Improved Participant's Learning through In-Class Inventory Management Simulation Game in Business Management and Executive Education Program

Abstract

As instructors continue developing and mixing useful learning tools for their classrooms, games have become one of the popular alternatives in b-school education. This paper explains an inventory simulation game, evaluation of student's learning from playing the game and results. An effective game helps students understand concepts more quickly and remember them better than from only a faculty led lecture.

The game used here is a simulation of an inventory system, where student teams place orders for an item (Cricket Bat) on a monthly basis from manufacturer (based on limited knowledge of prior demand), update total stock adding new order item in opening stock at start of the month and then the instructor informs them what the demand/sale is for that month. There are holding costs for items not sold and shortage costs if they run out of items. The students then place their order for the next month. The game continues for 12 months. To evaluate student learning before-and-after questionnaire method was used. It allowed for an initial benchmark to be established, followed by a measure of how much students improved. For the questionnaire, answers were scored and compared between before game and after game to assess learning.

Most results point to the conclusion that students learned from the game. Basic inventory knowledge increased, students gained an appreciation for the complexity of inventory issues and of decision making in general and students enjoyed the game and thought it was a worthwhile learning experience. It was evident that many students grasped the larger strategic issues and were beginning to apply them more broadly. Although not all changes were statistically significant, most did improve, suggesting that students developed a deeper hands-on understanding of the issues. The current study is confirmatory in the general use of simulation games, although it adds to existing literature in that little exists on operations management games and their assessment.