many business games
address single level problems, and ignore the strategic implications of
a series of operational decisions and vice versa.
The issues generated by the simulation and handled by participants need to be sufficiently sophisticated to have implications which require decision-making at a variety of levels
Given a realistic context, the development of a strong sense of ownership of the problems presented by a simulation is fairly straightforward. Commitment and motivation to tackle these problems is critical to learning. It is important that this should extend beyond just owning and defending particular decisions.
Feedback
Real life situations are dynamic. Decisions on how to tackle a particular
issue not only lead to decisions at other levels but create new issues
in the future. These new issues can provide feedback on the quality of
previous decision making. However, such feedback is often possible only
where there is direct comparison with the performance of other organisations;
these may be other groups of participants in a simulation, or the real
world. Comparisons with previous performance are often valid only when
an organisation and its environment are in a steady state.
The way feedback is handled is crucial to the success of
any learning experience. At one level feedback in the form of performance
reports and new issues arising from a set of decisions and previous behaviour
may be useful, but processing this feedback often requires sensitive handling
by trained teachers or counsellors. Their role is to develop, from the
experience, as much useful learning as possible and to ensure that adequate
reflection occurs. It is for the teacher to encourage experimentation,
new ideas, and to help those groups with very constrained activity patterns
to question the imaginary boundaries and assumptions to their behaviour.
The ideas presented so far have been derived from an empirical,
and pragmatic point of view; from experience of facilitating individual
and group learning. However, there is a strong body of knowledge which
supports the view that the type of simulation described can provide highly
meaningful learning experiences. Some of this is based on considerations
of the learning cycle proposed by Kolb[2] and from other ideas in learning
theory—for example, that the acceptability of the content and process is
a necessary precurser to successful learning. Other knowledge bases stem
from an understanding of the likes and dislikes of managers about management
training; that managers prefer:
(1) Involvement and participation linked to realism
(2) Active rather than Passive learning.
(3) Diagnosing business problems and proposing
solutions.
They dislike: games, gimmicks, lectures and theory[3]. This would
suggest that a real life simulation could have a high level of acceptability,
but a warning is that the more divorced from reality such simulations are
the less acceptable they become.
Clearly, a highly flexible simulation system is needed to
meet the requirements discussed so far. This system would provide a context
or business setting embodying human and organisational factors as well
as financial and production variables, at more than one organisational
level. Such a system needs to be capable of being fine-tuned to particular
issues, as well as providing a realistic background for those issues.
To achieve these requirements it is necessary to simulate
a total business system as represented in the operations of a fairly self-contained
business unit. For the construction industry this could be an individual
site, for which supervision, and professionals representing the various
parties engaged with site work, labour and production are involved; or
it could be an individual company, as in the case which is described in
the rest of this paper.
"AROUSAL"
The AROUSAL (A Real Organisation Unit Simulated As Life) system
has been designed to simulate the world of the directors of a medium sized
enterprise. Participants in the simulation, formed into small teams, take
the roles of the directors of that enterprise.
Case Study
Their initial experience is of an audio-visual and written case
study of the enterprise. This case study is designed to highlight the issues
about which a particular learning experience has been planned. Each group
is expected to study the case material and make recommendations about future
courses of action. These recommendations are then presented to the complete
group and compared with each other and with those of acknowledged experts
from industry. The case study lasts about half a day and leads to strong
commitment, interest and sense of ownership of the enterprise for which
each team is responsible.
Simulation
Having made recommendations for the future, each team is invited
to run its business for, say, two years. This involves making decisions
in a variety of areas and, for example, involves:
- Forecasting future market conditions, production
levels and results.
- Making effective use of existing resources.
- Hiring, firing and transferring staff
- Changing the design of the organisation structure
and the design of particular jobs.
Decisions, which are made on a quarterly basis, are input
to a computer model of the firm, and the resulting performance fed back
in the form of management reports. In this way the business, and its context,
are developed into the future. This simulation element takes one and a
half days.
Throughout the simulation, individual work and team meetings
are observed; advice and counselling are available when necessary. Depending
on the objectives of the learning experience, participants make presentations
to the whole group. Assessments may be made of each team's interpersonal
skills, verbal communications, decisionmaking and problem solving methods
by those supervising the simulation experience. These take a further half
day.
The most extensive use of AROUSAL has been with a model of
a building contractor. The information available to participants and the
areas in which they can make decisions in running their firm are outlined
in Figure l. This shows the wide range of organisational and human variables
that it has been possible to incorporate into this simulation. Each simulated
individual employed by the firm has his own personality, capacity for work
and skill level. Each project undertaken, and each different organisation
structure, has its own particular characteristics. These characteristics
can be inferred from a combination of the descriptive information available,
the past behaviour of the firm, the experience of team members from within
and outside the simulation, and relevant theory.
Figure 1. The World of the Management Team
| Decisions Areas
Level of Marketing
Recruitment, Sacking
Reporting Relationships
Forecasts of Future Performance |
Information Available
Market Conditions
Project Progress
Prospective Employees
Reporting Relationships
Cash Flows, Balance Sheet
Work in Hand Ad Hoc Analyses |
Model
The underlying model has been developed from the findings of a long-term
programme of research into the construction industry, which has focused
on the relationships between environmental conditions, organisation practices
and performance[4, 5, 6]. As a consequence there has been no substantial
difficulty in arriving at a suitably well defined set of relationships
on which to base the model, or in selecting actual companies on which to
base particular simulations in the construction industry.
Given a good understanding of the building industry, and
the simulation philosophy outlined earlier, the major issues in developing
the system have been in producing appropriate case study material and computer
programs. The latter have provided some exacting problems, in ensuring
that the participants are not intimidated by the interface between their
decisions and the computer based simulation model which processes those
decisions. At present the participants do not use a computer terminal;
after all, the simulation is not meant to be an exercise in operating computer
equipment. However, as managers become more familiar with the use of such
equipment in their routine work situations, so the use of such terminals
with simulation work will become less significantly novel.
The potential for applying the AROUSAL system to other industries is considerable, provided the necessary data-base is developed
The present AROUSAL system is highly flexible for use within the construction industry and, for example, is capable of being fine-tuned to particular enterprises where it can reflect the specific nature of jobs, organisations, and environmental conditions. The potential for the application of the system to other industries is considerable although, because of the database required for the building of models appropriate to these sectors, such developments are progressing slowly.
Applications
Management Development Courses
The AROUSAL system has been used most extensively as an integrating
experience on a range of short postexperience and post-graduate courses.
In these situations the participants have been provided with an opportunity
for testing out previous theoretical and technical inputs to their courses
with a means for establishing strategies for implementing their new knowledge.
The associated learning objectives have been broad.
Participants have had little difficulty in achieving a high
degree of acceptance of their roles as directors of a business, the context
of that business or its behaviour. This is true of both experienced managers,
who have continually judged their simulated business against their experience
in the real world, and the less experienced post-graduate students who
have used a more theoretical frame of reference. Further, participants
have had little difficulty in reconciling the real-time decision-making
process of the management teams with the computerised backcloth of their
business activities and performance.
The simulation is usually operated with several teams running
the same company, in isolation from each other. They compete in a simulated
environment and not directly against each other. This allows teams to progress
at their own pace without the pressures of deadlines or fears of irrational
decisions being made by the other teams. However, where teams choose to
compare their performance, a competitive element can arise.
A variation on this standard situation is where different
teams run different businesses, at different stages of development, operating
in different locations, with different types of work, and with different
prospects. These different businesses can represent the subsidiaries of
a large organisation, which report to a holding board, also comprising
a team of participants. With this configuration the main emphasis is on
the real-time relationships between teams, and businesses, the "balancing"
of the businesses at holding board level and on negotiations for resources
between holding and subsidiary boards.
Corporate Appraisal and the Management of Change
One of the prime reasons for developing AROUSAL was to provide a
means to help particular firms handle highly specific issues. The system
can be tuned to reflect the characteristics and behaviour of such firms,
for example in terms of the numbers and types of staff employed, the organisation
structure, the design of jobs and the nature of projects available and
undertaken by the firm. The staff of the firm can then project their company
into the future and develop a sensitivity for the particular issues of
interest.
The issues addressed so far have involved the management
of the introduction of new technical specialists, with consequent reorganisations;
the investigation of substantially different approaches to competing for
work; and the growth and development of subsidiaries. In these cases the
role of the tutor has been to help the participants investigate alternatives
to existing practices and to assist them in revealing feasible methods
for making these alternatives work.
Not only can AROUSAL be used as a senior management tool
in their appraisal of possible future strategies but it can help to explain
their choices to staff lower down the organisation.
Counselling
With increasing change in business practices, many individuals find
themselves bewildered and confused about their roles, areas of decision-making
responsibility and, quite simply, how to handle the mass information which
they have to use in the course of their jobs. Given an AROUSAL model tuned
to a particular firm, it is possible to counsel individuals about their
roles, and the influence of their decisions on the firm as a whole and
on how to use the information system. By removing the pressures and risks
associated with decision-making in real life, individuals can develop a
richer appreciation of their jobs and improve their confidence for taking
decisions in real life.
The greatest and most appropriate learning takes place when managers are able to introduce, handle and experiment with new ideas and techniques, against a backclothof a familiar business setting
The need for this counselling should not be taken to imply a deficiency on the part of individuals, since often it is the employer who has provided insufficient long-term training or development to enable staff to establish a sufficiently broad view of their own jobs.
Team Building and Leadership Development
Further, partially developed applications of AROUSAL involve its
use as a vehicle for the building of teams of individuals who are required,
for example, to set up new businesses or to handle significant projects.
Although many highly effective team building exercises are available, there
are many attractions in simulating situations which individuals are expected
to meet in real life. Team members are able to develop a better appreciation
of each other's strengths and weaknesses, mutual adjustment of roles can
take place at an early stage, and any necessary development needs or the
requirement for personnel skills counselling can be quickly identified.
The View of Industry
The exposure of AROUSAL to industry has been relatively restricted,
but considerable interest has been generated. Some of the major features
which appeal to industry reflect the overall philosophy of the system.
This is expressed in the view that managers learn by doing, and that the
greatest and most appropriate learning takes place when managers are able
to introduce, handle and experiment with new ideas and techniques, against
a backcloth of a familiar business setting. AROUSAL also meets other demands
and some beliefs found in industry:
- Management effectiveness is best measured by quantifiable
results.
- An effective manager is able to forecast the outcomes of
his actions, and so take specific actions to keep his areas of operations
under control.
- In order to select appropriate outcomes the effective manager
has to integrate a wide range of skills and operate across the full range
of problem levels.
There are some reservations about the potential usefulness of AROUSAL;
some managers, particularly principals of construction firms, find the
view that their businesses can be modelled particularly challenging. Another
issue is the artificiality of simulation: in real life, actions and decisions
could be very different. To a point this is true, but a major objective
of the simulation is to remove some of the factors which inhibit effective
decision-making in real life, to enable individuals to explore and become
more familiar with alternative approaches to making decisions. Further,
these reservations have not been shared by participants from industry.
Much to their surprise (and to the trainers' relief) comments such as "we
soon stopped wondering what was in the model and started asking what would
happen in real life" are fairly common.
Arguments about the artificiality of simulation can be overstressed.
With the rapid introduction of new technologies and especially of information
systems, the worlds of many managers are becoming increasingly unnatural.
The use of artificial intelligence for the study of human and organisational
problems becomes increasingly valid[7]. So too does its use in providing
realistic contexts for management learning experiences. However, this is
not an argument to be pursued too strongly with most construction managers!
Conclusions
The AROUSAL system facilitates learning through action, by providing
a simulated organisation with realistically structured decision-making
needs, and through the opportunity for reflection, provided by the sensitive
engineering of relevant learning situations. Experience of AROUSAL in a
number of different modes has been very encouraging.
The system meets many of the criteria for effective learning,
derived empirically and from current theories of learning, as well as matching
the demands of industry, and managers, for practical, situation specific
and action oriented experiences.
Although the most extensive experience of AROUSAL has been
in the construction industry, the system has been designed to be applied
to a wide range of industrial settings. The main constraint to the development
of AROUSAL in other industries is the extensive database required for sector
specific simulations, but this is likely to be eased by the development
of more sophisticated simulation methods for handling organisational and
human related factors.
References
1 Olivas, L. and Newstrom, J.W., "Learning Through
the Use of Simulation Games", Training and Development Journal, September
1981.
2 Kolb, D.A., "On Management and the Learning
Process", in Kolb, D.A. Rubin, I.M. and McIntyre, J.M., Organisational
Psychology: A book of Readings, Prentice Hall, 1974.
3 Cole, G., "Management Training in Top Companies",
Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 5 No. 4, 1981.
4 Lea, F.E., Lansley, P.R. and Spencer, P.A., Growth
and Efficiency in the Building Industry, Ashridge Management Research
Unit, 1974.
5 Sadler, P.J., Webb, T.D. and Lansley, P.R., Management
Style and Organisation Structure in the Smaller Enterprise, Ashridge
Management Research Unit, 1974.
6 Lansley, P.R., Quince, T.A. and Lea, F.E., Flexibility
and Efficiency in Construction Management, a report to the Department
of the Enviromment, Ashridge Management College, 1979.
7 Simon, H., The Sciences of the Artificial, The
MIT Press, 1981.
Scanned from: Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol 6, No 6, 1982
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