From Rhetoric to Reality: Business Games as Educational Tools

Tal Ben-Zvi - tal.benzvi@stevens.edu
Thomas C. Carton - thomas.carton@stevens.edu
Wesley J. Howe School of Technology Management, Castle Point on The Hudson, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030

Abstract

This paper discusses business games as teaching tools in Management Science (MS). The discipline's traditional teaching methods, while appropriate for the dissemination of foundational knowledge, cannot provide students with a platform to link abstract concepts and real-world problems. We suggest that business simulation games are an effective way to engage students in MS topics; that they compel students to understand and cope with the ambiguities associated with real-world organizations. Specifically, we discuss our experience with the International Operations Simulation Mark/2000 (INTOPIA), a game designed to channel students into a stream of entrepreneurial decision-making. We employed the game over 12 semesters with approximately 1000 advanced MBA candidates. Our findings indicate that business games represent a novel instructional approach: this pedagogy has a real potential to promote the exchange of new ideas on teaching and learning within and across courses in the MS discipline.

Download the PDF
10.1287/ited.8.1.10

Citation Information
Ben-Zvi, T., Carton, T. C. 2007. From Rhetoric to Reality: Business Games as Educational Tools. INFORMS Trans. Ed. 8(1) 10-18. Available online at http://ite.pubs.informs.org/.

DOI: 10.1287/ited.8.1.10