SMG as Pedagogical Tool for Management Education

 

Introduction: What is SMG?

Management Simulation is a Computer based event that simulates a Business Scenario. It creates an opportunity for the participants to manage a business with multiple functional areas. They get to experience active competition and the perspective to handle it. They take strategic business decisions and see the impact through AIMA’s indigenously developed software.

Why Simulation?

Business simulation is a technique for developing, testing, and evaluating business strategies in a virtual environment before committing real money and effort in the marketplace. With the latest computer technology, state- of-the-art business simulations can manage hundreds of variables simultaneously and provide tremendous realism. AIMA creates business simulations using its unique and powerful software model.

Participants will experience a realistic and enjoyable learning experience, where they actually manage a multimillion company and benefit with:

1. Understanding the cross-functional relationships among various management functions.
2. Exposure of running a company in a simulated environment without causing damage to a live company.
3. Honing operative and strategic decision making skills under constraints of time, finances and information.
4. Understanding the financial implications of the decisions taken. Helping in finding and employing the available information for the data analysis of their own and competitor’s business.
5. Understanding the importance of team work under trying business situations and above all Gets a synoptic view of a company’s operations and experience the thrill of running a company in a competitive environment.
6. Developing business acumen through business simulation.

Managing Simulation is a new endeavor to provide an excellent opportunity to the current generation to familiarize them about Business Management concepts and manage a business in the simulated environment. The participants are sensitized to acquaint with the challenges faced by the top Leaders, Decision Makers, and Administrators as functional Heads to encounter these by forming the business strategies and making decisions. The exposure sharpens their business acumen and definitely makes them ready as versatile human asset to shoulder multi-tasking by using the business skills enhanced through developing business acumen through this Business Simulation.

Simulation Management Games (SMG) exposes participants to real economic, environmental and business issues. SMGs are effective in the hands of Faculty to impart practical skills to their students while concepts are taught; hence it creates a realistic simulated business environment and helps students understand the dynamics of business environment.  This programme will help the participants to understand the concept of SMG stands for Learning by doing and Doing by Learning, a pure experiential model.

End Note:

SMGs are played in teams of three participants each. Three or Four quarters of simulated business scenarios designed by the AIMA program facilitator are presented to the teams and asked to take and record their managerial decisions. Participants are welcome to use calculators or laptops. The decisions are captured and processed using software that churns out results in the form of business reports. The winning team is decided by overall profitability of the simulated business. The FDP program has initiated the faculties like us to inculcate these simulation techniques into the students’ mind/knowledge through their interactive session in the class room or laboratory sessions.

Participated and Written by

Dr.S.Sundararajan, Dr.D.Sathiskumar, Mr.S.Saravanan

Faculties of SIMS, SANSAC, Coimbatore-35