STRATEGIC SIMULATION GAMES IN MANAGEMENT TEACHING

In recent years, there has been a growing use of games and business simulations, not only to train employees in various areas, but also in academic conditions, to improve teaching efficiency, and consequently, to increase students' competences in a wide range of economic disciplines and management, including in particular: strategic management, marketing, project management, economics and international business. According to Dale's experience cone (a pyramid illustrating the effectiveness of transmission and learning), teaching methods activating listeners, i.e. simulation games allow one to memorize approximately 90% of the transferred knowledge. In strategic games, the participant becomes an element of the simulation model - it is integrated into - the most often - algorithmic and formal structure of the simulation model, and the very essence of such a game is based on the best approximation of management theory to business practice in academic conditions. In simulation games, competition ideas are used between game participants who also acquire or develop competences such as: team work, work under time pressure, work organization, team collaboration, division into team roles or making various decisions (individual and group) - everything which in the reality of enterprises is actually the order of the day. The game teaches standard behaviours, but also those which an employee, manager or external consultant will rarely encounter. Therefore, it stimulates creative thinking, involving each participant to a greater or lesser extent. In addition, concepts, techniques and business models implemented in the game, through the form of fun, cooperation, and sometimes healthy competition, provide an accessible approach to the realities of managing modern enterprises. The paper will present the results of experiments in conducting classes and workshops in the University of Life Sciences in Lublin in Poland on "Gamification in Management - Strategic Simulation Games", during which players (students of: Management and Production Engineering and also Transport and Logistics), playing different roles of: employees, managers, company owners or external consultants, face many challenges in managing a modern enterprise - carrying out, for example, the processes of: team building, management and cooperation, strategic planning and implementation, motivation, or business negotiation as well as decision-making. In this article, there will be also an attempt to evaluate the benefits of participation in the game from the perspective of students, as well as the possibility of using the acquired competences in further learning or work.