Helsinki University of Technology SimLab

Publications
Report Series: 10
Espoo 2005

EXPERIMENTAL INTERACTIVE LEARNING IN INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT:

NEW APPROACHES TO LEARNING, STUDYING AND TEACHING

Proceedings of the 9th Workshop of the IFIP WG 5.7 Special Interest Group on
Experimental Interactive Learning in Industrial Management,
June 5-7, 2005, Espoo, Finland

Ritta Smeds, Jens Riis, Päivi Haho and Miia Jaatinen (eds.)
Helsinki University of Technology SimLab
Publications
Report Series: 10
Espoo 2005

Experimental Interactive Learning in Industrial Management:

New approaches to Learning, Studying and Teaching

Riitta Smeds, Jens Riis, Päivi Haho and Miia Jaatinen (eds.)

Proceedings of
The 9th International Workshop of the Special Interest Group on Experimental
Interactive Learning in Industrial Management, June 5-7 2005, Espoo, Finland

Organized by
SimLab, Enterprise Simulation Laboratory, Dept. of Computer Science and
Engineering, Helsinki University of Technology, Finland

Sponsored by
IFIP Special Interest Group under Working Group 5, 7 on Integrated
Production Management and the European Academy of Industrial Management
AIM
Workshop Program Committee
Riitta Smeds, Helsinki University of Technology
Jens O. Riis, Aalborg University
Päivi Haho, Helsinki University of Technology
Miia Jaatinen, Helsinki University of Technology

Workshop Organizing Committee

Riitta Smeds, Jenni Laine, Päivi Iivonen, Tomi Sandell and Mika Peuhkurinen
Helsinki University of Technology

Workshop Secretariat
Jenni Laine

Helsinki University of Technology

Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Information Networks
SimLab Enterprise Simulation Laboratory
P.O.Box 9220
FIN-02015 HUT
Telephone: +358-9-4515037
Facsimile: +358-9-4514698
Internet: www.simlab.hut.fi

ISBN 951-22-7724-7
ISSN 1458-8234

The series deals with current issues in the management of innovation and learning in business
processes and business models of the networked economy.

All right reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval systems,
or transmitted, or otherwise, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Otamedia
Espoo 2005
PREFACE
The Special Interest Group on Experimental Interactive Learning in Industrial
Management was established within IFIP WG 5.7 in 1994 by its founding father professor Jens
Riis from Aalborg University. It brought together professors, teachers, researchers and
consultants, who all shared a lively interest in new teaching methods in the field of industrial
management. The basic challenge in teaching was felt to be the huge gap between management
theory and management practice. How could teaching help to bridge the gap? How could
management skill and proficiency be taught? Could theories be experimented and experienced
through simulations, and through simulation games?
The Special Interest Group started eagerly on the topic, and organized international workshops
that included game demonstration sessions, game design workshops, and presentations of
research papers on the design, use and learning effects of simulations. For the first seven years,
the theme of the Special Interest Group was “Simulation Games in Production Management”.
But from the very beginning, the workshops were very open and tolerant for new ides. The topic
broadened evolutionarily from simulations to other experimental interactive learning and
teaching methods, some of them applying ICT, others relying on business process simulations,
problem based learning, project based teaching etc. Since 2001, with professor Riitta Smeds
from Helsinki University of Technology as the new chair, the Special Interest Group renamed
itself to Experimental Interactive Learning in Industrial Management.
The international workshop in Espoo 2005 is the 9th international workshop of the Special
Interest Group, and the second one in Espoo. Its topic New Approaches to Learning, Studying
and Teaching reflects the multidisciplinary nature of the workshop. In the call for papers, we
invited researchers from the management and engineering sciences, but also from behavioral
sciences such as educational sciences, psychology and law, to join us in knowledge sharing on
new applications of teaching and learning in management. To broaden our multidisciplinary
view, we invited Kirsti Lonka, PhD (Psychology), Professor of Medical Education and Director
of the Centre for Cognition, Understanding, and Learning (CUL) at Karolinska Institutet
(Stockholm, Sweden), to give a guest lecture on "Progressive inquiry learning, problem-based
learning and collaborative knowledge creation". To connect practice and research, also managers
were invited to the workshop.
We received altogether 18 papers from 10 countries. Now published in these Proceedings,
they deal with new empirical experiments and experiences in teaching and learning management
issues in the context of educational institutions, in companies and public organizations, and in
their networks. The topics range from problem-based and project-based learning in universities,
to management simulation games, and further to development, learning and training in business
processes.
Over 30 participants will attend the workshop in SimLab’s innovation environment. We have
designed the whole workshop to become a huge learning and knowledge co-creation process.
Starting already on Sunday evening, the program includes interactive paper sessions, discussions
as well as group work sessions. Throughout the whole workshop, SimLab’s Idea Wall will
collect all the valuable ideas of the participants for joint learning and innovation. We hope that
the participants enjoy the workshop and create together with us an open atmosphere for
knowledge sharing and co-creation! And we wish that the workshop will give them new ideas to
further develop learning, studying and teaching in the complex and fascinating field of
management!
We want to thank IFIP WG 5.7 and the European Academy of Industrial Management AIM
for their support to the workshop. We also appreciate the support of the hosts, SimLab and
Helsinki University of Technology. Finally, our warmest thanks go to the local organizers, and
especially to SimLab’s project coordinator Jenni Laine, for the excellent preparation and
realization of the workshop!

Riitta Smeds Jens Riis Päivi Haho Miia Jaatinen

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Zoloxochitl Aquino Campos, Luis Berges Muro, Victor Yoldhi H.

A SIMULATION GAME AS EXPERIMENTATION TOOL TO DEVELOP PROJECT MANAGEMENT
COMPETENCIES...................................................................................................................................................... 1

Juan Luis Cano, Ivan Lidon, Fernando Paris, Ruben Rebollar, Paula Roman, Jesus Saenz
STUDENT GROUPS RESOLVING REAL PROJECTS:
A CASE STUDY OF EXPERIENCE LEARNING ............................................................................................... 11

Päivi Haho, Riitta Smeds

TEACHING, STUDYING AND LEARNING BUSINESS PROCESS NETWORKS........................................ 23

Jannicke B. Hauge, Max Schwesig, Klaus-Dieter Thoben, Jens Eschenbächer

BUSINESS GAMES-AN EFFECTIVE TOOL FOR EXPERIENCING COLLABORATION IN
PRODUCTION NETWORKS................................................................................................................................. 30

Heikki Hämmäinen, Mathias Tallberg, Juuso Töyli

A BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SIMULATION OF MOBILE SERVICE COMPETITION .......................... 37

Gert Jan Hofstede

ROLE PLAYING WITH SYNTHETIC CULTURES: THE EVASIVE RULES OF THE GAME ................. 49

Bassam A. Hussein, Kjetil Nyseth

A METHOD FOR LEARNING IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT: LEARNING BY PROJECTS .................. 57

Miia Jaatinen, Rita Södergård, Mika Peuhkurinen

LEARNING IN NETWORKED SERVICE PROVISIONING ............................................................................ 63

Anna Kilpiö, Jenni Laine, Marja-Leena Markkula

PROCESS SIMULATION METHOD IN TRAINING CONTEXT – ANALYZING THE BENEFITS AND
CHALLENGES ........................................................................................................................................................ 77

Katja Koskelainen, Marika Vänttinen, Miia Jaatinen, Päivi Haho, Päivi Iivonen
LEARNING FROM THE END CUSTOMER IN A PROCESS DEVELOPMENT PROJECT....................... 86

Ingo Lange, Arne Ziegenbein

THE CONSTRAINTS GAME - LEARNING THE THEORY OF CONSTRAINTS WITH A DICE GAME
INGO LANGE, ARNE ZIEGENBEIN ................................................................................................................... 95

Laura Leinikka, Antero Hirvensalo

FACILITATING BUSINESS PROCESS UNDERSTANDING IN A NETWORKED PROJECT - SHARING
PROCESS KNOWLEDGE IN TRAINING SESSIONS ..................................................................................... 105
Mirja Lemmetty, Erja Väyrynen, Heli Rantanen, Aija Staffans, Riitta Smeds
URBAN PLANNING AND EVERYDAY LIFE : A LEARNING PROCESS ............................................ 114

Sebastiaan Meijer, Guillermo Zúñiga Arias, Sietse Sterrenburg

EXPERIENCES WITH THE MANGO CHAIN GAME .................................................................................... 123

Jari Multisilta
MOMENTS METAMODEL AS A TOOL FOR EVALUATING LEARNING AND INNOVATIONS IN A
RESEARCH TEAM ............................................................................................................................................... 133

Alastair Nicholson
ABSTRACT: RECREATING THE MANAGEMENT ISSUES THROUGH EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
.................................................................................................................................................................................. 138

Jens O. Riis
PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING: CHALLENGES AND FUTURE FORMS ................................................. 141

Kamil Sitarski
THE MODEL OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ....................................................................... 150
 A SIMULATION GAME AS EXPERIMENTATION TOOL TO DEVELOP PROJECT
MANAGEMENT COMPETENCIES
ZOLOXOCHITL AQUINO C. (1 – LUIS BERGES M - VICTOR YOLDI H.(2

Mexican Petroleum Institute-IMP /UNIZAR1 – zaquino@imp.mx

Department of Engineering Design and Manufacture University of Zaragoza2

bergesl@posta.unizar.es - vyoldi@unizar.es

ABSTRACT
The Simulation Game in Project Management is a tailored computer-based game that facilitates
the learning process to develop project management competencies. This paper presents the underlying
concepts of a game called sIMProj© that models a typical project in a R&D organisation at the
petroleum industry. It describes how the mechanisms and practices used in the game promote rapid
learning and develop the knowledge and skills required in project management field. The paper also
explains how the game is applied on the framework of the learning laboratories.

INTRODUCTION
Project management is an emergent field of knowledge in any kind of organisation. Companies as
AT&T, Microsoft, Shell, BP, are requiring PMPs® credentials for individual advancement or for
employment.
Worldwide there are over 75.000 Project Management Professionals PMPs® (PMI, 2005). IPMA
has certified 7.557 persons in level C since 1998 (IPMA, 2005); and AIPM has a total number of 962
Registered Project Managers since the beginning of its program in 1976 (AIPM, 2005).
One of the main features of these project management certifications schemes is that they have been
focused on the essential competencies, skills and knowledge of a Project Manager. However, specific
competencies requirements are normally defined by each company, thus the general framework must
be aligned to the company’s values, culture, processes and practices. Therefore, organisations should
develop their own definitions of Project Manager Competencies, creating a customized framework
designed for the specific environment where their projects take place.
Competence is a term generally accepted as encompassing knowledge, skills, attitudes and
behaviours that are causally related to superior job performance. Professional competencies in project
management are attained by the combination of knowledge acquired during training, skills developed
through experience and the application of the acquired knowledge (Edum-Fotwe, et al 2000).
Project management field involve a balance between theory and practice. Project Managers must
handle conceptual knowledge of methods, tools and practices in this area, but also they must be able to
apply effectively this knowledge in complex operating environments.
In this context efficient learning methods, as Simulation Games, are necessary to enhance project
management knowledge and to allow experimentation; by these means, Project Managers are able to
test their conceptual knowledge by applying it into specific situations (McCreery, 2003). Simulation
games are effective tools which accelerate the learning process of Project Managers and develop the
required competencies in this discipline.
This paper attempts to address this issue by describing a customized Simulation Game, called
sIMProj©, which has been designed to make a contribution in the project management training field.
Particularly this tool intends to promote rapid learning of the organisational processes and to develop
Project Managers competencies.

The paper describes how sIMProj© integrates several elements to develop Project Managers’
knowledge and skills in a R&D organisation at the petroleum industry. The paper concludes with a
brief description about the application of the game in the context of the learning laboratory and its use
as an instrument for further development of competencies.

1
RESEARCH METHOD
This research has been based on an empirical study supported by three elements: a) the theoretical
framework of the learning process and mechanisms, Simulation Games and learning laboratories, b)
the general requirements of project management competencies, and c) the learning practices used in
organisational environments to promote learning. All these concepts are “blended” to construct a
Simulation Game

Theoretical framework
The purpose of this study is to explore the practices and methods for rapid learning. It is based on
the analysis of simulation techniques, the procedures which allow the learning process and the
elements and mechanisms for fast learning.
The main theories analyzed are: experiential learning (Kolb, 1984); learning style (Kolb 1976,
Honey and Mumfords, 2000); accelerated learning (Lynn, 2000); learning laboratories (Smed, 1998,
Cano and Sáenz, 2000 and Seville and Kim, 1993); creation of knowledge through the interaction and
conversion between tacit and explicit knowledge (Nonaka and Takeuchi 1999); and the base of
Simulation Game (Saunders, D. 1995, Greenblat C. 1989). With this framework, the bases of the
Simulation Game were established.

General Requirements of Project Managements Competencies

There are several professional associations devoted to build the body of project management
knowledge based on best practices, such as the International Project Management Association (IPMA),
the Project Management Institute (PMI) and the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM).
These associations normally offer Project Managers´certification schemas as the IPMA’s 4 Level
Certification Program that operates on the basis of their National Competence Baseline (IPMA-2005),
the PMI’s Project Management Professional (PMP®) linked with the Project Manager Competency
Development (PMI-2002), and the AIPM’s Registered Project Manager “RegPM” based on individual
assessment to the National Competency Standards of Project Management (NCSPM).
To identify specific requirements beyond these schemas, an intervention was made in a R&D
organisation at the petroleum industry that manages its operations by projects (Aquino Z, 2004-2). The
intervention process was based on the theoretical framework of the Action Science (Argyris C. et al,
1985), and its aim was to identify the required competencies and processes for project management in
this particular organisation in order to develop a customized training tool.
The “Management Competencies Model” of this organisation, gather 25 units of competencies
aligned to its core business and strategic activities, such as catalysis, geophysical, chemical, product
development, etc., everyone of its employees (about 3.000) belongs to one of these units according to
their technical expertise.
In addition to their technical discipline, 387 employees are Project Managers so they also belong
to the “Project Management Competence Unit”. This unit defines a standard for Project Manager
Competence aligned to the three dimensions of competencies established by PMI: Project Management
Knowledge, Project Management Performance, and Personal Competency. This standard also establish
other specific requirements such as proficiency to handle institutional SAP system, technical expertise,
specific competencies, knowledge in specific legislation, proficiency to manage institutional quality
systems and knowledge in business processes (figure 1).

The main activities of the Project Management Competence Unit are to monitor the Project
Managers Career prospects throughout an assessment process of their performance, and to provide a
method to identify the critical aspects of their job. These two tasks provide an essential framework to
analyze and identify project requirements, to establish performance expectations, to assess career
development, and to plan Project Managers’ continuing education (Aquino, Z, 2004-2).

2
 Pr oject m a nagem ent Com pet encies

Proj ect Managem ent Skills Performance Core Personalities

Knowledge Charact eristics

Com pa ny Specif ic Com pet encie s

Transversal Assessm ent

Proj
Project
ect
knowledge in Business knowledge in Specific
Processes Manager
Manager Legislat ion

Handle institutional SAP syst em

Manage inst itutional quality
( SI I I MP / SAP) Technical Expertise system s
( Product- Service)
(I SO- 9000)

Longitudinal Assessment
(biannual)

Proj ect Managem ent Perform ance

Figure1. Project Management Competencies Model

Learning Practices and Project Manager Learning Style

Today is widely accepted that competencies are sustained not only in knowledge, but also in skills,
attitudes and behaviours, normally obtained and reinforced through knowledge application and
experience. A training process can be a valuable tool to apply knowledge in specific situations,
however, in order to be effective, a training programme must consider the learning profile of trainees
and their learning methods preferences.
In this context, a survey was carried out in a sample of 74 Project Managers from 24 companies
that manage their operations by projects. The purpose of this study was to investigate about the Project
Manager learning styles (Honey & Mumford, 2000), the learning methods preferences (CCMD, 1999)
and the organisational learning practices (Aquino Z, 2004-1). With this information it is possible to
assess and select the most suitable learning methods for a particular learning style, such as, analytical
reviews, lectures, readings, self study, etc.
The survey’s results are that formal methods as seminars, courses, congress, conferences, etc., are
the most common learning tools used by the organisations to promote the learning process. Related
with the respondents’ preferences, informal methods are considered more useful for their learning
process. About the learning style of Project Managers, it has been found that the dominant style is
clearly the Reflector, followed by the Theorist, then the Pragmatist and finally, the Activist (Aquino Z,
2004-1).
These data provide ideas about the kind of exercises and the environment that should be recreated
by the Simulation Game, for example, interaction with colleagues, working sessions, working by
doing, visual and audio supports, etc.

THE SIMULATION GAME sIMProj©

sIMProj© is based on the frame game of the Simulation Exercises for Safety Training in the U.S.
Mining Industry (Cole H.P., et al), on the Emergency Simulation Game “EMSIGAME” (Aquino Z,
2003), and on some ideas of the “PMP® Exam Prep-A Course” (Mulcahy, R, 2002).
sIMProj© integrates the requirements for Project Manager Competencies (general and
organisational requirements), the learning style of Project Managers and their preferred learning
methods. These concepts identified in the empirical study has been translated into the game’s elements

3
as requirements and specifications (Aquino Z, 2004-1), but also as suitable elements that promote an
accelerated learning process.
sIMProj© is a computer-based and customised tool for a R&D organisation. This current version,
emphasize the firsts three Bloom’s cognitive categories: remember, understand and apply (Anderson
L.W, et al, 2001), to obtain the knowledge and cognitive processes that participants need to solve
problems and to understand new concepts, tools, company’s processes and procedures in this matter.
The goal of the game is to learn, and practise, how to handle effectively common situations that
arise in projects, by applying concepts, tools, organisational practices, and processes of project
management. Through a continuous decision making process and experimentation, the game intends
that Project Managers can apply their knowledge in a controlled organisational environment for a
particular project, so they can understand the whole dynamic of the company and develop the right
project management competencies.
The Simulation Game offers to trainees the opportunity to test their assumptions and to intuitively
experiment the consequences of their actions. The Simulation Game has been designed as a modular
system. Each of its modules has a specific function to support the learning process of project
management tools and the best practices in this discipline, (figure 2). The next sections describe some
detail about the game’s modules.
Assessm ent
Module

©
S im u la t i o n in P r o je c t M a n a g e m e n t

Proj ect I nform at ion

Module

Proyecto
ProyectoaaSimular
Simular

Inform ación del

Información
Cliente
Cliente
del Experim ent ation
Cipsa Module

Empresa
EmpresaGestora
Gestora

Consultas
ConsultasPM
PM

Assist ant Module

Figure 2. Main screen of the sIMProj©’s Modules

The Experimentation Module

This is the main module of the game; it incorporates the Scenario, the Situations Script and the
Answer Area. The Scenario represents particular projects for the organisation; the script contains the
description of several situations showing the key aspects about these projects, and the answer area
includes possible solutions for each situation.

All the situations are grouped in nine fields related to the knowledge areas identified in the
PMBOK® . The current Situations Script emphasizes mostly three of them: Time, Cost and
Communication. However, it is expected that the variety and quantity of situations in each area will be
comparable.
The experimentation module intends not only to provide the opportunity to learn project
management concepts, tools, etc., but also to gain experience and knowledge about behaviours in
decision making under demanding conditions. This module also integrates some elements that promote
an accelerated learning process as visual supports, analogies and “learning by doing” activities (Lyinn,
G.S et al 2003).

4
The Project Information Module
This module contains the information related to the simulated project and its customer. It is
divided in two sections: 1) The Mex-Oil Project describes the features of the simulated project; it
integrates the information about the Scenario context as: general information, objectives, scope, cost
and time, and 2) The Customer Section describes the project’s customer; it integrates information
about the customer organisational structure, about the team responsible to supervise the project
execution, and other general information associated with its company. The aim of this module is to
provide the information needed to understand the Game’s Scenario and the Project’s Framework.

The Assistant Module

This module is considered as a Tool Box. It provides support of information about organisational
processes and project management theory. It contains two sections: 1) The Performing Organisation
describes the particular project management information of the company responsible for the project, in
this case the R&D organisation, as: the operation procedures and forms, and the quality assurance
documentation, and 2) The Project Management Assistant contains information about the general
project management processes and knowledge areas based on the PMBOK® Guide (PMI, 2004). The
purpose of this module is to promote fast learning and “learning by doing”.
Trainees using the Simulation Game require general and particular knowledge and skills in project
management field. If they need to, with this module trainees can rapidly verify, learn and apply the
knowledge or skill required for every situation in the game, as: the adequate procedure, which form
they should fill, the understanding of a concept, the most suitable tool or technique and their correct
application, the most common practice, etc.

The Assessment Module

In order to measure the learning progress (knowledge and skills acquired), the Simulation Game
uses two sources of information: the participants’ performance during the Simulation Game, obtained
from their score, and the User’s Knowledge Profile, sustained on the results of an assessment applied
to participants before and after the Simulation Game (Kirkpatrick D.L, 1999, Saenz, 2000).
All the outputs of the simulation process are integrated in this module; this information is analyzed
to establish conclusions about the learning process as a whole. With these data the User Knowledge
Profile (UKP) is generated to identify Training Requirements (TR), when contrasting actual
knowledge profile with competencies requirements.
The modules mentioned above consider different theories and approaches about: knowledge
creation, individual and adult learning, accelerated learning, learning style, training evaluation, as well
as project management.

RUNNING THE SIMULATION GAME sIMProj©

sIMProj© is implemented through the Interactive Learning Laboratory that is based on the
simulation laboratory for the analysis of change processes in industries (Smed R, 1998), on the project
management simulation laboratory (Cano and Sáenz, 2003) and on the product development
management flight simulator (Seville and Kim, 1993).
The main elements that integrate this Learning Lab are: the Simulation Game sIMProj©, an
instructor, observers and users.
The spirit of this Learning Lab is to support active experimentation and inquiry, where every
participant surfaces and tests his or her mental models and others’, and make them explicit. Through
this process emerge a share understanding of key assumptions and interrelationships in the
organisation. The emphasis on mental models is because they define behaviours and represents the
organisational knowledge “Know-how and Know-why” (Kim, 1983).
Then, the Learning Lab is used as a mechanism for sharing mental models, making them explicit,
in order to enhance the organisational learning. Therefore, sIMProj© is also a team working game. By
working in teams and encouraging them to make explicit the reasoning behind every decision, the
mental models driving their decision-making are surfaced and the organisational learning arise (Kim,
1983).
5
 The game’s Scenario recreates a typical project, where participants must handle a “Gas Station
Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Project”. The gas station is called Mex-Oil, and it
will be built in Mexico. Users of the simulation game take the role of Project Managers and they form
project management teams. These teams must make several decisions to solve different situations that
arise during the project.
The game is simulated in real time and players can stop the simulation and save their decisions at
any time. The whole game takes six hours; it is divided in playing rounds (3 maximum). In between
these rounds participants receive remarks (comments, suggestions) from the instructor. A final
debriefing session concludes the simulation learning process.
Users are introduced to the game through the Scenario, which is a short description of where they
are and what the project status that they will be coping with is, by means of visual images and text that
appear in the computer screen. The Scenario also makes reference to what they will be doing during
play, to the objectives and their main roles.
Afterwards, every team selects the knowledge area to solve. During the simulation, the team must
analyze each situation and make the best decision according to its tacit knowledge and experience
(Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1999). Some situations just involve concepts issues, and others require
calculations, results interpretations, application of tools and methods, etc., such as estimating the
project duration using CPM-PERT; calculating the Project’s CPI, SPI or EAC; identifying the critical
path… While the simulation is running the users can consult the documents included in the Project
Information and Assistant Modules. (figure 3).
sIMProj© provides immediate feedback about every players’ decision. In the “feedback window”,
it appears two kinds of information. First, it tells if the decision was correct or incorrect and, second, it
provides additional information related to the Project Management Knowledge or the Organisational
Processes involved in the particular situation (figure 3). This feedback enhances the learning process,
even if the decision was right or wrong. In this manner, participants learn instantaneously by knowing
the effects of their decision (Cole, H. P et al, 1998, Aquino Z, 2003-2).
During the game, the users obtain a score of their learning performance about the requirements of
the project management knowledge and organisational practice (figure 3). With these results they can
evaluate their competencies and identify the areas where they have improved their performance and
those where they do not show any progress.

When the 140 project situations are completed the final score appears on the screen. The results
are shown in clusters according the nine Project Management knowledge areas as PM-Integration, PM-
Cost, PM-Time, PM-Risk, etc.

Fe e d b a c k W in d o w
©
S im u la t io n in P r o je c t M a n a g e m e n t

Si t u a t io n an d
A n sw e r
Ar ea
Proyecto
Proyecto aa Simular
Simular

Información
Información del
del
Cliente
Cliente

Cipsa

Empresa
Empresa Gestora
Gestora

Consultas
Consultas PM
PM

Fi n al Sco r e

6
 Figure 3. Some screens of the sIMProj©

The last activity of the interactive learning lab is the closing debriefing session. This session is
focused on participants’ performance in the Simulation Game. Its aim is to help participants connect
the knowledge and skills developed in the simulation to the corresponding real-life situation.
Additionally, they have to make a brief presentation regarding their decisions and its consequences,
their learning during the simulation, and their opinion about the game (Vincent A.P, et al 2004).
The instructor, observers and users are the main actors of the Interactive Learning Lab, their main
responsibilities are:
- Users are the core of the Simulation Game; they assume the Project Manager role during the
simulation.
- The instructor assists the learning process, by giving instructions and rules about the Simulation
Game. He/She takes an active role to increase the motivation, the dialogue and the interaction
between the players. The instructor usually leads the kick off session where instructions and
objectives are set, and also lead the final debriefing and feedback session.
- The observers supervise the development of the simulation by appraising various performance
parameters, previously defined. They should monitor the participants' behaviour during the
Simulation Game including the group dynamics, the communication and the decision making
process (Cano and Sáenz, 2003).

TESTING THE SIMULATION GAME sIMProj©

Before the formal application of sIMProj© in the R&D organisation, It has been tested with a
group of people to establish its validity, verisimilitude and playability (Greenblat, S.G, 1989):
Validity: an experienced Project Manager of the R&D organisation played and analyzed the
Scenario and the Situations Script. He had to answer the next question: does the content of the game
represent, truthfully, a real project situation?

Verisimilitude: its aim is to measure the game’s realism, thus the main question asked was: did
you had the feeling of being in a real project situation?
Playability: is oriented to know about game’s timing, amenity, complexity and clarity. In order to
obtain this information, a testing group responded a questionnaire after playing with the Simulation
Game. The questionnaire also asks for suggestions and ideas to improve the game's playability.
Preliminary results show that participants in the testing group believe that it is a worthwhile
experience. They consider that, using the game, they learned the correct application of project
management tools and the importance of team-work. Also, they suggest adding other types of active
exercises (such as practices); on the other hand, the results about the game’s realism its complexity and
the learning value are positive.
Some ideas to improve the game are, to reduce the amount of written information employing
audiovisual techniques, like video, photos and sound to increase its amenity, and to reduce the game’s
duration. Another suggestion is to link the Assistant Module with the Situations Script to encourage
users to visit frequently this useful module.
The game’s validity was considered positive, particularly, the language and information used to
describe the Scenario and Situations Script, because they are aligned with the actual practices in the
R&D organisation. However some situations require minor adjustments in order to be more realistic.
Regarding the learning process, some partial applications have been conducted. The results about
the effectiveness of sIMProj© to develop Project Manager Competencies were reasonable.
All these tests give rise to several improvements that have been incorporated into the game. At this
moment, the application process and game validation, as a whole, is in course. To date, it has been
identified a pilot group of 25 Project Managers in the R&D organisation. sIMProj© will be part of
their formal training process and the results obtained could be compared with other groups that will
follow the traditional training process of the R&D organisation.

7
CONCLUSIONS
Competencies development for Project Managers requires an appropriate holistic training concept
which should include at least two objectives: the acquisition of knowledge and skills required by their
organisation and by the project management associations, and the understanding about their tasks and
responsibilities (Rauch-Geelhaar et al, 2003). The Simulation Game proposed in this paper considers
both aspects, so it represents a suitable method to enhance competencies in a fast and efficient way.
This paper describes the Simulation Game sIMProj© which establishes a tool to obtain the
accurate knowledge and skills in project management and to generate rapid learning in this matter.
This kind of tool, properly designed, allows experimentation within a carefully controlled educational
framework.
The Simulation Game described in this paper is a customized, and interactive, learning tool which
offers the possibility to learn more efficiently than with other didactic methods. By providing an
engaging, safe environment, Project Managers can practice, develop, and polish their competencies in
a meaningful way.
There are several simulation games and training tools in the field of project management. They
normally have generic objectives, and they do not consider particular elements of the application
environment such as the culture, the language, the organisational structure, the learning styles, etc.
The main contribution of sIMProj© is its customized design and application to develop Project
Manager Competencies for a specific kind of company, offering the opportunity to experience the
dynamics of strategic issues normally found in real projects.
Another important benefit of this research is that, while sIMProj© is customized its foundations
are universal, so the methodology developed to design it, can be applied in other companies.

References
1. Australian Institute of Project Management-AIPM (2005) AIPM Membership Statistics;
available at: http://www.aipm.com.au/html/membership_statistics.cfm

2. Aquino C. Z. Berges Muro L; (2004-1) The Main Inputs To Develop a Tailored Simulation
Model. Proceedings 8th international workshop of the IFIP WG 5.7 special interest group on
experimental interactive learning in industrial management. Experimental Learning in Chain
and Network; Wageningen, Netherlands; May 24-26.

3. Aquino C. Z, Berges M, L. Alfaro, P. E. (2004-2) Organisational Experience: The Project

Managers' Competences Assessment. VIII Congreso Internacional de Ingeniería de Proyectos,
Bilbao, España – 6 - 8 de Octubre.

4. Aquino Campos Z, (2003) El proceso de capacitación en respuesta a emergencias a través del

uso de ejercicios de simulación”; - Foro Euro-mediterráneo sobre prevención de catástrofes-
Congreso Internacional sobre Educación y Formación para la Prevención del 6 al 8 de Octubre,
Madrid España.

5. Argyris, C. (2001) Sobre el aprendizaje organizacional, segunda edición, Oxford University

Press, Mexico, S.A. de C.V. ISBN 970-613-582-0

6. Cano J.L and Saéz Gil, MJ (2003) Project management simulation laboratory: experimental
learning and knowledge acquisition; Production Planning & Control, Vol. 14, no. 2, pp166-173

7. Cole H. P, Ed. D., William J. Wiehagen, Charles Vaught, Ph.D., and Belinda Sue Mills. (2001)
Use of simulation exercises for safety training in the U.S. mining industry - Department of
Health and Human Services - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health – Information Circular 9459

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8. Edum-Fotwe F.T. McCaffer R. (2000) Developing project management competency:
perspectives from the construction industry. International Journal of Project Management Vol.
18 ´pp 111-124

9. Greenblat S.C (1989) Designing games and simulations (An illustrated handbook) Second
printed Sage publication, Inc. ISBN 0-8029-2956-0

10. Honey, A. Mumford, (2000) The Learning styles helper´s Guide, Peter Honey Publication,
Maidenhead, England ISBN I 902899 10 5

11. International Project Management Association-IPMA (2005) Certified project managers,

available at: http://www.ipma.ch/?page=50705

12. McCreery J.K. (2003). Assessing the value of a project management simulation training
exercise. International Journal of Project Management 21 233–242

13. Kim, D.H (1993) A Framework and methodology for linking individual and organisational
Learning: Application in TQM and Product Development. PhD Dissertation, Sloan School of
Management - Massachusetts Institute of Technology - May.

14. Kirkpatrick, Donald L. (1999). Evaluación de acciones formativas- Los cuatro Niveles EPISE,
s.f. Ediciones gestión 2000, s.f. Barcelona, España ISBN 84-8088-385-5

15. Kolb, D. A. (1984); Experiential learning. Prentice-Hall INC. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
ISBN 0-13-295261-0

16. Lyinn, G.S Akgün, A.E, Keskin H. (2003); Accelerated learning in new product development
teams. European Journal of Innovation Management Volume 6 · Number 4 · 2003 · pp. 201-212
MCB UP Limited · ISSN 1460-1060

17. Mulcahy R (2002) PMP® Exam Prep, 4th Edition: a Course in a Book; Publisher: RMC
Publications. ISBN: 0971164738

18. Nonaka I. Takeuchi H. (1999) La organización creadora de conocimiento (cómo las compañías
japonesas crean la dinámica de innovación) Oxford University Press, S.A de C.V. México
ISBN 970-613-454-9

19. Project Management Institute (2004) Guide to the project management body of knowledge
(PMBOK® Guide); Third edition. PMI Publishing; Pennsylvania.

20. Project Management Institute (2002) Project manager competency (PMCD) development
framework; Edition Project Management Institute Inc.; 2002.

21. Project Management Institute (2005) PMI Fact File; PMI Today January pp12

22. Rauch-Geelhaar C, Jenke K, Thurnes C.M (2003) Gaming in industrial management – quality
and competence in advance training. Production Planning and Control, Special Issue:
Simulation for accelerated learning and development in industrial management, Vol 14,
Number 2, Pg. 155-165.

23. Riis, J. (1996), Games for implementing changes in industrial enterprises. In D. Saunders, F.
Percival and M. Vartiainen (Eds.): The Simulation and Gaming Yearbook, Games and
Simulations to Enhance Quality Learning 4, London: Kogan Page, Pg. 72-85.

9
 24. Saunders, F. P and Vartiainen M. (1998) The Simulation and Gaming yearbook, Games and
simulations to enhance quality learning 4, London: Kogan.

25. Seville A. D. and Kim D.H (1993). The product development management flight simulator
Guide-Appendix D Organisational Leaning Centre MIT Sloan School of Management.
Cambridge M.A

26. Smeds, R. (1998) Enterprise simulation laboratory for simulation games in virtual reality. In:
R. Smeds, R. and J.O. Riis (eds.): Experimental Learning in Production Management. The
effects of using simulation games in universities and industry, Chapman & Hall, London, 1998,
13-23.

27. Vincent .A.P and Vissers G.A (2004) A simple classification model for debriefing Simulation
Games, Simulation & Gaming, vol. 35 no. 1, March, pp 70-84 - DOI:
10.1177/1046878103253719

10
 STUDENT GROUPS RESOLVING REAL PROJECTS.
A CASE STUDY OF EXPERIENCE LEARNING
JUAN LUIS CANO(1, IVAN LIDON(2 FERNANDO PARIS(3, RUBEN REBOLLAR(4, PAULA
ROMAN(5, Mª JESUS SAENZ(6

University of Zaragoza, Department of Design and Manufacturing Engineering,

Area of Engineering Projects
María de Luna, 3, CPS, 50018 Zaragoza
1)
jlcano@unizar.es; 2) ilidon@unizar.es; 3) fernandoparis@afpgrupo.com; 4) rebollar@unizar.es;
5)
proman@unizar.es; 6) mjsaenz@unizar.es

ABSTRACT
Over the past few years the above-indicated group has worked on reorienting a Project

• Operating, at the same time, as a consultancy firm that manages company projects (free of
Management course, in a training context based on:

• Operating as a Project Office in which the teachers have a common methodology and act as
charge) and as a Project Management training centre.

• Helping groups of students to become work teams.

mentors for the group they are assigned.

• Analysing any failures as a source of knowledge.

• 42 customers have been attended and 240 students have taken the course.
At the present time, two years after the start of the experiment:

• More than 90% of the students have stated that they are satisfied or very satisfied at having

• Out of the 42 jobs undertaken, six did not achieve the expected results.
participating in the course.

• In our case the very dynamics of improvement have led us to emphasise parts of project
management theory that on earlier occasions had not be dealt with.
The research undertaken has very much focused in how to deal with some of the failure causes
detected. Specifically, the coordination of the groups is seen an important aspect that influences the
results of work. Furthermore, it has detected that as the project evolves, the groups feel more confident
and optimistic and do not realize the effort remaining; this takes place regardless of the results actually
achieved.

INTRODUCTION
How do we learn from experience? At the organizational level, a small percentage of what is
learned is used in new projects (Cooke-Davies). According to Turner (Turner, 2002) we apply less
than 20% of what we have learned in the latest project.
In the business world, reality is the main source of individual learning for new project managers.
The established custom within the European engineering and construction industries is that people
learn the job of project management by working together with more senior colleagues –by “sitting next
to Nellie”, as is sometimes said— and only once a solid foundation of experience has been obtained by
attending specialized training courses (Turner, 2002). The novice learns from his colleagues, bosses
and other agents associated with the projects in which he intervenes (contractors, users, etc.). His/her
real environment nourishes him/her. During these first steps, sometimes he/she is successful and
sometimes he/she makes mistakes; but he/she always learns.
In recent years, in order to support the gradual growth of the tendency within business to structure
work according to projects, a new unit has appeared, that is the Project Management Office or PMO. A
PMO is an organizational unit of the company devoted to foster improved management practices and
11
collective learning in relation to the projects carried out (Young, 2000) and (Nylander, 2001). The
availability of a PMO facilitates the learning process of the entire organization, in relation to the
project-oriented model of the company (Xiaoyi, 2004).
The growth of the project-oriented model in business in the past decade has been spectacular, as
demonstrated by the increase in the number of certified professionals around the world.
Macroeconomic estimates have calculated that total investments in projects account for approximately
50% of total GNP in western countries (Turner, 1993). This is why the availability of people with the
appropriate skills for managing projects is a powerful development tool, which the whole society
should pursue. Facilitating the training of these managers requires the effort of educational institutions,
which must transform unskilled personnel into a workforce able to skilfully support organizations that
are wholly or partially project-oriented.
Generally, universities work with students who for the most part have no previous experience in
carrying our projects or working in teams. Training in the project-oriented approach is little developed
in universities. According to Kolmos (Kolmos, 2002), most universities themselves are not institutions
that work with this approach. A notable exception is the University of Aalborg, where students must
carry out a project during their course and where the different departments act as supporting actors
towards the best development of each project (Flemming, 1993).
Project Management is still nascent as an academic discipline, and in Europe there are still very
few universities that currently offer regular courses in the subject within their standard curriculums,
most of these being offered in specialized business schools.
At the same time, project-based learning and cooperative learning represent new tendencies in the
method of teaching technical disciplines, with the goal of improving the learning of contents by
assigning projects to groups of students (Pimmel, 2003), (Oakley, 2004) and (Graaff, 2003).
The greatest difficulty faced by universities in training project managers, with reference to the
European engineering and construction industry mentioned earlier, is the lack of a nourishing
environment, of a reality that can serve as a reference and which can be acted upon. Few educational
centres have allowed their students to learn by managing real projects (Cano, 2003), (Cano, 1999), and
indeed from the research we have carried out in the bibliography of this paper, we have not found the
concept of cooperative learning being used in the teaching of project management with real clients.
What follows is a description and the results of the experiences in project management training
carried out at the University of Zaragoza, in which students resolve problems presented by real clients.

FEATURES OF THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT COURSE

During the Autumn-Winter semester (September to January), a Project Management course is
offered consisting of six (6) recognized credits. This course is taught by means of two (2) hours a
week of lectures and half an hour a week (0.5h) of meetings of each working group with its tutor.
The course is offered to students in their last year of the Industrial Engineering degree of the
University of Zaragoza. These students have had no previous experience with working in groups or
with participating in the management of any project. The average age of students is of twenty-three
(23) years.
The typical scope of the work assigned is to prepare a project plan for the solution envisaged in
each case. During the year 2004-2005, of the nineteen (19) projects assigned, seven (7) of them
were also subsequently implemented. For example, the group that had proposed organizing a
multicultural party for foreign Erasmus students at the University of Zaragoza actually carried it
out. Of these seven (7) projects, four (4) of them have been implemented outside of the semester in
which the course was taught, and therefore the students delayed the final presentation of their report
until the following semester.

TRAINING APPROACH
The training model followed has been based on the following principles:
a) Learning based on projects carried out by groups of students for real clients.
b) Support for students to work in teams.
c) Role of teachers as group mentors.

12
Learning based on projects carried out by groups of students for real clients:
The environment created is that of a consultancy in which work groups provide solutions for the
needs brought to them by clients during a single semester of activity.
Students join together so far freely in groups of six (6) and firstly seek their client. They decide the
job to be carried out.
Typical clients are small or medium-sized companies, local government agencies, NGO’s, sports
associations, individuals, neighbourhood associations and the Zaragoza University itself. Mentors
initially direct their efforts to determine which of the various ideas proposed by each group fits best
with the project-management goals sought by the course.
Since the year 1989-90, the Project Engineering Group has used proposals received by companies
as the basis for carrying out projects in courses such as Engineering Projects or Product Engineering.
In these cases, the concept has been to promote learning by throwing the group of novices into the
swimming pool, helping and encouraging them to keep afloat and swim forward (Pimmel, 2003).
Though the results obtained, based on the course evaluations of the students themselves and on the
opinions of the companies, have always been very positive (Cano, 1999), no intervention or help was
given towards the better functioning of the group itself, as in the experience described here.

Support for students to work in teams:

Over the past ten years, various initiatives have taken shape in US and European universities
which, taking advantage of the benefits of learning by doing, have attempted to provide project groups
with a set of tools and knowledge to facilitate their work (Oakley, 2004), (Graaff, 2003).
Typically, when a group takes over a certain topic, its meetings, internal tensions, work distribution
and group coordination belong to them, and the teacher/mentor neither knows nor participates in them.
Why not help the group in these matters? Why not help it in working as a team and in those soft
features of project management? These features, after all, seem to be related with the causes for failure
when failure is the outcome.
It is interesting that when we think of a theoretical topic for a course on Project Management, the
topics we leave until the end or those which sometimes we forget to discuss in lectures are precisely
these, the ones dealing with motivation, group dynamics, communication and time management. In our
own case, the very dynamics of the course have necessitated the inclusion of these topics, which
hitherto had not been included, in the curriculum.

The role of teachers as group mentors:

Assuming that the first priority is to provide a service to clients, each group will adopt a common
working methodology and working plan. The teachers will act as group mentors. They provide advice,
but it is the group that remains responsible for the decisions taken in the projects.
The mentors could act in several different ways towards their students (Fruchter, 2003): one would
be for students to take on the active role and for mentors to provide advice, and another method of
mentoring would be for the mentors to show or inspire behaviours in the groups (carrying out a
simulation of how to negotiate with an agent involved in the project) and for students to learn from this
behaviour. Our work as mentors will be focused on the first option, though the second is also used in
the seminars to some extent.
Following the aforementioned analogy of being a kind of consulting company, the group of five
teachers act as a PMO created within the company to support the development of the projects.

COURSE MONITORING
The monitoring of this course has been based on:
a) Seminars and group self-assessment sessions.
b) Coordination of groups during their work.
c) Work handed in and final presentation.

13
Seminars and group self-assessment sessions
Weekly half-hour (0.5h) sessions are held throughout the semester between group members and the
mentor. Attendance is mandatory for all group members. During the meeting, the following matters are

• Evaluation of the work handed in by the group.

discussed:

• Contacts with relevant agents.

• Problems that have arisen.
• Next steps to be taken.
• Doubts as to how the work should be carried out.
During university studies, one often misses the opportunity to reflect with the student on what
has been carried out and experienced by all. In the context of learning by doing, the most valuable
moment of the experience is when the work has been completed (in most cases satisfactorily) and
then all participants, group and tutor, pool their feelings and ideas to analyse the development of the
work performed. But it may happen that no time is available during the course schedule to carry out
such meetings. In addition, there is no reason why a group discussion of what the group feels and
thinks regarding the development of the project should be limited exclusively to a post-mortem
analysis at the end of the assignment. As Schindler has stated: “a structure that allows for several
feedback sessions distributed throughout the entire duration of the project is preferable, due to the
motivation it arouses in the group and the quality of the results of the lessons obtained in this way”
(Schindler, 2003).
In our case, the self-assessment sessions have been held with the aim of discussing, with group
members, exclusively matters dealing with the functioning of the group. Lasting also thirty minutes
(30’), members initially fill out in each session an individual questionnaire consisting of a few items.
Next, the tutor presents the global result to the group by means of a transparency and this is discussed

• Confidence in the satisfaction of the client.

by all participants. In this way, they have the opportunity of clarifying points such as:

• Whether improved coordination is required.

• Estimates of the work remaining.
• Help that may be needed.
Three of these meetings have been planned during the course, interspersed with the weekly seminar
sessions. The final meeting takes place almost immediately after the public presentation of the project.

Coordination of groups during their work

With regards to the organization of the work itself, the basic elements communicated by mentors to

• The need for weekly meetings

the groups have included:

• A record of what has been agreed (order book)

• The monitoring of the actions agreed, in accordance with the general plan for handing-in of
deliverables during the course.
In order to help groups in their work, during these years it was asked of them to keep order books
in which they noted down the decisions and agreements made during meetings, the actions to be
carried out and who would be in charge of doing so. During each meeting with the mentor, the latter
would sign off the agreements made. At the start of the following week’s meeting their progress would
be evaluated.
The attendance of the entire group at these meetings with the mentor has been deemed necessary,
and it has been required in order to transmit to them a model to be followed during the meetings they
have without the mentor.
By asking them to summarize and note down the agreements made during the meeting in the order
book, it has been observed that the initially passive attitude of some participants changes when faced
with a written commitment to the task agreed upon.
The order book, as a document, has been managed by groups in very different ways, and perhaps it
has not enjoyed a very widespread acceptance, as its manner of use has been very open and there was
14
not a specific person within each group responsible for keeping the register and following up on what
had been agreed.
Within the groups the role of a student-coordinator has arisen on some occasions, and not on
others. During both the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 school years, our attitude has been that the group
itself should decide upon the manner of organizing itself towards its work goals.

Work handed in and final presentation

Throughout the course, groups must hand in two preliminary reports, the final report and an oral

• First preliminary report: Definition and scope of the project (Statement of work)
presentation of the same (Figure 1):

• Second preliminary report: Draft of the project plan

• Final report, including the project plan (Project charter)
• Oral presentation of the project by the group, approximately one week after handing in the final
report, before a tribunal formed by the professors and the client. The presentation lasts 20’ plus
10’ for questions. Apart from the tribunal and the client, the remainder of groups in the class also
assists.

1st self- 2nd self- 3rd self-

evaluation evaluation evaluation
(A -1 (A -2 (A -3)
Oct E ) E ) EFeb.
.

1st prel. 2nd prel. Final Oral

report report presentation
(Definition and (Draft report)
scope)
Figure 1 – Course structure

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A KNOWLEDGE-MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Being involved, year after year, with the carrying out of twenty (20) cases with twenty (20) clients
and around one hundred and twenty (120) participating students, provides us with a body of experience
that we should be able to assimilate. We cannot fail to capitalize on the work of this laboratory.
In our case, the information system registers the data produced during the course. The review of
each experience and associated information by the team of mentors allows us to decide the measures to
be adopted in the course in order to obtain the greatest satisfaction of all participants. This means, as a
goal, that we ensure that the projects undertaken do not end in failure.
The tutors have met periodically (approximately four times) during the course with the aim of
discussing its progress and of agreeing on the self-assessment sessions to be held by the groups. After
the presentations, there have been another three occasions for sharing and discussing the results. From
these meetings have emerged decisions as to how the following course should be undertaken (Figure
2).

15
 Course
plan
Students Client Mentors / professors

Course

Self-evaluationsWork Analysis Client Student

handed in of errors opinions opinions

Course revision Feedback for the next

(mentors) course
Knowledge base

Figure 2 – Model of the knowledge-management system

Learning takes place within this model at different levels:

a) The members of each group learn about what is taking place and about how to carry out their activities.
b) The PMO must act as a learning organization and as such must constantly update itself on the basis of previous experience.
c) The information collected about the development of annual projects constitutes an important
body of knowledge, the study of which should allow us to confirm hypotheses about how to
manage novice project teams.

STUDENT OPINIONS
At the end of the course, the students individually evaluate the course itself by means of an
anonymous questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of four sections, in which students are requested
to evaluate on a scale from 0 to 10 various elements of the project work, the theoretical lectures and
complementary activities, as well as an overall evaluation of the experience. In a fifth section they are
asked regarding their opinion of the course as an open question.
Table 1 shows the results of the opinions collected for the first four sections of the courses held
during the years 03/04 and 04/05. One hundred and twenty nine (129) students responded to this
questionnaire during the year 03/04 and one hundred and sixteen (116) during the year 04/05.

16
 03/04 COURSE 04/05 COURSE
RESULTS OF THE
QUESTIONNAIRES standard standard
average dev. average dev.
Project work
Interest in the work 7.8 1.4 8 1.5
Experience of working in a group 7.8 1.8 8.1 1.5
Experience of presenting the work in
public 7.7 1.9 7.4 2
Relations with the associated agents
(client, administration, etc.) 7.4 1.8 7.4 2
Theoretical lectures
Interest in the lectures 5.8 1.9 6 1.9
Evaluation of complementary activities
Causes of failure 7.1 1.7
Psychological strategies 7.5 1.7
Ms-project 7.4 1.3
How to deliver a good presentation 7.3 1.5
No. Of % of Number of No. Of
Global evaluation of the experience responses responses responses responses
Highly negative 1 0.8 0 0
Negative 5 3.8 3 2.6
Not relevant 6 4.6 6 5.2
Positive 92 70.8 82 70.7
Highly positive 25 19.2 23 19.8
Table 1 – Course feedback by students
Interest in the practical project work was high, and even somewhat higher in the second year. Over
90% considered the experience positive or highly positive. The evaluation of the theoretical classes
was not highly positive, but it should be noted that the complementary activities are rated considerably
higher than the lectures.
Table 2 shows the number of times that the most common ideas appeared in response to the open
questions “What aspects did you find most interesting in this course?” And “What made you feel most
personally satisfied in terms of your participation?” Working in groups was considered to be a positive
feature and was cited as the most favourable aspect of the course, together with having participated in
a real project.

IDEAS GROUPED BY NO. OF TIMES CITED

QUESTION
SIMILARITY 03/04 04/05

•
COURSE COURSE

•
Working as a team 34 60

•
Most interesting aspects Real project 59 43
22 17
•
Presenting in public
Being able to work in a 43
36
• Being able to carry out a
Reasons for personal team
satisfaction 44
48
good project
Table 2 – Answers to open final evaluation questions.

17
ANALYSIS OF FAILURES
We have had to deal with some projects that have not fulfilled their expectations. What was it that
did not work?
Following Pinto (Pinto, 1990), we have considered projects to have failed in those cases in which
one or more of the following situations have taken place or converged:
a) The unanimous opinion of the participants of the PMO regarding the results obtained has been
negative.
b) The client has expressed disagreement.
c) The development of the project itself has not allowed for a satisfactory work experience.
During the 2003-2004 year, four (4) out of nineteen (19) projects were considered to have failed,
and in the year 2004-2005, two (2) out of nineteen (19) were considered to have done so. What
happened in these cases? What causes had led to this result? What solutions could be implemented
both in regards to group members and to the client? How could this result have been avoided? What
must we learn to prevent similar failures in the future?
As Terry Williams points out, the analysis of all of these issues is a difficult task (Williams, 2004).
In our case the various mentors have shared our perspectives on the evolution of the failed group on
the basis of the records available, the work handed in and the opinion of the group mentor.
The results of this work can be summarized with a list of causes of failure detected in the five (5)

• Heterogeneous group: the group is formed by members that did not know each other
cases analysed:

• Low potential of the group: the mentors believe that if this group had attempted any other
beforehand and which did not manage to create a group of six (6) people by themselves.

• Insufficient scope of the project: the project carried out is not ambitious enough for the level of
project they would also have encountered problems.

• Difficulty of the assignment: due to the characteristics of the project and its environment. For
work required in this course.

example, political aspects emerge, multiple agents related with the project that are difficult to
access, etc.
Table 3 shows the causes attributed to the various group failures detected:

GROUP REFERENCE
04.2 04.1 04.2 05.0 05.0 FREQUENC
CAUSES OF FAILURE
3 7 0 6 1 Y
Heterogeneous group 1 1 2
Personal problems of a group member 1 1 2
Scheduling problems 1 1 2
Poor coordination 1 1 1 3
Insufficient work 1 1
Low group potential 1 1 2
Insufficient relations with the associated agents 1 1
Lack of a client interested in the results of the
1 1
work
Insufficient scope of the project 1 1 2
Difficulty in the topic of the assignment 1 1
Table 3 – Causes of failure associated to crisis groups
Of the five (5) cases of failure analysed, in three (3) of them the cause is attributed to poor
coordination and in two (2) cases due to scheduling problems, low group potential, personal problems
of a group member and the heterogeneity of the group.
The team of mentors decided to offer, during the 04/05 academic year, a seminar on the causes of
failure in groups, which was scheduled to be given just after the groups had been formed. Similarly, in
this year they began to categorize certain groups as “at risk” as a preventive measure, when the mentor
considered that certain aspects of the group could threaten the results of its work. Of the nineteen (19)
18
cases that took place during the course, three (3) were nominated as “at risk”. The results of this
measure were as follows:
a) The groups which exhibited early signs of potential failure confirmed the existence of this
danger to a reasonable extent. One of the three (3) groups categorized as “at risk” did eventually
fail. Of course, it may be that the warnings provided to these groups stimulated their mentors
and participants to make a special effort to avoid the potential dangers.
b) Of the groups that were not perceived to be “at risk”, one out of sixteen (16) experienced failure.

RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION

What factors associated with the internal organization of a group affect the functioning and
efficiency of the project groups with which we have worked? According to Harris (Harris, 1999), the
less control and internal norms that exist in the work group, the greater confidence is needed among its
participants in order for the group to be effective. Busseri (Busseri, 2000) believes that if the team is
evaluated while it performs its work, this stimulates the group to reflect on its manner of working and
to improve. Loo (Loo, 2003) proposes a method for evaluating the working atmosphere of project
groups.
The information collected regarding the evaluation and implementation of the thirty-seven (37)
projects carried out over these two years has been processed in order to establish which aspects may
influence their success/failure.

Existence of a student-coordinator within the group:

Though it is not a crucial factor, it has been clearly observed that in those groups that generate
the role of a coordinator, there has been a lower rate of failure and a greater proportion of successes,
than in groups with no such coordinator. (Table 4) In this context, the rate of failure is understood as
the number of failures divided by the total number of groups; the proportion of successes as the
number of projects evaluated as seven (7) out of ten (10) or higher, divided by the total number of
groups.

PRESENCE OF A NO WITH
COORDINATOR VERSUS COORDINATOR COORDINATOR (%)
RESULTS (%)
Failure rate 18 10
Proportion of successes 59 75
Table 4 – The effect of the presence of a coordinator on group results

Perceived importance by students of the influence of coordination on results:

When students were asked, during the final self-assessment (AE-3), just after their oral

presentations, as to the importance they gave to coordination within the group in relation to results,

their answers were unanimous in allotting a high importance to coordination in relation to results.

Confidence of students in their work throughout the development of the project:

In the two first self-assessment students were asked regarding the confidence they had in the client
being satisfied with their work. In all cases, regardless of the results obtained, the students experienced
an increase in their confidence as to client satisfaction. No group experienced a decrease in confidence
with the passage of time.

Evolution of confidence in the client implementing the project:

Similarly to the previous case, in every case the confidence expressed in the project being carried
out increased as the group neared completion of the work.
19
Difficulty in estimating the work load:

• Hours worked so far.

At various times the students were asked to estimate:

• Hours remaining necessary for finishing (essentially the work remaining to prepare the final

• Actual hours employed to finish.

report and the oral presentation).

Taking into account that the groups did not keep any control of the hours employed, we found
generally that the number of hours required turned out to be on average 3.6 times the initial estimate.
Only in one case the result was lower than the estimate (70%) and in the other thirty-six (36) the final
work load turned out to be from 1.7 to 12 times that estimated. Almost without exception, the student
groups showed excessive optimism when faced with the task of estimating the effort required.

Relationship between the level of implementation of the project and the results obtained:
Of the thirty-seven groups (37) formed so far, seven (7) have actually carried out their project,
while thirty-one (31) have only prepared a project plan. It has been observed that the results were
better in those groups that carried out the project itself (86% successful) than in those that only created
the project plan (61% successful). (Table 5)

PROJECT PLAN IMPLEMENTATION OF

THE PROJECT
Failure rate 19 % 0%
Proportion of successes 61 % 86 %
Table 5 – Failure rate and proportion of successes in groups that planned and those that actually
carried out the project.

FEEDBACK FOR THE YEAR 2005-2006

Thinking ahead to the year 2005-2006, it has been decided to adopt the following measures:

a) To train groups to be better coordinated, considering that coordination problems may lead to
failure in the end. For example, it may be proposed that certain roles within the group (i.e.
coordinator) be assigned, and that a control of tasks and working hours be kept.
b) To include a seminar in which uncooperative behaviours are acted out, in order to prevent these
types of behaviours in groups, and to stimulate reflection on how to react when such behaviours
arise. This idea has led us to seek the collaboration of psychologists from our university who
have demonstrated interest in this course.
c) To continue the seminar on causes of failure in groups, as it has been well accepted.
d) To continue the estimate of failure risk by the mentor in the self-assessments.
e) To include in the curriculum of the subject of Project Management chapters on Social Skills and
How to define goals.

CONCLUSIONS

• Providing solutions to the problems of real clients

- The evolution of the course on Project Management of the University of Zaragoza based on:

• Fostering the functioning of work teams

• Creating a group of mentors as a PMO that learns from the experiences of the course
has clarified the primary goal sought today by all those involved in the course, which can be
formulated as follows: trying to ensure that none of the projects embarked upon by groups end
in failure.
- The coordination of the group is seen as an important aspect that influences the results of work.

• Group coordination as the most frequent detected cause of failure risk.

This has been seen in:

20
 • The influence of the existence or non-existence of a coordinator within the group.
• The general opinion of groups as to the importance of coordination towards final results.

• Excessively optimistic estimates of the remaining work load.

- A parallelism has been found between:

• The ever-positive evolution of the opinion as to whether the project will be carried out.
• The equally positive evolution of the opinion as to whether the client will be satisfied with the
job.
All of this regardless of the results of the work, that is, as the project evolves, the groups feel more
confident and optimistic and do not realize the effort remaining; this takes place regardless of the
results actually achieved.
- We hope to be able to confirm, by means of future courses, that the results of a group are better
when the project is actually carried out than when only the project plan phase is reached.

FUTURE COLLABORATIONS
The approach followed appears to be efficient, judging from the results obtained in the setting
in which it has been applied, the University of Zaragoza. We are very willing to help in the transfer of
this model to groups in other universities and to companies that consider its implementation to be of
interest. Moreover, we offer to develop a collaborative framework of investigation to work on those
aspects that may influence the success/failure of project teams, using, as the study cell, the project
team created to work for real clients.
Contact: Juan Luis Cano
jlcano@unizar.es

References

Busseri, M.; Palmer, J., (2000), “Improving teamwork: the effect of self-assessemnt on construction
design teams”. Design Studies, Vol. 21, No. 3; pp. 223-238.

Cano, J.L.; Rebollar, R., Sáenz, M.J., (2003), Curso de Gestión de Proyectos. AEIPRO. Asociación
Española de Ingeniería de Proyectos. Spain.

Cano, J.L.; Ruiz, A.; Sáenz, M.J.; Rebollar, R., (1999), “Programa de Estudios de Viabilidad en
Empresas. Nueve años de colaboración universidad empresa”. XV Congreso Nacional de Ingeniería
de Proyectos. León.

Cooke-Davies, T.J., (2000); “Knowledge management in project-based organisations”. IPMA World

Congress. London.

Flemming, F., (1999), “Integration of Engineering Practice into Curriculum – 25 years of Experience with
Problem Based Learning”. 29th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Session 11a2-7.

Fruchter, R.; Lewis, S., (2003), “Mentoring Models in Support of P5BL in Architecture /Engineering/
Construction Global Teamwork”. International Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 19, No.5;
pp. 663-671.

Graaff, E.; Kolmos, A., (2003), “Characteristics of Problem-Based Learning”. International Journal of
Education Engineering, Vo. 19, No. 5, pp. 657-662.

Harris, H.; Provis, C., (1999), “Teams, Trust and Norms: The importance of trust in the develpment of
effective teams”. IWOT3 3rd International Workshop on Teamworking, pp. 14-15. London.

Kolmos, A.; Kofoed, L., (2002), “Developing process competencies in co-operation, learning and project
management”, Proc. 4th World Conference of ICED.
21
Loo, R., (2003), “Assessing “team climate” in project teams”. International Journal of Project
Management, Vol. 21, pp. 511-517.

Nylander, M, (2001), “Project Support Offices”. TU-22.451 Seminar in Project Management; Helsinki
University of Technology. Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Laboratory of
Industrial Management.

Oakley, B.; Felder, R.; Brent, R.; Elhajj, I., (2004), “Turning student groups into effective teams”. Journal
of Student Centered Learning, Vol. 2, No. 1.

Pimmel, R., (2003) “A practical approach for converting group assignments into team projects”. IEEE
Transactions on Education, Vol. 46, No. 2; pp. 273-282.

Pinto, J; Mantel, S., (1990), “The Causes of Project Failure”. IEEE Transactions on Engineering
Management, Vol. 37, No. 4; pp. 269-276.

Schindler, M; Eppler, M.J., (2003), “Harvesting project knowledge: a review of project learning methods
and success factors”. International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 21; pp. 219-228.

Turner, R., (1993), The Handbook of project based management: Improving the Processes for Achieving
Strategic Objectives. McGraw-Hill Book Company. England.

Turner, R.; Keegan, A.; Crawford. L., (2002), “Delivering Improved Project Management Maturity
Through Experiential Learning”. Project Management Journal, Vol. 8, No. 1; pp. 72-81.

Williams, (2004) “Identifying the hard lessons from projects – easily”. International Journal of Project
Management, Vol. 22; pp. 273-279

Xiaoyi Dai, C.; Wells, W., (2004), “An exploration of project management office features and their
relationship to project performance”, International Journal of Project Management, No. 22; pp. 523-
532.

Young, H; Xiao Yi Dai, C., (2000), “Assessing the value of project management offices (PMO)”. PMI
Research Conference.

22
TEACHING, STUDYING AND LEARNING BUSINESS PROCESS NETWORKS

THROUGH THE PROJECT ASSIGNMENT COURSE

PÄIVI HAHO AND RIITTA SMEDS

Helsinki University of Technology, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, SimLab

P.O. Box 9220, 02015 HUT
paivi.haho@hut.fi
riitta.smeds@hut.fi

ABSTRACT
Business Process Networks has been taught since 2001 as a major subject at Helsinki University of
Technology, Information Networks Study Programme. The curriculum contains a Project Assignment
Course. Since summer 2002, fifteen students have completed this practical, case-based process
development project at SimLab. In this paper, we describe the educational objectives, design and
process of the course, analyze it through three complementary metaphors of learning, and present
primary results.

INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize and analyze SimLab’s project assignment course from a
pedagogical point of view. The course has many of the same features that we have applied in SimLab’s
research projects. It involves the students in knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing and knowledge
co-creation concerning a real company case. It brings together the pilot company people, university
students, researchers and teachers to a joint learning and problem solving experience. Thus, it contains
aspects of process and expert consulting and innovation action research (Kasanen et al. 1993, Kaplan
1998). The foundation of the course is the application of the SimLab™ process simulation and
development method (e.g. Smeds 1994, Haho and Smeds 1997, Smeds 1997, Forssén and Haho 2001,
Haho 2002, Smeds and Alvesalo 2003, Smeds et al. 2003).
We apply in our analysis three complementary metaphors of learning: knowledge acquisition,
participation and knowledge creation (Hakkarainen et al. 2004), that together support and explain the
success of the project assignment course. Simultaneously, the aim is to reflect on how to further
improve teaching at SimLab.

THE PROJECT ASSIGNMENT COURSE

The basic pedagogical objectives of the Business Process Networks Project Assignment Course is to
deepen the skills, knowledge, social readiness, attitudes, emotions and motivation of the students
concerning the management and development of business processes and their networks, and to learn
how to use these different competencies in project-based, networked knowledge work. On the practical

• to confront complex problems concerning real companies’ business processes,

level, the objectives of the course are to develop the competences of the student

• to create, in collaboration, innovative business process solutions, and

• to conduct scientific research in the context of business process networks

The course is meant for students in their fourth study year, as the last course in Business Process
Networks before their Master’s Thesis. It prepares the student for the Master’s Thesis work, and at its
best, provides him or her with empirical case material for the Thesis. Among the prerequisites of the
course is a method course on process development, which provides the necessary knowledge, skills
and attitudes for the project assignment. It is also recommended that the students observe one process
simulation at SimLab before starting the assignment.
A team of up to three students can take the project assignment course. The duration of the course is
typically three to six months. The project assignment concerns one empirical business process
development case. Until now, these cases have always belonged to SimLab’s larger research projects.
23
SimLab has had suitable projects in its research project portfolio, and has been able to find the cases
that can be used for teaching purposes.
The assignment requires close collaboration between the student team, the project’s researchers and
the pilot company. Therefore, one of the project’s researchers acts as tutor for the project assignment.
The tutor takes care of the contacts between the students and the larger research project, guides the
students and follows the advancement of the assignment from the customer viewpoint. The project
manager has the final responsibility concerning the results of the project assignment as part of the
larger project.
The teacher of the project assignment course has from the beginning of the course been the first author
of this paper. She gives advice on the method, acts as supervisor, and gives feedback on the progress
periodically. An assistant gives additional training in facilitation and presentation skills. After the
project, the students get rich feedback from the teacher, the assistant, the tutor as well as the larger
research project’s members concerning the results and their ways of working. The whole SimLab
research community has to be well informed about the involvement of the students in the larger
project.
In their project assignments, the student teams typically take care of one process development case
from start to finish. They analyze, model and simulate the pilot company’s selected case process,
evaluate the results, make process improvement suggestions, and write a report. They learn the specific
pilot company’s case process deeply, and are able to develop, in collaboration with the company and
the experienced researchers at SimLab, well grounded improvement ideas. They “learn by doing”
SimLab’s process modeling and simulation methods. As part of the end report, they develop a tentative
plan for their Master’s Thesis. If the respective SimLab research project allows, the students can
thereafter directly continue in the project as research assistants, and start working on their Master’s
Thesis.
The learning objectives, teaching methods, and actions of the students during the course, as well as the
evaluation and grading principles are summarized in Table 1.

24
Table 1. Learning objectives, methods, evaluation and grading
Objectives (knowledge, skills, attitudes) Evaluation Grading

After the course, the student is able to:

Project realization 70 %
Act as a responsible member of a consulting and/ or research team in Practical Practical
a process development project achievement in achievement in
o co-operate with end-customer preparation, preparation,
o find relevant information from the end-customer facilitation and facilitation and
o conduct project management tasks (communication, time follow-up follow-up
schedule, resource planning, distribution of work..) o skills to apply
o follow and report the use of time knowledge and Project plan to
methods customer
Conduct innovatively the following tasks: o innovativeness
o plan and structure the process development project with its o teamwork Project report
phases skills to customer
o apply interview methods, business process/ network mapping/
development methods, SimLab process simulation and group Evaluation of the Follow-up
work methods; project plan and report
o presentation, facilitation in front of large audience feedback discussion
o analyze, classify, combine, generalize, interpret, compare and
explain information and knowledge The content,
o write a project report and present the results of the development structure, style and
project to the customer quality of writing
o follow the success of the implementation of the development of the project report
project results (about 1 month after the project report has been
presented) Follow-up report

Scientific reasoning 20 %
Recognize scientifically interesting research topics of the context of Research plan/ Research plan/
the development project; essay essay

Write a research plan/ essay on a topic of interest

Self-evaluation 10 %
Evaluate his/her own achievement as a member of project team Essay, evaluation Essay,
discussion with evaluation
Evaluate and develop his/her own learning process teacher and project discussion
team with teacher
Evaluate the achievements of a project and achievements of the and project
project team members team

Evaluate the realization of the course and teacher’s guidance and

supervision

THE THREE METAPHORS OF LEARNING

According to Hakkarainen et al. (2004), learning can be researched through three complementary
metaphors, which all are needed in order to adequately capture learning processes: learning as
knowledge acquisition, learning as participation and learning as knowledge creation (Hakkarainen et
al. 2004, p 13).
The knowledge acquisition metaphor conceptualizes learning as a process of transmitting knowledge
to an individual learner, either through a more traditional receptive process or through an active and
constructive process. Learning results in knowledge structures, i.e. schemata and mental models
residing within an individual mind. This metaphor is close to the assumption that the mind is a

25
container of knowledge, and learning is a process that fills the container. (Sfard 1998, in Hakkarainen
et al. 2004, p 10 - 11)
The participation metaphor of learning emphasizes the role of social communities in the development
of expertise, and an interactive process of participating in various cultural practices and shared
learning activities (Lave and Wenger 1991, Wenger 1998). Through the participation metaphor,
learning is seen as a process of becoming a member of a community by gradually moving from
peripheral to full participation that re-creates one’s identity, and learning to interact according to its
socially negotiated norms. Thus, learning is an aspect of participation in cultural practices.
(Hakkarainen et al. 2004, p 11)
The third metaphor, knowledge creation, addresses processes of deliberate transformation of
knowledge and corresponding collective social practices. Learning is seen as analogous to innovative
processes of inquiry where new ideas, tools and practices are created, and the initial knowledge is
either substantially enriched or significantly transformed during the process (e.g. Nonaka and Takeuchi
1995, Bereiter 2002, Engeström 1987). Learning is researched as a collaborative effort to enhance a
subject matter, and it interacts between individual and communal processes, addressing relations
between theoretical and practical aspects of learning and inquiry. (Hakkarainen et al. 2004, p 11 - 15).
- The three metaphors are summarized in Table 2 below.

Table 2: Three metaphors of learning (Hakkarainen et al. 2004, p 13)

Knowledge acquisition Participation Knowledge creation
Main focus A process of adopting subject-matter A process of participating Methods and practices of
knowledge in social communities knowledge formation

Enculturation, cognitive Knowledge advancement,

socialization, discovery, and innovation

Norms, values, and

identities
Theoretical Didactic theories Situated and distributed Knowledge-creating
foundations cognition organizations
Theories of knowledge, structures
and schemata Some varieties of socio- Activity theory
cultural theories
Some theories of expertise Knowledge-building
theory
Some theories of conceptual change
Unit of Individuals Groups, communities, Innovative knowledge
analysis networks, and cultures communities

Knowledge building
communities

Activity systems and

their networks
Typical Experimental studies Anthropological case Design experiments and
research studies interventions
method Protocol studies of individual
problem solving Social network analyses Anthropological case
studies (observations,
Simulating and modeling cognitive Conversation and videos, interviews)
processes discourse analyses
Change laboratories

26
ANALYSIS OF THE COURSE THROUGH THE THREE METAPHORS
The project assignment course can be analyzed through all three metaphors on learning. The
theoretical knowledge that is acquired during the course concerns knowledge on consulting and action
research methods, as well as the SimLab methods. The students also need as prerequisites a solid base
of theoretical knowledge in industrial management and information systems, to be able to develop new
solutions of customers’ processes and networks.
The central element in the course, the SimLab process simulation and development method, can best
be explained by the participative and knowledge creation metaphors of learning. The learning in the
project assignment course relies strongly on participation and knowledge creation processes. The
students learn to conduct research and consulting interventions in the companies through practical
participation in projects that apply SimLab-process simulations. The work includes interviewing,
adopting knowledge, analysis and modelling of processes, facilitating, discussing and building new
knowledge in the participative simulations, and reflecting in feedback sessions.
The end results of the project assignments are innovative combinations of theoretical knowledge and
empirical practice. Thus, the course requires multiple skills of the teacher, the assistant, tutor and the
larger project members, to guide the student team through a demanding research and consulting
project.
In Table 3, we analyze our project assignment course applying the three metaphors of learning. The
analysis is conducted in relation to the learning focus of the course, the unit of learners, the typical
learning method, and by primary learning results. The results of this analysis are based on
observations and discussions with the fifteen students during three years time. In addition, the essays
of the two latest students have provided valuable research data about learning results. The results can
be analyzed through all three learning metaphors, though the participation and knowledge creation
metaphors are emphasized.

Table 3: Analysis of the project assignment course through the three metaphors of learning
Knowledge acquisition Participation Knowledge creation

Main learning focus Know how and methods Participation in SimLab-process

in industry/ public sector collaborative professional development methods
project consulting and university and industry/ and practices of
research public sector networks in knowledge formation,
research and consulting advancement, discovery,
projects and innovation at issue
process or network
development project

The unit of learners Student team Student team, the larger Comprehensive
project’s researcher knowledge creating
group, the pilot company communities in SimLab
network, SimLab process simulation
research community sessions.
Typical learning Adopting theoretical Affiliation to the SimLab Creating new practices
method knowledge of subject- scientific community and and innovations through
matter through a to the expert community combining practical and
literature review in case company network theoretical knowledge
Primary learning results Project management Human resource Latest research of own
skills, understanding management, discipline, facilitation
(as explicated by business operations interpersonal skills, skills, writing skills, data
students themselves) problem solving skills, retrieval skills
ability to perform in
public , oratory and
negotiation skills,
practical skills
27
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Hakkarainen et al. (2004, p.14) argue that in research on learning, the parallel assessment of learning
processes according to the three metaphors is likely to produce the most interesting results. In our brief
analysis of the Business Process Networks Project Assignment Course, we have applied all three
metaphors. We found that the learning achieved in this course can be partly explained by each of them.
But to explain the full learning process, we need them all: the process of adopting theoretical
knowledge, the process of affiliating to the scientific and expert community, and the process of
creating new practices and innovations through combining practical and theoretical knowledge. Thus,
we can say that our preliminary empirical case study gives support to the hypothesis of Hakkarainen et
al.
Our first results also indicate, that for the further development of the course, it is necessary to conduct
more in-depth research on the learning processes. Is it possible, that the course in the future could be
taken without the connection to larger SimLab research projects? For example as parts of internal
process development projects of companies, where the student would act in the role of internal
developer, consultant or researcher, and would apply the development methods of the companies? In
this case, the participation and knowledge co-creation dimensions of learning cannot any longer be
deliberately and systematically managed as part of SimLab’s learning community. This would require
a challenging re-design of the teaching, studying and learning processes in the Project Assignment
Course.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The course reported in this paper belongs to the curriculum of the Information Networks Study
Programme, in its major subject Business Process Networks at the Enterprise Simulation Laboratory
SimLab, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Helsinki University of Technology. The
course has been developed since the beginning of the new major subject in collaboration between
professor Riitta Smeds and responsible teacher Päivi Haho. The authors are grateful for the creative
co-development effort of the co-workers and students at SimLab, which has made the course in its
present form possible.

REFERENCES
Bereiter, C. (2002), Education and mind in the knowledge age. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
Engeström, Y. (1987), Learning by expanding Helsinki: Orienta konsultit.
Forssén, M. and Haho, P. (2001), Participative development and training for business processes in
industry: review of 88 simulation games. International Journal of Technology Management, Vol.
22, Nos. 1/2/3, 2001.
Haho, P. (2002), Simulointipeleihin perustuvan kehittämismenetlemän hyötyjä liiketoimintaprosessien
kehittämishankkeissa. Hyvän kehittämisjärjestelmän menestystekijöitä. Helsinki University of
Technology SimLab, Publications, Dissertation Series 1, Espoo.
Haho, P. and Smeds, R. (1997), The Softmatch-method: Enterprise transformation through Simulation
Games. In: P. Saunders and B. Cox (eds.): The International Simulation and gaming Yearbook
Volume 5: Research into Simulations in Education. Kogan Page, London, 48-63.
Hakkarainen, K., Palonen, P., Paavola, S., and Lehtinen, E. (2004), Communities of Networked
Expertise. Professional and Educational Perspectives. Advances in Learning and Instruction
Series, Series editors: K. Littleton, P. Boscolo, E. De Corte, W-M. Roth and R. Wegerif. Sitra’s
publication series, Publication no. 257. Elsevier Ltd, Oxford
Hakkarainen, K., Lonka, K. and Lipponen, L. (2004), Tutkiva oppiminen. Järki, tunteet ja kulttuuri
oppimisen sytyttäjänä, WSOY: Porvoo.
Kaplan, R. (1998), Innovation Action Research: Creating New Management Theory and Practice.
Journal of Management Accounting Research, 10, 1998, 89-118.
Kasanen, E, Lukka, K. and Sitonen, A. (1993), The Constructive Approach in Management
Accounting Research. Journal of Management Accounting Research, Volume 5, Fall 1993, 243-
264

28
Lave, J. and Wenger, E. (1991), Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation (Cambridge-
Cambridge University Press).
Sfard, A. (1998), On two metaphors for learning and the dangers of choosing just one. Educational
Researcher, Vol 27, No 2, 4-13.
Smeds, R. (1994), Managing Change towards Lean Enterprises. International Journal of Operations &
Production Management, 1994, 14/3, 66-82.
Smeds, R. (1997) Organizational Learning and Innovation through Tailored Simulation Games: Two
Process Re-engineering Case Studies. Knowledge and Process Management, Vol. 4, No. 1, 22-
33.
Smeds, R. and Alvesalo, J. (2003), Global business process development in a virtual community of
practice. Production Planning and Control, Vol 14 No 4, pp. 361-371
Smeds, R., Haho, P. and Alvesalo, J. (2003), Bottom-up or top-down? Evolutionary change
management in NPD processes. International Journal of Technology Management, Vol 26, No.
8, 2003, 887-902
Wenger, E. (1998), Communities of Practice. Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

29
BUSINESS GAMES-AN EFFECTIVE TOOL FOR EXPERIENCING COLLABORATION IN
PRODUCTION NETWORKS
JANNICKE BAALSRUD HAUGE(1, MAX SCHWESIG. KLAUS-DIETER THOBEN, JENS
ESCHENBÄCHER

1)
BIBA
Hochschulring 20, 28359 Bremen, Germany
baa@biba.uni-bremen.de

ABSTRACT
Harder competition and more complex products with an increased demand of specialised knowledge
lead to more collaboration between enterprises. Interorganisational collaboration does not only require
changes in the organisational structure but also increases the demand on soft skills among the
employees. Such skills are traditionally not a part of engineering education. This article refers to
simulation games, which seek to mediate the necessary skills during the studies as well as on the job.
This paper describes the development and the initial testing of two web based simulation games
addressing the mediation of the required skills. Both business games aims to train interorganisational
collaboration: the Share game simulates the interorganisational production of an extended product,
while the SPIKO game focuses on the initiation of collaboration

INTRODUCTION
Globalisation, a fierce competition, customer driven markets as well as continuously changing
partnerships characterise the working environment of every production company (Scheer, 2002,
Sherman, 1996). This situation implies that companies have to react on the changes in the market
immediately, which again has been leading to some new production strategies (Bauman, 99). A
common element is that they support interorganisational production. The imperative of fulfilling the
customers’ claims caused by a customer-driven market may often only be realised through co-
operation with resident companies in an economically justifiable way and within the given time frame.
Additionally, as products are getting more complex, the need of special key competences rises. For
complex products, the key competencies are seldom all in-house and therefore such products have to
be produced in collaboration. Furthermore, compared with traditional production, interorganisational
production will, lead to cost, time and quality advantages through a more efficient use of resources. An
interorganisational production does not only imply changes in the organisational structure, like the
implementation of common delivery schedules, but also in the direct working environment of all
involved employees, i.e. they have to adapt their behaviour to fit each specific collaboration. Thus, in
order to fulfil his tasks, an employee does not only need to have specific knowledge, but also
communication and collaborative skills to carry out the collaboration on an individual level. Even
though these skills are vital for the success of collaboration, such elements haven’t been a typical
training element the engineering education.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Preparing an organisation for the new requirements, mentioned above, is hardly a question of finding
suitable technical solutions but more of preparing the employees and the organisational structure,
because a successful co-operation does not only relay on a seamless information flow between all
partners, but also on the ability of the participating organisations to learn and to act in a dynamical
environment. Such a living and learning organisation can be characterised by its possibility of and
room for development of creativity and individuality in and outside an organisation (Fuchs-Kittowski,
1998). Important parameters here are its capability to derive information out of the process of self
organising as well as its capability to collect and process information from outside the organisation
(Fuchs-Kittowski, 1998).
30
Even though these trends have been well known for a while, and several organisational restructuring
processes have been undertaken, an analysis among SMEs in three different industries has shown that
the employees are still not prepared enough and there is still a lack of usable tools for gaining “soft”
skills. Additional, it was confirmed that an employee working in a co-operation does need
communication and collaborative skills to carry out the co-operation at an individual level.
Furthermore, this analysis showed that the processes and the necessary competencies are quite similar
for the collaboration initialising process, whereas they are diverging for the operational part of the
collaboration (Spiko consortium, 2004). However, it was verified, that it is important to mediate these
skills to the employee before they are needed (Spiko consortium, 2004)
Mentioned above, an important key to the success of enterprises acting in a dynamical environment is
its ability to learn. The question arising is therefore, how to get a learning organisation? Is it a question
of organisational or individual learning? We believe that a learning organisation has to comprise both
aspects. Organisational learning is far more than formal learning. Learning for working in a production
network has to consider the internal information creation in an organisation and thereby the creativity
of their employees as well. The aim of creative learning in an organisation is to support the
development of an employee’s personality by participation and involvement of the enterprise
members. Furthermore it aims at their readiness to collaborate, of their creativity as well as at their
abilities of collaboration (Oberschulte, 1994)
Organisational learning is interpreted from a multi level perspective, comprising of the individual,
group, organizational and inter-organizational level (Nonaka, 1994), since this point of view enables us
to regard the main levels of action within an enterprise. According to this perspective, Schwesig has
created the following working definitions of the different learning levels (Schwesig, 2004):
Individual level learning focuses on individual knowledge acquisition without further social
interaction. Group level learning happens, if more that one individual consciously or unconsciously
acquires knowledge interactively. Organisational level learning focuses on perspective taking between
groups in a company (Sumner, 1999). Interorganisational learning can happen in two ways: either
through the transfer of existing knowledge from one organization to another, or through the creation of
new knowledge (Larsson, 1998). Group level learning, organizational level learning and
interorganisational learning are affected by “people barriers” like proprietary thinking and scepticism
towards the sharing of knowledge and various fears (Barson, 2000). Additionally, interorganisational
learning is affected by organisational boundaries like space, time, (cultural) diversity, structure and
distribution of knowledge and results (Bosch-Sijtsema, 2001).
It is well known, that mediating knowledge by gaming has proved to be particularly effective in cases,
in which the mediation of soft factors and organisational aspects is essential, and for which it is hardly
possible to use traditionally learning methods (Windhoff, 2001).
Even though it is proven that simulation based business games are an appropriate way for mediating
soft skills and organisational aspects (Windhoff, 2001), the demand on specific collaboration skills of
employees working in a collaborative environment implies new requirements on such games. It isn’t
enough to only consider the “technical “processes of product development in production network as
many games do, but suitable simulation based business games will also need to consider processes
only dealing with the collaboration itself. However, most simulation games in the field of production
networks or product development, like GLOTRAIN (Windhoff, 2001) and COSIGA (Pawar, 1995), do
only focus on the mediation one certain aspect of product development or distributed production. Up to
now, hardly any simulation game tried to mediate interorganisational learning, product development as
well as collaboration at once. We believe that in order to address the educational requirements as well
as to prepare the employee on a dynamical working environment, it is important to combine these
elements in one single simulation based business game, which in fact is what we have been trying to
do with the two new simulation based business games, SHARE and SPIKO, which will be used for
educational and vocational training of engineers.

RESEARCH AIMS
The following section describes the research aims, the concept and design of the two games SHARE
and SPIKO

31
SHARE
According to the identified need of improvements of available simulation based business games, the
SHARE game deals with the organisational development and production of a tangible product in one
company and the interorganisational development of an extended product in a network of companies,
while simulating intra and interorganisational barriers of collaboration and knowledge sharing
(Schwesig, 2004).
SHARE emphasizes the active experience and reflection of organizational and inter-organisational
product development and -learning in enterprise collaboration. Thus, in a first step it was therefore
necessary to identify key characteristics, processes and challenges that can be used to simulate an
organisational/inter-organisational learning- and working environment.
These game elements form an approach that will be described in two game scenarios. These scenarios
deal with the organisational learning and product development in one company and distributed
development of an extended product and inter-organisational learning within a production network of
companies. These scenarios acts as a basis for the identification of requirements that has been used to
shape the web based game engine
The game is being played by nine players, organised in three groups with different locations. In the
first level, they act as different departments of one company and the main tasks are to specify, design
and produce an ordinary product (a jet ski). Each department has to carry out and complete different
tasks. The layout of the first level is illustrated in Figure 1.

CEO

S
T Department Head Department Head Department Head
R Sale /Services Procurement Manufacturing
U
C
T Employee A Employee A Employee A
U
R
Employee B Employee B Employee B
E
P
R
Market Design Procurement Production O
Specification Specification Specification Specification
C
E
Company Mission Statement Company Marketing Strategy S
S

Figure 1 Structure and process in level 1

Each player uses an individual web interface to accomplish his given tasks within the simulated
product development process. Communication is possible via an inbuilt chat function as well as by
phone.
In the second level, the players act as three independent companies. The players will have to carry out
the same tasks as in the first level for an extended product (a cell phone with extended services.). But
before starting on specifying, designing and producing the cell phones, they have to carry out an
interorganisational contract negotiation. The responsibilities are distributed unequally, so the partners
have to cooperate to enable constant flow of information that leads to a constant flow of material. At
this level, the players are dealing with interorganisational collaborations and learning, so they have to
overcome several barriers, all being important for a realistic simulation. Thus, information flow is
affected by the simulated organisational boundaries space, time, diversity and structure. Two main
challenges which the players have to overcome at the beginning of the second level are to establish a
common IT standard as well as to define a common mission statement, taking the different culture of

32
the roles in to consideration. This can only be achieved by an extensively communication. The layout
of the second level is illustrated in Figure 2
Service Provider / Leader

CEO

S Department Head
Design
Department Head
Technology
Department Head
Marketing
T
R
U
C
T
U CEO CEO

R
Department Head Department Head Department Head
E Department Head
Procurement
Department Head
Design
Department Head
Production Procurement Design Production

Manufacturing Supplier A Manufacturing Supplier B

Market Consortia Contract Design Procurement Production Assembly

Specification Specification Specification Specification Specification Specification Specification

Company Mission Statement

Process
Figure 2 Structure and process in level 2
After the each game session, all players get together for analysing and reflecting upon the events in the
game. Furthermore, they have the possibility to identify problems and to develop strategies together
for solving these problems.
A main goal of the SHARE game is that each player shall experience how important cooperative
behaviour and seamless information flow are. According to the scientific finding building the basis of
the simulation game methodology, the information is not equally distributed and some roles are
characterised by a quite none collaborative behaviour, according to the “people barriers” mentioned
above. An additional feature of the game is the “trust enhancing measures”, like invitation for dinner
etc. By applying these in a right way, it is possible to raise the trust and thereby improve the
collaboration as such. The idea behind is that when the players experience a non collaborative
behaviour and its effect on the collaboration process, they will learn and understand that knowledge
sharing is important and to offer them an opportunity to carry out some work in teams

SPIKO
The SPIKO game does also deal with organisational learning and interorganisational collaboration, but
it focus more on the initiation of collaboration than SHARE. Whereas SHARE has been used in the
training of engineering students, Spiko will be developed to fulfil the requirement from SMEs as users,
which implicate a hard restriction in organisational effort needed for playing the game.
Contrary to SHARE, the SPIKO game is still under development and it is still at the conceptual level.
The intention of SPIKO is to develop a simulation based business game only focussing on the
collaboration processes as such. Even though actually focussing on problems arising within
collaborations in virtual companies, it will also be usable for production networks, because it also
triggers the specific key drivers of “learning organisations”, which is vital for the success of every
organisation having interorganisational collaborations. It primarily intends to develop a suitable
concept and tool for mediating the skills mentioned above. The basic approach can be defined as:
learning by experiencing, experiencing by gaming.
The objective of the SPIKO game is neither primarily to change the enterprises nor to preserve and
optimise semi-stable organisation structure, but rather to qualify the employees for working in a
collaborative environment by increasing their competencies.
In a first step we have been carrying out an AS-IS, TO-BE and requirement analysis for each end user
participating. The identified collaboration processes will build the basis of the simulation game, and it
is therefore paid special attention to critical processes as well as to identify the different collaboration
scenarios at each end user. Different interesting collaboration scenarios were identified and transferred
into three different partner process models. In order to develop a game for usable in different
33
industries, it was important to retrieve an abstract model. However, it was only possible to retrieve a
universal, abstract model for the initiating process of collaboration. For the operation of the
collaboration, the partner processes were too diverging (Spiko consortium, 2004)
In order to reduce the complexity of the game, special attention was paid to the interorganisational
collaboration in the field of planning, development and controlling, in which it is necessary to take a
coordinated decision. The concept foresees that the game will contain small gaming scenarios
supplemented with tutorials including knowledge testing parts.
Before the work on designing the new game could start, it was important for us to understand the

• Exemplified learning by experience,

learning requirements the end users had on the game. Theses are listed below:

• Training of soft and process skills

• Acquisition of background knowledge,
• To play in a realistic environment,
• Anticipation of the mode of action, the potential and the boundaries of enterprise

• Playing different collaboration scenarios

collaboration,

Based upon these requirements, the expected outcome will be a tool with some three different
scenarios, each with several different cases with adjustable parameters. Each case will be based upon a
structure model, which has been partly developed. The model foresees that there will be some five
different “stages”. Stages are fields which the player can choose and in which he will get information
of the situation, decisions possibilities, background information, the characteristics of the roles as well
as the set of parameter chosen, previous sequences of the events etc.
A player is supposed to play through one case, which always will last from the first idea of cooperation
until the concrete operation of a sequence of the considered business process. In some extraordinary
cases, when the player takes a wrong decision or undertakes fatal actions, the game will end abruptly.
The learning effect will be achieved by the player’s experience of the consequences of his decision and
acting.
In real life, the duration of the different phases of cooperation will be variable. In the game however,
the duration of each phase will be equal. The reason for this is that a clear structure will help the player
to orient and improve the usability of the game. The disadvantage of this is that some processes will be
shortened and that the underlying constructivistic learning approach cannot be kept the whole way.
Each level consists of many different variable elements which all influence the path of the game. The
player may choose a role, he can change some characteristic parameters, and he will influence the
game with his decisions. External events and computer generated interrupts will also influence the
game as well. It is a complex gaming logic behind these factor, which will give the player reasonable
reaction on his decision, behaviour and performance as well as new events, so that the learning impact
will be high.
In a next step, we will develop a prototype which will by using an iterative approach allow us to
integrate the end users‚ feedback in the next stage of the development.
The evolutionary development of suitable organisation structures in virtual enterprises and similar will
be supported by iteratively both modelling the task range as well simulating that model, ensuring a
participative design of the work environment by the employees affected. By having end users
representing different industries as well as by offering an editor function, experiences and results
gained in the project will be transferable to other industries as well as to adapt and extend it later on.
Further possibilities is to be recognized in the assessment of employees (evaluation of team
compositions) and in the realization of profiles in the sense of electronic person and groups of CV's

CONCLUSION
The SHARE game has been evaluated and used in several laboratories for engineering students. The
evaluations has clearly shown that the combination of the gaming approach used in the simulation
game “COSIGA” with identified processes and challenges in (inter)organisational learning, offer an
effective way for mediating communication and collaboration skills in production network.

34
However, letting nine players playing at once leads to a large organisational effort, both on an
infrastructural level (enough computers, phones, rooms etc,) as on a personnel level- nine
students/employees have to be available on two working days. This is a barrier for a useful
implementation among SMEs. Unfortunately, the requirement study carried out at the beginning of the
SPIKO project showed, that none of the participating SMEs could afford these organisational efforts,
so that they wouldn’t be able to play the game on a regularly basis, but at the same time it was verified
that there is a need for mediating the skills mediated in SHARE. Therefore, even though more players
would be necessary in order to achieve group level learning effects, it was decided that within SPIKO
a solution for a single player mode will be developed first. The SPIKO game will have one role, the
one of the decision makers, as the role someone is performing actively, but there will be several other
roles which in the in the first version will be played by the computer. This will reduce the
organisational effort and it will therefore be easier for the companies to implement the game. On a
later stage, it is intended to offer the opportunity of a multi player modus.
We are convinced that an implementation of these two games as one entity in the engineering
education could open new possibilities for training the collaboration skills of students or employees
and thus support adaptation processes of the organisational but also individual behaviour of companies
and their employees. Therefore we mean that the complementary business games, SHARE and SPIKO
will prepare students, companies and individual employees to meet the challenges arising in a
dynamical configuration of temporary collaboration networks, caused by the rising globalisation and
specialisation in abetter way than today.

References

Barson, R.; Foster, G.; Struck, T.; Ratchev, S., Pawar, K.; Weber, F.; Wunram, M. (2000): Inter- and
Intra-Organisational Barriers to Sharing Knowledge in the Extended Supply-Chain. Proceedings
of the eBusiness and eWork 2000. The Key Action II Annual Conference. Madrid
Bosch-Sijtsema, P. (2001): Knowledge development in a Virtual organisation: an Information
Processing Perspective, Licentiate dissertation from Lund University, KFS AB Lund, Sweden

Baumann/Knorst(1999): Weltweite Produktionsnetzwerke der Automobilindustrie, 15.deutscher

Logistikkongress, 1999
Fuchs-Kittowski, Frank; Fuchs-Kittowski, Klaus; Sandkuhl, Kurt(1998): Synchrone Telekooperation
als Baustein für virtuelle Unternehmen: Schlußfolgerungen aus einer empirischen Untersuchung;
http://www.isst.fhg.de/~ffuchs/DCSCW98/FFK.html
Jank, Werner; Meyer, Hilbert(1994): Didaktische Modelle. 3.Aufl., Cornelson Scriptor, Frankfurt am
Main, 1994
Larsson, R.; Bengtsson, L.; Henriksson, K.; Sparks, J. (1998): The Interorganizational Learning
Dilemma: Collective Knowledge Development in Strategic Alliances. In: Special issue:
Managing Partnerships and Strategic Alliances, in Organization Science Vol. 9, pp: 285-306
Nonaka, I. (1994): A dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation, in: Organization
Science, Vol 5
Oberschulte, H. (1994): Organisatorische Intelligenz - Ein integrativer Ansatz des organisatorischen
Lernens. München: Rainer Hampp Verlag.
Pawar, K.S., Thoben, K-D. and Oehlmann, R. (1995). Developing concurrent engineering conceptual
model and knowledge platform. In: Proceedings of the second conference on Concurrent
Engineering, Research and Application (CERA). USA: Washington DC. 23–25 August. pp. 487–
497
Scheer, A.-W., Grieble, O., Hans, S., Zang, S.(2002): Geschäftsprozessmanagement – The 2nd wave,
In: Information Management & Consulting, 17, 2002 Sonderausgabe, pp. 9-14.
Schwesig, Max; Thoben, Klaus-Dieter(2004): Developing a web based group simulation game to
simulate organisational and interorganisational learning in production networks, IFIP workshop,
Karsruhe in 11.2003 2004,
http://www.stowasseronline.de/user_resources/28945/uploadedfiles/Preface%20of%20the%20E
ditors_IFIP2003.pdf
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Sherman, Heidemarie(1996): "Globalisierung: Transnationale Unternehmen auf dem Vormarsch", ifo
Schnelldienst, Nr. 23, 1996
SPIKO consortium(2004): SPIKO Abschlussbericht des Arbeitspaketes 1, internal document, 2004
Straka, Gerald A.(1986): Lehr-Lern-Theoretische Didaktik. In: Twellmann, H (Hrsg.): Handbuch
Schule und Unterricht, Band 8.1. Schwann Verlag, Düsseldorf 1986
Sumner, T., Domingue, J., Zdrahal, Z., Millican, A., Murray, J.(1999): Moving from On-the-Job
Training towards Organisational Learning. Proceedings of the 12th Banff Knowledge
Acquisition Workshop, Banff, Alberta, Canada, October, 16-22
Windhoff, Gert(2001): Planspiele für die verteilte Produktion, Dissertation, Bremen 2001
Virtueller Hochschulverbund Karlruhe ViKar: Seminar Konstruktivismus from 31.05.2000. Available
at: http://vikar.ira.uka.de/teilprojekte/tp31/Konstrktivismus/k_index.htm.

36
 A BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SIMULATION OF MOBILE SERVICE COMPETITION

HEIKKI HÄMMÄINEN(1, MATHIAS TALLBERG(1, JUUSO TÖYLI(2

1)
Networking Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology
P.O.Box 3000, FIN-02015 TKK, Finland
heikki.hammainen@tkk.fi, mathias.tallberg@tkk.fi
2)
International Business, Turku School of Economics and Business Administration
2)
Laboratory of Computational Engineering, Helsinki University of Technology
juuso.toyli@tkk.fi

ABSTRACT
A future-oriented domain-specific business management simulation of mobile services competition
between operators is presented including design assumptions, functional comparison with reference
simulations, and feedback from simulation sessions with students. Student feedback indicates that our
simulation design is feasible as an extension to traditional educational methods. In addition, our study
suggests that a simulation software can be customized with useful breadth and depth for an industry
sector involving rapid evolution of technology and business models.

TARGET SETTING
Telecommunications was a national monopoly in most European countries until early 1990’s
when the governments decided to liberalize and privatize the telecommunications sector. The
emerging mobile operators gradually learned to compete for consumer and business customers - a
painful reincarnation for many organizations with monopolistic origins. Yet, the learning process will
continue because the convergence of mobile, broadcasting, and Internet industries keeps modifying the
related value systems. This on-going turbulence in the competition environment has triggered a
sector-specific research and education interest in the mobile markets. In addition, a broader social
interest is involved due to the fundamental impact of mobile services on consumer lifestyle and
business processes. As part of our pursuit to study and teach the mobile-specific aspects of
competition, we have chosen the path of building a business game.
Business games are generally not well reported in the academic forums and relatively few
published studies exist compared to more mature fields (Keys and Wolfe 1990, Wolfe and Crookall
1998). One reason can be the close linkage between games and consultancy business, which
encourages game designers to protect their business secrets. This applies at least to business games
focused on mobile operator business, since we have found useful information on only two mobile-
driven initiatives, SIMCOM (2003) and SIMOBIZ (2003). Our more general insight into simulation
games is based on the review of educational simulation games by Faria (1987, 1998) and by Faria and
Wellington (2004), on the strategic management simulations by Keffee et. al. (1993) and by Keys
(1997), on the simulations focusing on international business by Klein et al (1990), on the evolution of
business simulation/gaming research by Faria (2001), on the application of simulation in industrial
management by Smeds (2003), and on the review of the algorithms used in computerized business
simulations by Gold and Pray (2001).

TARGET SETTING
We made the initial decision of developing a management simulation for mobile operator business
in the beginning of 2003. Our earlier experience with SIMBU (Töyli, 2001) and other business games

37
encouraged us to focus on a future-oriented, domain-specific, computerized, class-based, teacher-
driven learning environment for telecommunications students and managers.
Here we chose to use the concept domain-specific instead of industry business game in order to
emphasize that our game is intended to replicate some real-world telecom industry phenomena, is
constantly being updated, and should allow “what-if” type of gaming with the embedded possible
technology futures. Such domain-specificity is a rare choice since most commercial games are
designed to be more or less general-purpose with only limited adaptability for particular types of
business, see e.g. SIMCOM (2003). This kind of approach is at least commercially well justified
because a truly domain-specific tool would be costly to develop and maintain compared to the
expected domain-specific consultancy earnings. Thus, the flexible configuration of a game for serving
multiple purposes has been a recognized design target in many projects over the years (Thavikulwat,
2004). However, as Summers (2004) pointed out, the business simulation industry as a whole might be
going towards more customized simulations and incorporation of specific knowledge in larger scale
into the simulation.
The main measure of goodness for business games is the degree of achieving the learning
objectives as stated in e.g. (Peters et al, 1998). Predicting real world phenomena is seen as a related
and important but subordinate measure (see, e.g. Töyli et al 2004). Sometimes a better learning
efficiency is achieved by exaggerating certain features when compared to real world. This has been
found useful and acceptable to players as long as the simulation fosters useful changes in the mental
model of players, see (Bakken et al, 1992). Furthermore, a game based on imaginary products and
markets might enable a more efficient focus on teaching the core of business theory than real-world
industry based approach. Here we take a different approach by introducing realistic future technology
and business scenarios as the key learning objectives in our domain-specific game design. Our design
covers multiple possible technological futures, which may or may not be reached in a game session
depending on the players’ actions. Although the future-oriented design is an additional challenge, it
motivates us to bind the game development with our techno-economics research. We keep embedding
the latest research results of mobile technology and competition into our game. Thus, the game should
also operate as a delivery platform for research results and as a test field for fresh ideas generated by
the adjacent research.

DESIGN PROCESS
We started the project by reviewing the relevant business theories and existing business games.
References on strategy (Porter, 1996), pricing (Courcoubetis et al, 2003), marketing (Kotler, 1997),
telecom statistics (OECD, 2001), and telecom market forecasts (Katsianis et al, 2001) provided us with
basic concepts. Out of the several existing business games we chose SIMBU (Töyli, 2001) as our
conceptual alma mater. SIMBU has a solid theoretical foundation and most of its design information is
publicly accessible.
Our game, called MOB (Mobile Operator Business game), itself was developed with the help of
several prototypes. Continuous feedback from target audiences and professionals steered the
development. In general, there is much in common with the development process of SIMBU. The
validation framework used was applied and further developed from Töyli (2001).
The first stable MOB prototype (hereafter first generation) was ready in 2003 (Kokko, 2003).
This was achieved through incremental prototypes and continuous feedback loop with “friendly users”.
By friendly users we mean test users from our laboratory staff and other people with similar supportive
attitude towards our project.
At the end of 2003 we benchmarked the first generation MOB prototype by running it along with
two other mobile operator business games for the same class of students. This helped us to see the pros
and cons of our design and check the priorities.
The second stable MOB prototype (hereafter second generation) was completed in April 2004 and
tested thoroughly with students.
The evolution of a business game is in many cases tightly coupled with the commitment of a
single designer. MOB has turned out to be robust in a sense that the ownership of its design has been
successfully moved from one person (Kokko, 2003) to the second author of this paper. Both designers
have also separately acted successfully as facilitators in gaming sessions.
38
MARKET MODEL
Modelling a rapidly evolving market in a sustainable way requires careful consideration. We have
decided to build our model assuming that governments will continue to promote national competition
among mobile network operators (MNO) that hold long-term nation-wide spectrum licenses. Thus,
MOB players act as MNOs that compete in providing mobile services to consumers and enterprises.
This national competition environment of MNOs can be described using the Porter’s model of five
forces, see Figure 1.

Threat
Threatofofsubstitute
Infrastructure substitute E.g. WLAN,
products
and handsets products eletcronic mail

Bargaining
Bargainingpower
power Rivalry among Bargaining power
Rivalry among Bargaining power
ofofsuppliers
suppliers existing MNOs of customers
existing MNOs of customers

E.g. Virtual Consumers and

Barriers of entry
MNOs Barriers of entry enterprises

Figure 1 Value system around mobile network operators

We have chosen the GSM technology standard as the basis of our reference MNO market because
GSM represents the global mainstream of mobile service evolution with its over 1,000 million users
(Garg and Wilkes, 1998). GSM-based MNOs form a coherent international family due to the bilateral
roaming and interconnection agreements and the global market of infrastructure and handsets. GSM
obviously secures a global educational opportunity for our domain-specific simulation, although
important country-specific market phenomena also exist. GSM spectrum licences provide MNOs with
a solid basic value proposition while governments, at the same time, are enforcing separation of
service and network provision to challenge the MNO markets. This separation is enabling new players
such as virtual MNOs to provide mobile services, take market share from MNOs, and thus increase
competition. New competition is also emerging from providers of substitute products. Some energy
companies, for instance, are providing public wireless data services using their own optical core
networks and wireless local area network (WLAN) base stations that exploit unlicensed spectrum. In
general, the industry is constantly evolving. However, by smartly including the domain-specific
possible futures we might be able to predict the future paths of the real-world industry – at least we
will find out some of the preconditions that are likely to lead to certain future.
The basic learning content in MOB is similar as in most business games: market share battle,
differentiation, and the continuous balancing of demand and supply. In mobile terms, MNOs invest in
marketing to acquire and keep subscribers. These subscribers use services that generate traffic that
requires corresponding amounts of service-specific network and server capacity. This demand-supply
balancing is a challenging task in the case of existing and well-known services such as the GSM voice
service, but we are more ambitious and extend this challenge to new multimedia services. The
adoption of a new service is modelled internally using a demand function that follows the traditional S-
curve. The facilitator of a MOB session can adjust the form of the reference adoption curve including
the earliest possible launch time and the highest possible subscriber penetration. Depending on the
actions of players the actual realized adoption curve in a particular MOB session may happen later and
remain smaller than what is the full potential of the service and its underlying technology. This
approach allows immediate comparison between the reference and realized session market, and a
performance metric for the players’ joint market making capability. Such a metric is relevant in the
case of MNO market where the positive network effect plays a central role. That is, MNOs inherently
cooperate in standardization to create the critical mass for the market while they compete at the same

39
time for market shares, which captures the idea of co-opetition as proposed by Nalebuff and
Brandenburger (1997).
From a pedagogic viewpoint, MOB consists also of domain-specific learning content which
covers focused domain-specific strategic items. Most items are future-oriented and, therefore, might
help to better understand the possible real futures. A selected list of learning items are described as
follows:

•
•
WLAN service

•
Messaging service

•
Pricing scheme
Charging method

The learning item of WLAN service deals with the business and technology uncertainty of
WLAN. MNOs may consider WLAN both as a threat of a substitute product and as an opportunity for
new complementary business. MOB players can turn the WLAN market into a success or failure. The
possible results are that WLAN fails completely, WLAN succeeds without MNOs, or WLAN becomes
an extension to the MNO service portfolio. Investing on the right types of capacity and the right
marketing categories at the right time enables an MNO to succeed with WLAN. This basic principle
applies to all new services but involves service-specific internal demand parameters.
The learning item of messaging service covers the evolution from simple text message service
(SMS) to multimedia messaging (MMS) and electronic mail. SMS is a profitable service but new
technologies are making it obsolete. An MNO tries to upgrade its infrastructure to MMS capacity at
the right pace. An early upgrade may cannibalize SMS profits in vain. A late upgrade may create an
advantage to competing MNOs. If all MNOs upgrade late there is a possibility that independent
Internet service providers (ISP) use the opportunity for substituting MNO-based MMS with ISP-based
electronic mail thus partly by-passing the MNO service machinery.
The pricing scheme item addresses another strategic issue, the fate of the MNOs’ powerful and
expensive charging and billing machinery. MNOs are so far the only players on the market capable of
charging huge volumes of tiny usage-based payment transactions in a cost-efficient way. On the one
hand, this machinery is a major opportunity for MNOs if they can stretch it to cope with payments for
digital content. On the other hand, the machinery may become a costly legacy, a sunk cost, if its only
purpose is to charge a fixed monthly tariff for the basic transport service. MOB players can choose
their transport services pricing strategy from flat rate, usage-based, and block pricing. Flat rate refers
to a non-metered fixed monthly charge while usage-based pricing denotes the metered charge such as
per minute or per megabyte. Block pricing is a compromise where the subscriber selects a fixed price
monthly usage block, e.g. 200 minutes of mobile voice, and accepts the threat of the meter in case of
excess usage. There is evidence from some markets, for instance in the U.S., that block pricing based
on multiple block sizes and increasing volume discounts can create a positive spiral where subscribers
upgrade to bigger blocks. The result can be a higher usage per user and a higher average revenue per
user (ARPU). On the other hand, there is also evidence indicating that flat rate can create a sticky
equilibrium on the market. This means that if one MNO chooses flat rate pricing the other MNOs may
have to follow in order to keep their subscribers. In the resulting flat rate equilibrium it may be
difficult for any single player to escape the equilibrium by choosing another pricing scheme.
The learning item of charging method deals with the question of post-paid and pre-paid
subscriptions. Traditionally mobile subscribers get their itemized monthly bill by mail and pay it to a
bank account. However, in many advanced mobile markets the pre-paid subscription has gained
significant market share. Pre-paid subscribers have an operator-based account that they top up in
advance by transferring money from their bank account. Pre-paid has direct implications on subscriber
base, fraud, and costs. It is popular among young, low-income, and anonymity-seeking subscribers
wherefore the pre-paid ARPU is often lower than that of post-paid. It adds a small cost of on-line
transaction machinery, but eliminates the high cost of paper billing. Pre-paid also provides the operator
with a shortcut to on-line e-commerce. This can be a differentiating factor in the inter-operator
competition, but it also plays a role in the battle of mobile e-commerce transactions between mobile
operators and global credit card companies, thus affecting the total market value of mobile operators.
40
FUNCTIONAL COMPARISON
We compared our first MOB implementation with two other telecom business related games,
SIMOBITZ (2003) and SIMCOM (2003), based on snapshots in December 2003. The chief designer
of each game acted as the teacher of the respective game session. This was likely to increase the
quality of sessions and the depth of comparison. Three teams of students played against each other
using roughly one day for each game. After the last game session the teams reported their observations
both on paper and orally (Hämmäinen, 2003). Note that the results of this comparison were used as
input for the design of the second generation MOB.
SIMCOM is a relatively mature tool for commercial education of industrial managers. In addition
to telecommunications sector, it has been successfully adapted for several other sectors. The
SIMCOM clients and server software run on laptop computers interconnected through wireless LAN
to enable easy moving of the system from one place to another. Also the user interface is capable for
immediate and comprehensive graphical feedback that promotes faster decision cycles.
SIMOBIZ is an industry-specific university-based tool for in-depth education of telecom students.
A typical game session takes five days consisting of gradually expanding game functionality and
corresponding lectures. We squeezed our session to one day and only to a subset of the full
functionality. SIMOBIZ is typically used within a classroom but we ran it remotely having the teacher
and the students linked by phone and email. This was likely to somewhat discriminate SIMOBIZ in
comparisons.

MOB MOB SIMCOM SIMOBIZ

(Dec 03) (ideal)

Target user group Students Students Managers Students

Target session length 1 day 1-3 days 1-2 days 5 days
Target number of teams 3-6 3-6 3-10 3
Target team size 2-4 2-4 1-5 3-7
Mixing lectures and game No Yes No Yes
Trial round assumed No No No Yes
Modularity (playable in parts) No No No Yes
Domain-specific design Yes Yes No Yes
General usability Poor Good Good Medium
Graphical reports No Yes Yes No
What-if analysis No Yes Yes No
Previous decisions easily visible No Yes Yes No
Previous P&L easily visible Yes Yes Yes No

Table 1 Comparison of pedagogical aspects.

In addition to the first generation MOB (“MOB Dec 03”), the table shows our design targets (see
“MOB ideal”) as formulated based on the comparison (Table 1). Clearly, the choice of the target user
group drives several pedagogical design aspects including session length and team size. SIMOBIZ for
instance assumes long sessions and large teams because students are allocated different roles and tasks
within a team. Some tasks may require additional time for in-depth analysis of market data. As for
MOB, we decided to adopt the mix of lectures and game without, however, loosing the option of
running one-day lecture-free game sessions as necessary. The modular design of SIMOBIZ allows a
gradually expanding functional scope. A typical game session evolves like a series of lessons where
41
students can immediately apply the newly learned substance. Despite the pedagogical opportunity of
modularity we decided to keep MOB monolithic mainly to avoid the additional technical complexity.
We believe that the benefit of sequential integrated lessons can be sufficiently achieved without
implementing technical modularity in the game itself.
The impact of domain-specific future-oriented design in MOB is visible mainly as a larger
number of more detailed and future-oriented decision parameters. This increased complexity obviously
is also a challenge for usability. We identified some shortcomings in SIMCOM related to telecom
substance but the game was pedagogically valued relatively high mainly due to a mature graphical
interface. Note that we were not yet able to collect tangible evidence in favor of domain-specific
design due to the immaturity of user interface in the first generation of MOB.

MOB MOB SIMCOM SIMOBIZ

(Dec 03) (ideal)
International roaming No Yes No No
Mobile content business No Yes No No
Fixed telephony business No No Yes No
Broadband Internet connections No No Yes No
Different pricing schemes Yes Yes Yes No
Subscription plans No No No Yes
Postpaid vs. prepaid Yes Yes No No
Geographical zones No No No Yes
Messaging (e.g. SMS and MMS) Yes Yes No No
Handset business and subsidies No Yes Yes Yes
Wireless LAN Yes Yes No No
Mobile virtual network operator No Yes No Yes
Spectrum licensing and auctions No No No Yes

Table 2 Comparison of telecom-related substance scope.

All three games include the basic aspects of mobile operator business, but differ with respect to
scope and depth (Table 2). SIMCOM has a broader service scope extending to fixed telephony and
broadband Internet issues, which matches well with the strategic position of many incumbent
operators. In contrast, we want to keep the wireless and future-oriented focus in MOB and therefore
expand the cellular GSM domain toward wireless LAN and other new radio technologies.
SIMOBIZ handles the allocation of new radio bands, a major market turbulence, as licence
auctions such as those processed recently for UMTS bands in Germany and the UK. Auctions are
implemented as a supplementary exercise for enhancing the human negotiation skills of players. We
decided to postpone the adoption of this exciting feature in MOB mainly because Finland, our home
market, has preferred the comparative evaluations, i.e. “beauty contests”, over auctions.
SIMOBIZ integrates handsets explicitly as part of operator business by introducing bundled pack
offers each of which consists of a pair of handset and service plan. Players make strategic choices on
packs based on annual handset and service catalogues. This is a feasible way for the game designer to
visualize the evolution of new handset features and to enable the feel of gambling on consumer
behavior. We decided to adopt this feature in MOB although the Finnish regulator has forbidden the
bundling of handset and subscription by law.

42
 Embedding multiple business models in a simulation raises the question of asymmetric
competition. For instance, SIMOBIZ supports the separation of MNOs and virtual MNOs by allowing
players to sell network capacity to each other, which may bring the players in different positions in the
value system. This differs from MOB that has a more symmetric assumption of MNOs competing for
the same set of customers including consumers, enterprises, virtual MNOs, and content providers.

TRAINING PROCESS
We took a traditional approach to the structure of training by requiring students to attend lectures,
prepare a written strategy plan, participate to the game session, and finally to report the success of the
chosen strategy, see Figure 2. Note that our training process was still experimental and we expected
relevant player feedback on alternative learning arrangements.

Lectures on theory and practice

Planning of game strategy per team

MOB game session

Market feedback

Player decisions

Self-evaluation of game performance

Figure 2 Structure of MOB training

Lectures
During the spring semester before the game sessions students participated 10x2 hours of weekly
lectures covering the essentials of theories and case studies with focus on mobile markets, see lecture
notes (Hämmäinen, 2004). Only the last lecture before the game session focused on the MOB game
itself including basic information about business games, key lessons of MOB, and guidance to the
actual decision-making in MOB. This lecture triggered intense goal-driven questions and discussion
since the students were in the process of defining their game strategy.

Planning the game strategy

Before attending the game sessions students had to complete a preliminary strategy exercise in
teams. The main task was to formulate a business strategy for the team in writing. Students were
encouraged to use knowledge from both lectures and the real world. Note that all our students are well-
educated GSM subscribers and some of them are already working in the mobile industry. Material
available to the students consisted of lecture notes, player instructions, and a scenario description. The
scenario description introduces the initial market conditions in MOB including macroeconomic and
mobile-specific market data, and the latest forecasts.

The mental linkage between the game strategies and the real world was interesting, since about
one third of the plans contained sets of choices that can be tracked back to the choices made by
particular mobile operators in the Finnish market. This linkage seemed to be unconscious because the
43
teachers did not encourage such an approach and the students did not mention it in written or spoken
format.

The game session

Preparing a written business strategy in advance enabled a fast start in the game session, which
was essential because the session was limited to one day including 5-7 decision rounds. During the
session, 3-4 teams (i.e. mobile operators) of 3-4 students sitting in the same computer classroom
competed against each other in the same MOB market space aiming to implement their strategy. At the
end of the session, students immediately filled in a general feedback questionnaire on individual basis.
The team size of 3-4 students seems optimal for learning. Team of two would limit the fruitful
intra-team debates too much, while bigger teams would not be able to work efficiently around the
same computer screen. As visible in the feedback, one day for the game session did not allow students
enough time for thorough analysis, synthesis, and decision-making.

Self-evaluation
Within a week after the game session students evaluated and reported their own game
performance on individual basis. The main task of the self-evaluation was to compare and analyse the
planned strategy against the realized one. Such kind of written debriefing has also been earlier found to
improve learning (see e.g. Petranek 2000).

QUESTIONNAIRE FEEDBACK
Students filled in a feedback questionnaire at the end of game session including aspects such as
usability, playability, complexity, substance scope, and opinions on future game features. Feedback
was anonymous and students did not have any obvious reason to be biased regarding their feedback.
Observe that the general part of the feedback is in line with prior research (see e.g. Snow et al, 2002,
Töyli et al 2004).
The general free format part included positive statements such as; “Learning can also be fun”, “If
the lectures and MOB sessions were tighter coupled, one would get even more out of the
sessions/game”, “I found out that implementing predefined strategies is very important”, “Learning by
doing is much more effective”, “Personally I never learn anything during lectures, but today I did”.
Students clearly appreciate gaming as a way to learn.
Students consider the preliminary planning of game strategy useful (see Table 3). Free format
statements include “The preliminary exercise is essential for the game. There is no point in just going
to the session and play if one has not thought about the strategy beforehand”, “Playing without
planning and without creating our strategy would not have given the experience that we got with
carefully planned strategy”. We conclude that the pre-session creation of game strategy in teams
provides an important linkage between lectures and the game sessions. An addition, teams also achieve
the spirit and organization required for efficient work during the game session.
Students also appreciated the self-evaluation through final reporting, but less clearly than the
preliminary strategy planning. Free format comments included “It is important to learn from your own
mistakes”, “The final report as a whole made me repeat the game in my mind and to think about what
we did and why”. Furthermore, the written de-briefing seemed to improve learning. This observation
is well in line with earlier findings (see, e.g. Petranek 2000, Töyli 2001). Some students argued that
they had already gone through their decisions immediately after the game session. This indicates that
we should develop the final report further for instance by linking it stronger back to the lectures.

44
 I agree/ I don’t agree

I totally don’t agree

I totally agree

I don’t agree

I can’t say
I agree
The preliminary exercise added value to the learning
of the game as a whole
14 16 6 1
The final report added value to the learning of the
game as a whole 3 16 10 8
A strategic approach was needed to succeed in the
game 11 20 4 1
A systematic and well planned approach helped in
succeeding 11 19 3 3
Good knowledge about the mobile operator business
helped in succeeding 8 15 11 1 1
The success in the game was only about luck 2 7 17 10
MOB seemed realistic 2 21 11 2
The actions of the competitors had been, reasonably
enough, taken into account 2 26 5 3
MOB was too complicated 1 6 16 13
The world in MOB functioned according to what you
have learned 3 14 15 1 3
MOB was demanding 1 16 13 4 2
There are too many decision items in MOB 1 1 5 25 4
More focus should be put on future services 2 12 12 9 1
The value chain is sufficiently covered in MOB 3 9 13 11 3

Table 3 The main results of the MOB questionnaire study.

Students felt that their success in the game required mainly knowledge instead of luck. This
feedback is an indication that our abstractions and framework for the decision parameters and internal
algorithms of MOB are successful. Not only operational business knowledge, but also the choice of
strategy was considered important, which enables us to strengthen the role of strategy material in the
linkage of lectures and game. Correspondingly, both general and domain-specific knowledge was
considered important for success, which encourages us to expand deeper toward domain-specific
functionality in MOB.
Students judged the complexity and challenge of MOB acceptable. This was an important
feedback, since we are concerned about the cumulatively increasing complexity. Students also
experienced that MOB has a useful correspondence to the real world. This phenomenon was strong
enough to create an expectation among teams that those teams having PhD students with industry
experience should have an advantage. When the experienced teams then actually scored better, most
students ended up thinking that MOB has a significant resemblance to the real world. We believe that
achieving this experience is largely due to our domain-specific design approach.
Students were ambiguous about the need of expanding the scope to more futuristic items. One
explanation to conservatism is the accuracy of modelling which is highest in the case of existing well-
known businesses and decreases when the future uncertainties of technology and regulation are taken
into account. Conservatism also seems to relate to the level of personal skills; those students having
difficulties in mastering the current complexity of MOB are not likely to appreciate additional future-
oriented complexity. Instead of reducing our future-oriented effort, we take this feedback as a
challenge and continue to push the results of our techno-economic research of mobile markets into
MOB.
45
 The same ambiguity is visible in the feedback for expanding the MOB scope broader in the value
system. We again see the evolving and expanding mobile value system as an intriguing challenge for
our theoretical research and as an opportunity for MOB as a vehicle for distributing research results.

CONCLUSIONS
We used prototyping and continuous user feedback in developing our mobile operator business
game, MOB. Our approach was in broad similar to the principles of innovation action research as
described by Kaplan (1998). Considering the positive student feedback we have little reason to change
the chosen approach.
As part of the design process, we found and tested two other mobile-related business games
SIMOBIZ (2003) and SIMCOM (2003). Neither of these games has been reported in academic forums,
which makes us believe that this paper is the first of its kind.
The reuse of simulation software can be maximized by separating the generic game engine from
the industry-specific user interface layer. However, as Summers (2004) pointed out, the business
simulation industry as a whole might be going towards more customized simulations and incorporation
of specific knowledge in a larger scale into the simulation. In this sense, MOB is in the first wave.
Although numerous total business games customized for a certain industry exist, a true domain-
specificity is a rare choice since such simulation would be costly to develop and maintain compared to
the expected domain-specific consultancy earnings. In our case this is rather a strength because the
close linkage between our techno-economic research and MOB is likely to create a positive learning
spiral that contributes to both fields. Thus, an educational game also operates as a delivery platform for
research results and as a test field for fresh ideas generated by the basic research.
In case of future-orientation, our design enables multiple possible technology futures, which may
or may not be reached in a game session, as in the real world, depending on the players’ actions. As
the relevant importance of the alternative futures is not yet known in the real world, we hope to shed
some light to the real world evolution with the help of the experiences from our game. The related
benefits are still for further study.

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 ROLE PLAYING WITH SYNTHETIC CULTURES:

THE EVASIVE RULES OF THE GAME

GERT JAN HOFSTEDE
Wageningen University, Mansholt graduate school for the social sciences,
Dreijenplein 2, 6703 HB Wageningen, the Netherlands
gertjan.hofstede@wur.nl

Abstract
This article sums up ten years of experience with over 1400 participants of simulation games using
synthetic cultures. Synthetic cultures are scripts for role players. They are derived from the five
dimensions of culture in Hofstede’s model. Playing the synthetic cultures leads to dynamics that mimic
real cultural orientations. Yet real culture and other game-external factors are more important for
determining game processes than are the synthetic cultures. The article discusses how the real world
influences the game world. It mentions some common trends and misinterpretations that occur when
playing. It concludes that synthetic cultures are a useful training instrument.

Context & relevance

Management excellence is the holy grail of today’s ‘first world’. Top managers are culture heroes,
enjoying immense salaries and mixes of admiration and envy. Special schools have been founded to
teach management skills to young, aspiring high-school graduates, and expensive mid-career
management training courses abound.
But what is it that is taught in these schools? In fact most textbooks are of US or UK origin, and
carry implicit values from those societies. This is at odds with the fact that organized life, both in
companies and in government, is increasingly trans-national, and different societies have widely
differing organizational practices. Managers must adapt to the mindsets of the managed in order to be
adequate. Those who operate outside their own country often learn this from painful experience. The
business world is littered with failed mergers. Therefore, there is an urgent need for tools to teach
cross-cultural skills to management students.
This contribution is about one class of such tools: simulation role-plays that use so-called
synthetic cultures as a way of making different national cultures playable. The article assembles
findings from several tens of sessions with synthetic culture games that I developed and at which I
acted as a game leader. After ten years, it is now time to draw a big picture.

Theoretical background
Pedersen & Ivey (1993) invented the role scripting device of synthetic cultures. They used four of
them as a device for teaching counselling skills. Hofstede & Pedersen (1999) added six more, and
introduced their use for simulation gaming. In Exploring Culture, Hofstede, Pedersen & Hofstede
(2002) present synthetic cultures to a wide audience. Synthetic cultures are simplified value systems
that participants to a role-playing exercise can use to creep into the skin of somebody from a culture
that differs from their own. In this way, cross-cultural contacts at work or in other settings can be
simulated. The synthetic cultures are based on Hofstede’s work on dimensions of national culture
(Hofstede & Hofstede 2005). This work defines culture as ‘that which distinguishes one group of
people from another’, more specifically, the extent to which the unspoken rules of the social game
differ across groups. Hofstede distinguishes five basic social issues. They relate to identity, hierarchy,
gender roles, the unknown, and the future. Each of these gives rise to a continuum, of which the
extremes are described in each of the ten synthetic cultures.

49
 A synthetic culture consists of a number of social rules. For instance, the script for the COLLEC
culture, in which the group rather than the individual is the unit of social identity, includes the
following seven golden rules:
1 Members of one’s in-group (organisation, extended family) are very close, whereas other, out-
group people are very distant.
2 Harmony should always be maintained and direct confrontations avoided.
3 Relationships are more important than the task at hand. Much time is spent on greeting and
farewell rituals.
4 Laws, right and opinions differ by group.
5 Trespassing leads to shame and loss of face for the entire in-group.
6 The relationship between employer and employee is perceived in moral terms, like a family link.
7 Spoken communication uses imprecise style. Discreet non-verbal clues, such as tone and pauses,
are crucial. The speaker adapts to the listener.
It is not hard to imagine how a team that enacts this set of rules could be misunderstood by a typical
Western-style delegation during negotiations. European countries hold comparatively individualistic
values that are opposed to this set: they value honesty and directness, do not necessarily mix private
and working life, and hold that rules should be the same for everyone. This can make them blunt, cold
and uncivilized in the eyes of people with collectivist mindsets. Thus when two delegations with
different synthetic cultures meet in a simulation game, misunderstandings, irritation, and feelings of
estrangement can occur that mimic those that happen in real cross-cultural settings. But because
synthetic cultures represent single value dimensions instead of the multifaceted cultures of real
countries, it is comparatively easy to debrief the simulation game. Synthetic cultures are both scripts
and analytical tools.
To distinguish them from the names of real culture dimensions, the synthetic cultures shall be
called by their official names in this article. These names are self-evident: COLLEC / INDIV for
collectivism versus individualism, HIPOW / LOPOW for large versus small power distance, FEMI /
MASCU for femininity versus masculinity, UNCTOL / UNCAVO for uncertainty tolerance versus
avoidance, SHOTOR / LOTOR for short-time versus long-time orientation.

Empirical basis
From the moment that synthetic cultures were used for simulation gaming, I acted as a facilitator to
numerous sessions with various simulation games that used them. These sessions have involved
participants from many countries on all continents, and from many professional backgrounds. Almost
all these participants belonged to the intellectual elite of their country. The stated aim of all the games
was to make participants experience cross-cultural conflict as a way of generating awareness of the
nature and of the pervasiveness of such conflicts.
The games and venues include conferences, MBA courses, university courses, and in-house

• The Windmills of our Minds (WU ’95, ICIS ’95, UvT ‘96). About a communication
industry settings. Most of them had a multinational audience. The games are

architecture for support and maintenance information about a new product-market

• A Trade Mission (ISAGA ’97, Lusofona ’98, Polaroid ’00, SIETAR Nl ’03, ‘04). Negotiating
combination in a multinational. See Hofstede (2000).

deals at an international trade conference. See Hofstede, Pedersen & Hofstede (2002, chapter

• A Daughter in Danger (TUD/UM/WU ’98, TUD ‘99). About a possible business takeover.
9).

• Afternoon Tea Game (LSE ’00, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’04, WU ‘04). A real-food event for groups of
Adapted and slightly simplified as The Takeover Trio. See Bots & Hofstede (2004).

• The Strawberry Chain (ICCM ’98, ’00, ’02). Another real-food large group event. See
over 100 participants.

• Ice Cream Game, WICC ’03. Another real food event. Not published.
www.informatics.wur.nl under ‘Food for Thought’.

• An Ideal Job Candidate (UvA ’99, HvA ‘05). To be found in Dutch on

www.informatics.wur.nl as ‘De Ideale Werknemer’.
50
 • Foreign Assignments (IBO ’02, ’03, ’04). Small scenes featuring expatriates in meetings. Not

• Follow-the-Sun Global Technology Team (SIETAR 2000). Collaborative design task

published.

simulating distributed software development. This game was led by Erran Carmel. See
Hofstede, Pedersen & Hofstede (2002, chapter 10).
The numbers of participants per session ranged from 15 to 150. In all, experiences are summarised
from 27 sessions with 1450 participants from over 50 countries in all continents. Variants of these
games have been created by other moderators and are being played around the world.

Game process

• Synthetic culture scripting. Participants were divided into groups, and each group was
The games included two levels of scripting:

• Role scripting. Participants played particular roles within their team, e.g. boss, applicant,
assigned a synthetic culture.

delegation leader, and so on.

During the games, getting acculturated to synthetic culture while in role was the first step. The second
and most intense phase was a cross-cultural meeting with a stated aim that made the meeting conflict-
prone, e.g. to design an artefact or to agree on an information architecture, on commercial deals, or on
job requirements. Some participants acted as observers during these meetings.

Most of the games were debriefed according to a similar overall framework. First, in the same setting

• Let all participants blow off steam

as the two-team cross-cultural meeting, the following took place:

• Let the observers present their findings and let the others comment.

• If a win / lose element was present, which was the case in almost all games, then prizes were
Then a plenary session was held with the following elements:

• Observers briefly reported on what happened in their meeting, to give other teams a glance of
awarded

• A discussion was held on the relevance of the game for practice.

the differences between meetings

Methodology
Predictable patterns of behaviour have occurred across games and types of audience. Given the wide
variety of external factors that can influence the course of a simulation game, and the limited
uniformity of samples, no other method was adopted. More formalized collection of data was carried
out for a number of sessions (see e.g. Hofstede et al. 1999, Hofstede 2000). This yields some
interesting results. But in order to come up with empirically valid observations about all the
contingencies that will be touched upon in this paper, large samples and great methodical rigour would
be needed, such as have not been available. Moreover, the act of collecting data through questionnaires
could change the relationship between game leader and participants, which could affect the process
and outcome of the session. Typically, formal data collection about an event tends to conceptually
isolate it from its historical and contextual surroundings; see, for instance, the conceptual research
model in Hofstede (2000) that includes as its main variables group, task, technology, design process
and design outcome. Hofstede, Walczuch et al (1999) even have a more elaborate research model in
which they created operational variables such as cultural values and team history through
questionnaire items. My experience makes me suspect that such a conceptualization, however
elaborate and despite its merits, may endanger the relevance of the findings, because it fails to capture
enough of the historical and contextual surroundings that are essential for what happens during the
game. Quite apart from this, even if the perfect conceptualization and data collection modes could be
found, the number of variables to take into account is so large that a data set would be needed of
perhaps a thousand comparable game sessions at the least. Nobody could realistically be expected to

51
collect such a bulk of data. After all one cannot make participants play repeated game sessions just for
the sake of observing them and still expect these sessions to be played with full conviction.
In conclusion, this paper can be seen as exploratory, interpretative, but strong on bird’s eye
perspective.

The main research questions are

1 Did playing the game contribute to the stated aim of increasing cross-cultural awareness?
2 What factors affected the course and outcome of the games? Notably, what real-world factors that
were not scripted or controlled for, did so?

Findings and interpretations

Do the games increase cross-cultural awareness? Participants are typically quick to state that the game
experience has been an eye opener, or that it has increased their understanding of cross-cultural
conflict. They especially comment on how good it is to really experience a culture from inside. But
there has not been any follow-up research to assess whether they actually changed their behaviour after
having played the game. Such a follow-up would be very worthwhile, but it is difficult to realize. So
for now, we shall just have to take the participants’ word for it. It may help to take the second research
question, and then return to the first one. The factors that affect the course and outcome of the game
might, after all, equally affect what participants learn from it.
The second research question is about factors, notably non-controlled ones, that affect the game.
Here is a list of possible ones.

Participants’ intrinsic qualities

Personality
Personality is used here in the sense of the ‘Big Five’ personality traits of Openness to experience,
Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism (McCrae & Costa, 2003). No formal
personality assessment has been carried out at any of the sessions. It was obvious that participants
differed widely in enthusiasm, in anxiety, and in acting performance. They take their personality with
them into the game.

Human nature
Human nature means the basic social drives that make humans tick: the drives for sex, affiliation,
novelty, and dominance. All of these are very relevant to simulated negotiations, although the first one
is obviously taboo. None has been implied in any formal data collection.

Culture
Culture means the rules of the social game, as defined by Hofstede & Hofstede (2005). In includes the
five issues introduced earlier in this paper. All participants are acculturated in various groups: they
have a place and family of origin, as well as a varying number of additional group memberships that
imply rules for social behaviour, e.g. a professional culture. To distinguish them from synthetic
cultures, we shall talk about participants’ real culture.

Effect of personalities, human nature and cultures

The most generic finding, one that game facilitators will easily recognize, has to do with the emotional
dynamics of playing a social game. Most participants experienced some tension at the start of the
game. As a rule this was a festive tension, but some were plainly anxious. Playing the game was
enjoyable to most, and cathartic for some, so that the most obvious outcome of the games for most
participants was to have had a lot of fun. Having been successful in the game context was a salient part
of the experience to participants. It was also conspicuous that most teams clung together after the
formal end of the game.
This overarching result can be interpreted as a restatement of the fact that we humans are
intensely social animals, who will use any organized activity as an arena for satisfying their basic
drives. Affiliation and dominance are the two drives that are obviously at stake here. The anxiousness
of participants can be explained by the possibility to trade in affiliation and in dominance, together
52
with the possibly too-novel way in which this had to be done. In fact it is precisely the fact that a game
session, though ‘only a game’, is a real social arena that makes this form of training so memorable to
participants.
The mix of cultures in a game modifies this overarching finding. Real cultures of participants turn
out to be the most important determinant of the dynamics of games. Dutch participants, for instance,
never really work themselves into an emotional state. If they engage in emotion-related behaviour, e.g.
standing up from the table as if to leave, they show nonverbally that this is just because of the game.
American participants are much louder and much more mobile. They will do anything for which they
believe they cannot be punished and which will make them win the game. For instance, in one session
an American bought a major part of the supply of game food with real money. On the other hand,
Americans are very keen to avoid practices that can lead to punishment. This difference mirrors the
difference of both cultures on the cultural dimension of masculinity versus femininity, or in other
words achievement orientation versus co-operation orientation.
Participants from Latin societies typically are reluctant to engage in this kind of game, unless a
recognized leader participates. This has to do with their cultural values. Compared to Nordic and
Anglo countries, Latin cultures are collectivist, hierarchical and uncertainty avoiding. This
combination means that they have learned rigid rules for how to behave as a member of a group with a
certain place in society. Because of this, they tend to feel that playing a role in a fictitious game could
be at odds with their dignity.
Participants from Germanic countries, with small power distance but strong uncertainty
avoidance, do not object to playing a game, but they expect the rules to be very clearly spelled out and
they may become anxious if rules are implicit. If some participants seem to break rules, or if rules are
unclear, they tend to complain to the game leader.
What this brief tour d’horizon teaches is that participants recreate their own unwritten social rules
when playing these negotiation games.
But the set of personalities in a game is also quite influent. If an informal leader starts playing his
role with conviction, other participant tend to enjoy this so much that they lose their inhibitions and the
whole exercise becomes more meaningful as a result.
These games offer a fairly wide range of roles to choose from. When left free in their choice,
extraverted persons, or those with strong drive for dominance, or those who are informal leaders
among participants if these already know one another, often choose a synthetic culture of large power
distance, and / or one of the leader roles. When playing they will carry out actions that increase their
status, e.g. buying or selling large amounts, or taking the floor for prolonged periods of time.

Participants’ personal histories

Personal experience
I have never noticed that participant were unwilling to engage in a game because of prior experiences;
nevertheless this could certainly occur. Taking part in a simulation games requires a lot of energy; it is
not something to do each day. An overkill of simulation games in a curriculum could be
counterproductive.

Interpersonal history
If a participant has a personal relationship to the game leader, this affects their performance a great
deal. A participant may try to take advantage of this relationship while playing the game, e.g. to
impress other participants by showing off their affiliation with a person in authority. This could also
happen unintentionally.
Mutual relationships between participants are carried along into the game. Once, a team leader
used his role as CEO in the game to pursue an ongoing quarrel with somebody from another team. The
other person and her team became quite frustrated about this ‘unfair’ carry-over of the real world into
the game world.

Game context
Set-up

53
Elements from the game setting give off a strong symbolic message. Playing on Saturday evening in a
chic hotel can connote ‘this is a prestigious event’, while playing in a drab lecture hall on Tuesday
morning could connote ‘this means little to us’. Messages of this kind have a strong influence upon
participants’ commitment.

Backing from authorities

If people in authority participate, other participants are valorised, and their commitment to the game
increases. Once a game took place for conference attendants a select group among whom had just left
for an invited meeting. This fact made the game attendants feel second-rate, and that changed
everything, especially for status-conscious, ambitious participants.

Rewards
It is customary in some societies to reward game participants with money. In others, symbolic group
awards are issued. In yet others, no formal win / lose element is present. Rewarding practice tends to
follow the culture of the game organizers. Once people are playing, they will play for the sake of the
game itself; but rewards may be a good way to lend status to the act of participating and to recruit
players.

Role of synthetic cultures

If all these contextual factors are so important, one might ask whether the synthetic culture scripts have
any effect at all. Yes, they do. Typically, here is how teams from the synthetic cultures tend to operate.

COLLEC
Most participants in the set of game sessions were from rather individualistic cultures. To many of
them, the COLLEC script is associated with ‘being nice’. They tend to do this in an active way, rather
than through being very sensitive to contextual clues in communication by their counterparts. Anglo
participants frequently act out a sensitivity-group-like atmosphere that rather attempts to be culturally
feminine than collectivist.
INDIV
This script makes for noisy, talkative, hilarious meetings. It comes easily to most participants, who
tend to be from the elites of countries as well as used to international settings, and thus used to
speaking their minds. INDIV teams tend to be opportunistic.

HIPOW
Participants from small-power distance real cultures who act lowly roles in these teams often comment
about being frustrated at having to wait until given the opportunity to say something. Team leaders
sometimes take a bossy, culturally masculine interpretation, forgetting respect for the status of others
and confusing status-derived power with muscle display.
LOPOW
LOPOW is generally easy to play, because it fits well with the atmosphere in academic and upper
corporate settings, particularly during social happenings when status differences are downplayed.

FEMI
This is a tough script for participants from masculine countries, and rarely chosen by them; who wants
to be a wimp? This is a clear case of carry-over from the real world into the game.
MASCU
Many participants like to choose this script, from whatever real culture. It is especially popular with
women from feminine real cultures. They enjoy playing it, bossing everyone around with permission
from their synthetic culture script. They are quick to take initiatives in meetings, including ending
them as soon as they have reached their objective.

UNCTOL
This script is easy to play for most participants, because they tend to interpret it as ‘agreeing with
anything’. It makes for meetings that are pragmatic and relaxed.
54
UNCAVO
This is an enjoyable script for most, because becoming emotional and disagreeing are allowed.
Uncertainty avoiding teams frequently do not reach any agreement during meetings with other teams,
unless those are very flexible. If they do reach agreement, it tends to be ‘heartfelt’.

SHOTOR
Most people enjoy acting this script. It allows them to be hospitable, or outraged, as much as they
please, and to focus on doing the right thing by themselves and by their host team. It does not require
them to think ahead too much.
LOTOR
This script tends to make teams reflective and serious. Everything they say or do carries weight in
view of its possible consequences.

Discussion
What affects the course of the game?
It turns out that game-internal factors do have strong influence on how the game runs. Teams that
enact a particular synthetic culture have recognizable atmospheres and behavioural tendencies.
The ways in which synthetic culture scripts are enacted suggests that some synthetic cultures
allow players to display behaviours that they normally keep checked, e.g. dominating, disagreeing, or
caring. Other scripts inhibit behaviours, e.g. HIPOW forces the non-leaders so be subservient. Some
synthetic cultures are more enjoyable than others, because they allow players to satisfy social needs.
Affiliation behaviours are much enacted in teams that play COLLEC, FEMI or SHOTOR. Dominant
behaviours are much enacted in teams that play MASCU and HIPOW – although in the latter, only the
leader can act dominant. UNCAVO teams like to disagree. This can feel like an act of dominance. In
terms of personality, it connotes low agreeableness.
This idea receives support from the findings of Hofstede & McCrae (2004), who found among
other things that across the populations of 33 nations, cultural uncertainty avoidance is negatively
associated with average agreeableness, power distance is negatively correlated with average
extraversion and individualism is positively correlated with extraversion. These correlations suggest
that real culture dimensions also act as inhibitors or boosters of personality traits, although they do not
reveal by what processes.
But across all sessions, game-external factors from the domain of participants’ intrinsic qualities,
their personal histories and the game context have been much more influent in determining the games’
course than are the scripts. In my experience, nationality is the strongest predictor for how participants
will behave.
These game-external factors also interact; for instance when participants are allowed to select a
team, or a role within a team, they select a position in the game by which they expect to gratify their
needs for dominance and affiliation in a way that fits their personality. They do so while keeping
within the unwritten boundaries given by their culture in combination with the set of other participants
who are present.

Do synthetic cultures work?

It is now possible to return to research question one. We can conclude that the synthetic cultures do
work as an eye opener for real cross-cultural conflict, and that their effect as a scripting device bears a
resemblance to the real cultural dimension that they emulate. The act of trying to play by different
rules is a good way of getting to know what one’s own unspoken rules really are.
On the other hand, synthetic cultures are not a realistic enactment of real-world cultures. They are
quite useful as a training tool, but they are not the real thing. Real cultures retain a strong hold on
participants in everything they do during the game – preparing, choosing teams and roles, playing and
debriefing. Typically, the game condition creates an atmosphere of excitement that tends to make
people fall back on tested strategies of behaviour.

55
ConCLUSion
By and large the observations from ten years of playing synthetic culture games with people from all
around the world show that participants cannot shake off their cultural backgrounds, even during an
exercise in which they attempt to do just that. But they can become better aware of them. Simulation
games that use synthetic cultures have proved a useful scripting tool for learning about cross-cultural
communication.

References
Hofstede, Geert & Robert R. McCrae (2004) “Personality and Culture Revisited: Linking Traits and
Dimensions of Culture”. Cross-Cultural Research 38:1 pp. 52-88.
Hofstede, Geert & Gert Jan Hofstede (2005). Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind.
Third Millennium Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hofstede, Gert Jan and Paul Pedersen (1999) Synthetic cultures: intercultural learning through
simulation games". Simulation and Gaming, an International Journal, 30:4 pp. 415-440.
Hofstede, Gert Jan, Rita Walczuch, Edwin Bennik, Pieter Bots and Gert-Jan de Vreede (1999)
"Distributed Negotiation: Pre-testing a Simulated Cross-cultural Business Take-over Game". in Jan
Pries-Heje et al. (eds.) Proceedings of the seventh European Conference on Information Systems.
Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School. pp. 257-272.
Hofstede, Gert Jan (2000) "You Must Have Been at a Different Meeting". Journal of Global
Information Technology Management.3:2, pp 42-58.
Hofstede, Gert Jan, Paul Pedersen and Geert Hofstede (2002) Exploring Culture: Exercises, stories
and Synthetic Cultures. Yarmouth, Maine: Intercultural Press
McCrae, R. & P.T. Costa (2003) Personality in Adulthood, a five-factor theory perspective. New York:
Guildford.
Pedersen, Paul B. & Allen Ivey (1993) Culture-Centered Counseling and Interviewing Skills: A
practical guide. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.

56
 A METHOD FOR LEARNING IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT:

LEARNING BY PROJECTS
BASSAM A. HUSSEIN (1), KJETIL NYSETH (2)

Dept. of Production and Quality Engineering Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Trondheim, Norway, NTNU
(1) bassam.hussein@ntnu.no
(2) kjetil.nyseth@ntnu.no

ABSTRACT
We introduce in this paper a project-based-experiential learning method that could be used to enhance
project management education for engineering students in undergraduate level. The method is
targeting active and sensing learners, based on Felder index of learning styles. The idea here is to get
the students to work in groups in order to solve real world project problems from various engineering
sectors. The task (problem solving) is conducted as a project in itself, with predefined scope, goal,
objectives, project plan, and risk assessment. This method helps the students getting a first hand
experience in running projects, as a cooperative problem solving approach. Various project
management concepts, methods, and techniques are taught to the students in advance to the project
assignment through lectures sessions, multimedia online lectures and group discussions. The paper
discusses the advantages as well as the main success factors for implementing this approach.

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Project management is defined as [PMBOK 2003] the application of skills, tools, knowledge and
techniques to project work activities to meet project requirements. Project management is
accomplished through the use of processes such as initiating, planning, executing, controlling and
closing. This definition of project management indicates that project management is rather a
professional discipline than an abstract one (such as mathematics). Therefore, the main objective of
project management education should be to train the students to use and apply, effectively, these
various tools, methods and knowledge that are needed to deliver project objectives within the specified
constraints.
An introductory course in project management is taught as a part of the master program in technology
at NTNU. The students attending the course have negligible or no prior instruction in project
management methods or techniques.

Learning styles
It is argued that examining students' learning styles can yield information that might be useful to the
design of learning activities and courses (Dee, 2002). (Larsen, 2004} points also to the strong
correlation between the students reported learning style preferences, satisfaction, and success in the
course.
A variety of measures have been used to characterize learning styles for engineering students, but the
literature contains little information specific to the field of project management. We shall, therefore,
utilize Felder's Index of Learning Styles (Felder, 988} to investigate the learning style preferences of
project management students at NTNU. The reason behind choosing ILS indicator is that it is available
for free on the internet. And there exist a considerable amount of literature on this subject. Our goal is
to identify a suitable method to accommodate the widest possible variety of learning styles. It must be
mentioned that we are no by any means planning to device a complete set of teaching strategies. We
would rather “spice up” our existing teaching strategy by adapting small number of instructional
techniques to cover all poles of the learning style dimensions.
(ILS) is an instrument that was developed at North Carolina State University to determine the different
dimension of learning. This paper reports ILS responses from third and forth year engineering students
at the NTNU taking project management course. The ILS defines four dimensions, of learning style
57
preferences. Within each domain there are two opposing poles. Please see Table 1. The ILS
summarizes self reported preferences concerning whether:
1) Manner of processing information, actively or in a reflective manner. This is parallel to the
learning styles model of Davids Kolb which has the same name.
2) Manner of receiving information, visually or verbally
3) Type of data, sensory information, what is seen, heard, or intuitive information such as ideas,
theories and possibilities. Its counter part in Davids Kolbs model is the concrete/abstract styles.
4) Manner of progress towards understanding, in a sequential or a holistic (global) manner.

Dimension 1 Dimension 2 Dimension 3 Dimension 4

(manner of processing) (manner of receiving) Perception (manner of progress
(type of data) towards understanding)
Active Visual Sensor Sequential
Likes to process Prefers to see pictures Prefers concrete facts, Can function with
information while diagrams, films, and data, and relation to partial understanding,
doing an activity. apparatus. Key word real world around. makes steady progress
Learns a good deal (Show me what you are Good at detailed
from group work talking about) analysis (I need to
focus on and finish one
part of the problem at a
time)
Reflective Verbal Intuitive Global
Learns a good deal Prefers written words Focuses on ideas and Needs to see the
from independent work and formulas. possibilities big picture,
Likes to process (Explain to me what Prefers abstractions, Good at creative
information you are talking about) theories, models synthesis (I need to see
introspectively how it all fits together
before I can start doing
anything.)
Table 1. Dimensions of Felder learning styles.

We shall use the ILS to establish an indicator about the learning style of our students taking the project
management course. Our goal is to enhance our teaching strategy so that it covers the entire space of
student preferred learning style. We must point out that our investigation does not take into account
other factors such as gender, age and former work experience.

Findings
The ILS questionnaire, which is publicly accessible on the World Wide Web
[http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html], was administered to all students taking the

• Civil engineering department

project management course. They belong to three different departments at NTNU:

• Production and quality engineering department

• Industrial economy and technology management department

The number of students who takes the course is about 100 students. The size of the student sample
who participated in the delivered response was 26 students. The participation was conducted on
voluntary basis. We found out that the percentage of the students who prefer to process information
actively is 81% of the student sample. 92% of the student sample indicated preference to receive
information visually rather than verbally. Please see Figure 1.

58
 Distribution of active/refelective learners
Distribution of visual/verbal learners
90
81
100
80 92
90
70
80
60
70

50 Active % 60
%

Visual %
Reflective %

%
40 35 50
Verbal %
40
30 31 31 31
23 23
19 30
20
12 20
8
10 8
10 4 4
0 0
0 0
Balanced Moderate Strong Total Balanced Moderate Strong Total
Level of preference Level of preference

Figure 1. Distribution of active/reflective and visual/verbal learners among student sample.

Collected data also shows that 69% of student sample focuses on sensory information instead of
intuitive information. We also notice a balance between the ways the student understand information,
54% understand it sequentially, and 46% globally. 63% of the sample has balanced preference to this
learning style. Please see Figure 2.

Distribution of sensing/intuitive learners Distribution of sequential / global learners

80 60
54
69
70
50 46
60
40
50 35
38 Sensing % Sequential %
40 30 27
%

31 Int uit ive % Global %

30 19 19
23 23
20
20

8 10
10 4 4
0 0
0 0
Balanced Moderat e St rong Tot al Balanced Moderate Strong Total
Le v e l o f pr e f e r e nc e Level of preference

Figure 2. Distribution of sensing/intuitive and sequential/global learners among student sample.

Figure 3 shows the distribution of combination of the four learning styles. Our investigation shows that
some learning styles actually do not exist at all among our student population. Such as, reflective +
intuitive learners, or reflective + verbal learners, or verbal + global learners. We notice a strong
representation (77%) of active + visual learner, and also a strong representation (62%) of sensing +
visual learner group. Active + sensing learners constituted 50% of the total student sample.

59
 Distribution of com bination of learning styles

90 %
77 %
80 %
70 % 62 %
60 % 50 % 50 %
50 % 38 %42 % 42 % 38 %
%

40 % 31 % 31 % 31 %
30 % 23 %
15 % 15 %
20 % 8% 12 % 8% 8%
10 % 4% 4%
0% 0% 0% 0%
0%

e/ al
e/ /glo l

vi uen l

ue l
l
l
e

in equ al

rb a l/ al
ve /gl l

v l/g l
l
fle ue l

l
se ng/ al

in g/v l
se ve/g i al
u l
fle /ve l
e
fle e/ ng

a
fle e/v l

tiv e/v l

ns tive u a

ia
/ i i ng

a
ct ive tia

a ia
re seq ba

in u a

tiv ba
se rb a

a
a
ac iv sua
e a
fle e/s ti v

vi iti v n ti
tiv it iv

/s lob

/s l ob
/s ob

ve erb l ob
i
b

se rb
rb
tiv su

nt
t

t
i nt
fle act en
re tiv n si

in nsi en
se tu /vi s
tu er
ns l o

ns vis
re tiv tu i
iv ens

e
e

g/ /ve
ac ntu

i
ac e/vi

g
g
se qu
ac /se

in

eq
g
q

eq
n
re iv

su
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i
ct

ct
e

ct
tiv

e/

tu

al
al
in
ac

in
iv
ct

su
iti
re

tu
re

Figure 3. Combination of the four learning styles among student population.

Active + sensing learning or “learning by projects” how does it fit in?

This investigation confirms the existence of a range of learning styles within the student group
attending project management course. The ILS results provide support for arguments advanced already
by (Felder, 1993) for variation in engineering teaching strategies. These can be summarized as follows:
1. The vast majority of students who have participated in our questionnaire are active learners
(82%). Strictly lecture-based teaching that provides no active and cooperative learning
experiences inside or outside the classroom works to the disadvantage of the majority of the
student population.
2. A considerable majority of student population are sensing learners (69%). Instruction that
emphasizes only abstract concepts at the expense of concrete real-world applications and
examples puts the sensing majority at a disadvantage.
3. The vast majority of students are visual learners. Instruction that is exclusively verbal with
only occasional visual content is likely to be ineffective for the vast majority of students.
4. Presentations that fail to indicate the broad context within which a particular body of
information falls are likely to be ineffective for global learners. Who although in the
minority (in our case 46%), may include many of the most inventive thinkers among the
student population.
Learning by projects is an approach which is implemented to match the needs of student population, in
particular to match the needs of active + sensing learners. This group of learners constituted 50% of
the student population. Active + sensing learning style has it is equivalent in Kolb's Learning Style
Model represented by learner type 4 (Active + concrete) (Kolb, 1986). Type 4 learners like applying
course material in new situations to solve real problems. Learning by projects fits this group of
learners. Our approach can be described as a combination of cooperative learning and field
investigation methods conducted in a project framework. By that we mean, a cooperative effort for
problem solving, accomplished through the use of project management processes (initiating, planning,
executing, controlling and closing.) Students will thus acquire skills in applying the principles of
project management to the problem at hands. Thus giving them a taste of how it will be to work as a
project management, and what is management is all about. In addition, they will develop/refine
interpersonal, team, and communication skills.
Over a fourteen-week term the students are taught various components of project management
knowledge areas through lecture sessions, and on-line video lectures. Lecture sessions are
supplemented by various assignments and small case studies. These provide students with the
background knowledge they need for executing project assignment. The project assignment starts in
week 9 after the students having completed 75 % of the course content. Student teams are formed with
3-4 students per team. Each team nominates a project coordinator. Project coordinator is responsible to
coordinate activities within the group, ensure adherence to the time frame developed by each team,
60
communicate problems/issues to the supervisor, and ensure the timely delivery of progress reports and
other documentations. Student groups are challenged by real world problems from various sectors such
as a) research and development sector, b) service sector, c) civil engineering sector, d) manufacturing
sector. This approach is conducted in close cooperation with local companies, industries and
organizations in Trondheim region. Students are expected to conduct an investigation and analysis of a
company-related problem area in a given time frame. Some examples are shown in Table 2

Problem areas
Investigation of competence level of risk management at the transportation
department in Trondheim
Investigation of project selection and evaluation methods in Trondheim city
planning office
Developing a project handbook for the students attending a course at NTNU
Investigation of selection methods of research and development projects
Methods applies for stakeholders management at school sector projects

Table 2. Problem areas for project assignnemt

The work of each team is documented in detail in a final report. This report includes the problem
statement, goals and objectives, estimated workload, risk factors, work breakdown structure WBS,
time table, Gantt chart, a brief description of literature, research method, and accurate and complete
documentation of the work done. Project assignment accounts for 30% of the overall course grade. The
project grade is based upon the following factors: overall quality of the work presented to include all
steps of initiation, planning, executing and controlling of the project; and the quality and clarity of the
documentation.
. The final report of the project assignment documents the 1) describition and narrowing of the
problem. 2) theoretical background, 3) research method and approach used to handle and solve these
problems, 4) the outcome of the approach, 5) competences and experiences gained at the end of the
project.
Learning by - projects is a pedagogical approach that has long been used in further education programs
in projectr management at NTNU, and proved to be very successful (Hussein, 2002). Various specially
tailored project management education programs had been conducted with international companies
such as Kværner, Statoil and Norsk Hydeo in the last 5 years at NTNU. An adapted version of the
program is offered now only to STATOIL employees. In the period 1999-2004 over 300 employees
from these companies took part in project management education programs. The educational model is
a mix of different models of instructional delivery, web-based teaching and plenary sessions. Both
aimed at achieving cost efficiency and – not least – enhancing the learning value for the participants
and their organizations. In parallel with the plenary and the web-based sessions, the student works in
groups on their project assignment. These project assignments explore a topic relevant to project
management in Statoil, and comply with academic standards. It is recommended that the students use
cases from an actual project. It was also emphasised that the results of project work should help their
companies enhancing their project management best practice.

CONCLUSION & LESSONS LEARNED

• The method gives the students the opportunity to get familiar with the type of practical
The advantages of this approach can be summarized as follows;

• Provides the students with hands-on experiences on how to handle these problems most
problems that faces project organizations in real situations.

• Offers the students the valuable experience of working in teams. And providing students with a
effectively.

• It offers the students the opportunity to get in touch with experienced project mangers who
learning experience that is superior to isolated experiences targeting the individual.

works on actual projects.

61
 • It strengthens the mutual relationship between the local industry and the university through
these common assignments.
The use of learning by projects has in general been very successful at NTNU. Students claim that this
is the most interesting part of the course, because problems and situations are real and relevant.
However, learning by projects is time consuming, and may be heavy to accomplish. Summarized, we

• To be effective, the instructor should balance his/her involvement in the work between
have experienced these success factors for successful use of project assignments (not prioritized):

directing and coaching. Coaching will maxim opportunities for the students to discover things
for themselves providing that these students have strong motivation. Directing becomes

• Commitment from all participants is necessary for a successful completing. Students must be
important when student groups needs academic assistance on the subject matter.

• Students must be motivated by having the opportunity to apply the knowledge acquired in the
ready to invest significant amounts of time in planning and investigation.

• It is imperative that problem definitions are narrowed. Teams must stay focused on this
first few weeks to a real world situation.

• It is important to link this problem solving approach with literature study, relation to other
particular problem. Instructor involvement in this phase is essential.

subjects.

REFERENCES

Dee, Kay C. 2002. Learning styles of biomedical engineering students. Annals of Biomedical
Engineering, v 30, n 8, p 1100-1106.

Felder, Richard M. 1988. How students learn: Adapting teaching styles to learning styles
Proceedings - Frontiers in Education Conference, Oct, 1988, p 489-493

Rosati, Peter A. 1995. Engineering student responses to an index of learning styles. ASEE Annual
Conference Proceedings, v 1, Investing in the Future, 1995, p 739-743.

Larsen, Joanne. 2004. Coordinating learning styles and teaching styles in undergraduate engineering
education. ASEE Annual Conference Proceedings. Annual Conference and Exposition, Engineering
Education Researchs New Heights", p 2399-2403.

Kolb, David A., “Management and Learning Processes,” California Management Review, Vol. 18, No.
3. pp. 21-31.

Solomon, B. Fielder, R. M. Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire [Online] Available at:

http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html.

Project Management Institute, c2004. A Guide to the project management body of knowledge:
(PMBOK guide). - 3rd ed.

Hussein, Bassam and Rolstadås Asbjørn. 2002. Hybrid learning in project management : potentials and
challenges. PMI Research Conference, Seattle, Washington, USA, July 14th-17th, 2002".

62
 LEARNING IN NETWORKED SERVICE PROVISIONING
MIIA JAATINEN, RITA SÖDERGÅRD, MIKA PEUHKURINEN

Helsinki University of Technology, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, SimLab

P.O. Box 9220, 02015 HUT
miia.jaatinen@hut.fi

ABSTRACT
This paper describes a process of inter-organizational learning in collaborative business. It focuses on
how collaborators create a common understanding about their common business. The study develops
further the theoretical framework of common understanding. The new framework presented in this
paper is based on the replication of three cases of networked business in which a constructive action
research strategy was applied. This paper presents also preliminary results concerning the benefits of
the SimLabTM process simulation method in building common understanding.

INTRODUCTION
In networked business, partners have to create a common solution for their common business case to
ensure the success of their effort. This entails a definition of a business model consisting of strategic
positioning in the market and a definition of resources needed to produce and provide the selected
products or services to the selected customers (Hannus 2004). In addition, collaborators have to agree
on how they will implement this business model. This solution provides a common framework for
collaborators’ action. Without common definitions, network partners run the risk their actions do not
support each other and collaboration is hindered by misunderstandings and prejudices.
In order to develop such a common solution, network partners should be interested in learning about
their partners and their common business environment. The effort of learning is challenging because
the organizations have different cultures and the task calls for innovation. The former challenge is
emphasized in inter-organizational learning and the latter in the creation of new business. Learning
about the business environment requires also understanding customer needs. The involvement of
customers in developing business solutions is therefore beneficial. When customers participate in the
learning process, their contribution can be magnified. It is only when a customer understands a
company’s business well enough, shares common understanding with the network partners that he or
she can contribute in a meaningful and constructive way to the development of business (Koskelainen
et al. 2005). This paper describes the process of inter-organizational learning in the context of
networked business. The study extends theories on organizational learning to the context of
collaborative business.
We approach the challenge of developing a common business solution for networked business by
focusing on how network partners together with their customers create a common understanding on
their collaboration. This paper develops further a general theoretical framework on the building blocks
of common understanding in networked business. The study describes the subjects on which partners
need to reach an understanding in order to cooperate effectively, as well as, the process by which
common understanding can be increased. The theoretical framework was developed in two cases of
networked product development between companies participating in process development simulation
in SimLab, as part of the R&D Net project financed by the National Technology Agency of Finland
(TEKES) during the years 2000-2003. (Mäkelä 2002, Hirvensalo et al. 2003.) Now, the theory is
developed further in new cases concerning networked service provisioning. Particularly, we observed
the creation of common understanding between two units of a publisher company participating in four
process simulation projects in SimLab as a pilot organization of a three year Co-creation of business
models –project financed by TEKES. This paper reports the findings of the company’s second
simulation project conducted in the winter 2005.

63
SimLab is a multidisciplinary research and teaching unit at the Helsinki University of Technology. The
laboratory applies the SimLabTM business process simulation method in the development and training
projects that provided also the context for this study. The method allowed the observation of
experiential learning process participated by the collaborating organizations and their customers. This
study presents also preliminary findings on the role of this method in the creation of common
understanding, thus contributing to the continuous development of the method.

THEORY
In this section, we develop a process model of inter-organizational learning based on a literature study.
Next, we present Mäkelä’s original theoretical framework of common understanding, which is
developed further in this study. Thirdly, we describe the process of building common understanding.
The SimLabTM method will be studied as part of this process from a communication’s point of view.

Learning networks
The survival of an organization requires that an organization detects environmental changes and is able
to correct its action. In addition to this adaptive function of learning, successful organizations are able
to learn on a higher level. They are able to develop new ways of seeing the world (Senge 1990) and
change norms and values that guide activities and behaviours (Argyris & Schön 1978).
Otala (1996) presented a process model of organizational learning consisting of four phases. First, an
organization collects information. Then, it is reflected on the operating environment and operation of
the organization. After this, the information is interpreted together, and finally people in the
organization build common meanings and ways of thinking. (Otala 1996)
According to Choo (1998), learning organizations engage in three parallel modes of strategic
information use: sense-making helping organization to understand its environment, knowledge
creation supporting innovation and decision-making enabling the selection of a course of action.
Through sense-making, organizations create shared meanings on their environments, their identities
and their actions. Shared meanings guide people’s attention and actions. (Choo 1998) Sense-making
consists of three processes of enactment, selection and retention. Enactment process gathers and
organizes data from the environment for further use. Selection process evaluates the data based on past
experiences and attaches a meaning to the data. Retention is the process of storing meaningful
environments for future use. (Weick 1979)
By knowledge creation, organizations generate new knowledge and capabilities. New knowledge is
created through continuous interaction between tacit, explicit and cultural knowledge. Knowledge
creation process starts when sense-making process has revealed knowledge gaps or lack in capability
to respond to a change in the environment. (Choo 1998)
Decision-making aims at selecting goals and actions in a defined situation. Decision-making usually
applies certain preferences, routines and rules that will help the organization develop and evaluate
alternatives and make a choice. (Choo 1998)
Extending the process model of organizational learning into the context of networked business, it can
be described as a cyclical process consisting of three overlapping processes. The process of sense-
making starts the learning process: sharing knowledge between partners and with the clients, reflecting
this knowledge back to the common business environment, and interpreting it together. Once the
partners have reached a common understanding on their environment, they have to create an
innovative business solution to respond to the common environment. This requires creation of new
knowledge together and using it to generate product, process or business innovations. The knowledge
creation process is the second parallel process in the process of inter-organizational learning. In this
process, partners create shared meanings concerning relevant knowledge and viable innovations.
Before the network is ready for the market, it has to select a course of action, the business solution,
that partners believe will be profitable. This starts the third parallel process of learning, i.e. decision-
making during which partners create shared meanings concerning their business case. After the
decision making selecting the solution and defining the way it will be implemented, the network will
start the business and collect common experiences on the success of the selected solution. This will
start the cycle of learning from the beginning. This time the knowledge shared includes also
experiences on the success of the business solution and collaboration.
64
We propose a cyclical process model of inter-organizational learning consisting of 10 phases: 1)
sharing knowledge, 2) reflecting this knowledge back to the environment, 3) interpreting it together, 4)
creating shared meanings on common identity and common environment, 5) creation of new
knowledge, 6) generating ideas for innovation, 7) developing a viable business solution, 8) selecting a
solution, 9) implementation, 10) collecting experiences and new information.
We observed this kind of a process of inter-organizational learning in our case organizations during a
simulation project. Since the organizations did not create a common business case but tried to continue
with their own business cases and only define necessary forms of collaboration to prevent harming
each other’s business as well as to support each other’s goal-attainment, we focused our research on
how these organizations created common understanding sufficient enough for smooth cooperation to
follow. The concept of common understanding represents a common business solution and the process
of creating common understanding represents the sense-making and knowledge-creation processes of
learning.

Elements of common understanding

Sense-making produces shared meanings that can be used to create consensus and coordination in
organizations. Shared meanings constitute cognitive frameworks guiding people’s actions and defining
organizational identity. (Choo 1998) In this study, we use the concept of common understanding for
such a framework.
Common understanding constitute of shared meanings that are created through communication or
shared experiences (Mäkelä 2002). According to Mäkelä (2002), the elements of common
understanding consist of 1) shared ways of thinking, 2) shared ways of operating, 3) shared
knowledge, 4) shared goals, and 5) trust. Smooth collaboration requires that partners have shared
meanings concerning these elements.
Shared ways of thinking include common concepts and language, symbols, norms and values. Shared
ways of operating means agreement between partners on the roles and responsibilities, the common
processes and methods applied. Shared knowledge concerns the object and content of collaboration,
i.e., what we are doing and how it should be done. Shared goals include common objectives and
expectations as well as partners’ own objectives and expectations. Trust is based on the beliefs partners
have on each other’s capabilities and characteristics. (Mäkelä 2002)
The elements of common understanding represent the subjects on which partners should create shared
meanings. In this study, we tested their relevance in a case in which collaborators were in the
beginning of their cooperation and their aim was to build collaboration between organizations that did
not cooperate on a daily basis. The motive behind collaboration was that the two organizations served
the same customers and the organizations wanted to give a consistent view of their services to the
common customers.

Creation of common understanding

According to Mäkelä (2002), common understanding is created in the process of communication
within a context of culture by sharing knowledge. As a result of communication, shared meanings
constituting common understanding are created. The common understanding created affects on its turn
back to the process of communication. There is a recursive relationship between communication and
common understanding (Aula 2000).
This theory is based on the notion of culture as consisting of shared meanings and common
understanding. Communication is defined as the process of creating, maintaining, and changing
meanings in a certain context (Aula 1999). Knowledge is a justified true belief about action leading to
some end. Knowledge conveys meaning, and it is created in social interaction (Nonaka & Takeutchi
1995).
We observed the creation of common understanding along a 6 month development project in our case
organizations and report the findings concerning the state of collaboration, communication, and
management of collaboration in this paper. In addition, we evaluated the effects of the simulation day
organized for the development of collaboration between the organizations using a questionnaire. The
evaluation of the effectiveness of the SimLabTM method was made from the point of view of how the
method functions as a forum for communication.
65
METHODS
Our study applies abductive reasoning within a constructive action research paradigm in developing
theories and models through multiple-case studies. Abductive reasoning can be described as a process
starting with a clue and proceeding to develop a theory through steps of deduction to test it in
empirical reality and steps of induction to generalize from empirical reality (Grönfors 1985). It is a
continuous cycle increasing the value of a theory. In this section, we describe first the research strategy
and design and then the selected data collection and analysis methods in more detail.

Research design and strategy

The study uses a constructive action research strategy in a multiple-case design to develop the
theoretical framework of common understanding. Constructive research aims at developing a solution
to a practically relevant problem applying theoretical knowledge and at demonstrating the functioning
and innovativeness of the solution developed. The success of constructive research can be evaluated by
a weak or strong market test. To pass the weak market test, the solution has to be applied in managerial
decision-making. To pass the strong market test, the application of the construction has to produce
better financial results in the business unit. (Kasanen et al. 1993)
Action research is a diverse field of approaches to scientific inquiry but these approaches share certain
characteristics. Action research studies the impact of deliberately induced changes in an existing
system in real time. Action research aims both at solving a practical problem and contributing to
science. An action researcher participates actively in a development effort by organizational actors and
collects data for scientific analysis and theory building at the same time. The scientific paradigm
applied is hermeneutic, and requires appropriate quality criteria. (Gummesson 2000) The strategy we
apply can be described well by the concept of innovation action research presented by Kaplan (1998).
It aims at creating managerial theories that apply to wide variety of organizations and at developing
their implementation. The process consists of learning experiences in many organizations. (Kaplan
1998)
In this study, the theoretical framework of common understanding represents a construction that is
developed to pass the market tests. The framework is applied as a planning paradigm for a simulation
project and the framework itself is developed based on our learning experiences and the data collected.
We chose the framework of common understanding as the theory to be developed in our case because
of its relevance to the problem the case organizations were facing.
Case study investigates a contemporary phenomenon in its context. It is an empirical research strategy
that can involve one or multiple cases as well as several units and levels of analysis within a single
case study. Comparison between cases is achieved through replication logic. (Yin 1989) Building
theory from case study is achieved in a process consisting of definition of research focus and
potentially important constructs, theoretical sampling of cases, specifying methods to reach multiple
types of evidence in multiple ways, ensuring an overlap of data collection and analysis, two
dimensional analysis focusing on within-case analysis and cross-case comparison, iteration between an
emergent theory and empirical evidence as well as replication of cases and understanding of
relationships, comparison with previous research, and theoretical saturation (Eisenhardt 1989).
This study compares evidence from one case to evidence from two cases that provided the empirical
ground for developing the original framework of common understanding. The phenomenon studied is
common understanding between collaborators, and the context is networked business. This paper
reports the findings of a case study conducted in two business units of a publisher corporation engaged
in collaborative service provisioning. The business units serve the same clients one selling traditional
teaching material and the other providing an electronic learning environment on the Internet to
comprehensive schools. The case study was conducted in parallel to a simulation project facilitated by
SimLab in the winter 2005 and focusing on developing collaboration between the two units.
The main data collection and analysis methods were qualitative, including semi-structured interviews,
observation of group discussions during a simulation project and a questionnaire. The participants to
the interviews, simulation and survey included people from different organizational levels as well as
both from companies’ and clients’ side. Additional sources of information include documents provided
66
by the companies or created during the simulation project such as process charts and management
presentations on business models and objectives. The study was conducted by a team of three
researchers, the authors of this paper, which provides for multiple perspectives in each phase of the
research process.

SimLabTM method
The constructive action research strategy was applied as part of business process simulations
conducted using the SimLabTM method. The SimLabTM method is a registered business process
development method developed in innovation action research by SimLab researchers. It provides
companies an interactive learning environment and functions as a platform to build common
understanding. The method consists of the process of setting objectives, business process modeling,
interviews, preparation, simulation, data analysis and the end report. (Smeds 1994, 1997; Smeds, Haho
& Alvesalo 2003; Forssen & Haho 2001, Haho 2002)
The simulation project conducted in the winter 2005 focused on identifying possibilities for
collaboration and coordination between the two business units of the publisher corporation. The
project consisted of a process following the general model described above. The kick-off meeting was
participated by the top management of the two business units and a few key people. It was
accompanied by a separate kick-off held for the personnel of the business units. The process modelling
session involved one new employee central to the process of collaboration. 17 people participated in
the interviews, and 41 to the simulation day. The participants of the simulation day included 20
teachers who acted as sales representatives of the publisher organization, i.e., consultants as they were
called by the publisher organization. These teachers were able to provide the customer point-of-view
to the topics discussed during the simulation day which made also possible to study the involvement of
clients in the learning process. The project lasted 6 months, from kick-off in September 2004 until the
publishing of the end report in March 2005.

Interviews
The interviews conducted were designed to achieve two purposes: to solve the practical problem of
coordination of action of the two business units and to explore the elements and state of common
understanding. The method applied was a loosely structured interview technique in which discussion
concentrates partly on predetermined topics and partly on topics that emerge during the interview and
seem relevant for the solving of the practical problem or theory building (See e.g. Merton et al. 1956,
Nachmias & Nachmias 1981, Hirsjärvi & Hurme 1985).
Interviews were conducted in the beginning of the development project during a period of three weeks.
We interviewed people from both the business units and on different levels in each. Altogether 17
people were interviewed, 10 from the school book unit and 4 from the e-learning unit. In addition, 2
teachers and 1 rector of one comprehensive school were interviewed to gain an insight into the
perspective of the clients of the two business units. The topics of the interviews varied according to the
role of the interviewee in the organization, and the list of topics is provided in the Appendix 1.
The interviews were digital-recorded and transcribed. The analysis of interview data followed a
process of reading through the transcriptions, marking relevant pieces of text, gathering and clustering
marked pieces of text to produce a list of elements of common understanding.

The questionnaire
The questionnaire was designed to evaluate the effects of the simulation method as well as to collect
evidence on the elements of common understanding. The questionnaire was applied in the end of the
simulation day to all the participants from the two business units of the publisher corporation:
altogether 21 people, 13 from the e-learning unit and 9 from the school book unit. Respondents were
instructed to fill in the questionnaire and return it to a researcher before leaving the simulation room.
The questionnaires were anonymous, and this was communicated explicitly. The questionnaire is
included in the Appendix 2. The analysis process of questionnaire data followed that of the interviews.
The questionnaire consisted of three structured questions applying the common framework of common
understanding presented by Mäkelä. The purpose of the five open-ended questions was to collect
67
evidence that did not fit with the original framework. The questionnaire provides qualitative evidence
on the elements central in creating common understanding. It describes the opinions of the participants
to the simulation day. The sample corresponds quite well to the central actors in the case, because the
participants to the simulation were selected on that basis.
The questions 2 to 6 can also be used for evaluating the simulation day. The questionnaire provides
evidence on how the simulation increased common understanding between the business units
according to participants’ subjective evaluation on the effects of the day on their own opinions and
attitudes. In the first three structured questions, the respondents were asked to rate how much they
received important and relevant information and how it affected their understanding on the topics and
trust toward the partner. The evidence from the open-ended questions describes the usefulness of the
topics discussed in the simulation and the missing topics that would have been important from the
viewpoint of the participants. This provides an evaluation of the program of the simulation day.

FINDINGS
In this section, we describe first the learning experience of the two business units participating in a
simulation project as a process of building common understanding. This description is, then, used to
reflect on the process model of inter-organizational learning. Secondly, we describe our findings on the
elements of common understanding before the simulation and right after the simulation. Data on these
two periods of time are, then, contrasted to provide a case level analysis on the elements of common
understanding. Thirdly, we report our findings on the effects of the simulation day on common
understanding. Finally, we compare case data to the original framework of common understanding and
provide a new framework.

The process description

The simulation project provided a learning experience for the two business units. The first meetings
of the project and the interviews conducted in the beginning helped the two business units and SimLab
researchers in defining the major challenge in creating coordination between the two units. The
ordering client in the pilot-organization stated it in the way that he would be happy if the simulation
helped the two units reach some kind of common understanding based on which collaboration could be
built. The original objective of the project - creation of a common way of operating in order to build a
consistent image of the publisher corporations products and services to the clients - was redefined into
a hidden objective of attitude change because there was not much cooperation and some factors
seemed to hinder it. The official objectives set for the simulation day were to define common messages
to common clients, build a common way of serving the common clients, generate ideas for developing
communication between the two units and for identifying areas for collaboration that would bring
business benefit for both the units and create better service for the common clients. To reach the
objectives the two business units had to understand better each other and each other’s business as well
as the needs of common customers. They had to create new knowledge on how to respond to the
customer needs together, i.e. how the services and products support each other and what kind of a
common service process is needed. Finally, a decision on how to proceed was required.
The program of the simulation day was designed to increase the units’ knowledge of each other as
well as to facilitate sense-making and innovation. The morning program provided an opportunity for
the collaborating units and their customers to share knowledge with each other as well as create shared
meanings on collaboration and the common operating environment, i.e. to better make sense of the
common business. The units were encouraged to motivate collaboration, to share knowledge on
business logics, customer thinking as well as products and services. The operational models of
customer service, customer training and sales events were covered by facilitated case discussions
supported by process charts.
In the afternoon, participants worked in groups concentrating on four assignments designed to
reach each of the four objectives of the day. The group works focused on generating ideas for service
and process innovation. In the discussions following the group works, participants were encouraged to
make decisions and take responsibility of communication, further development and implementation of
development ideas. However, legitimate decisions had to be made on the organizations’ own forums.
After decision-making in and between the units, the units could start collecting common experiences
68
on the viability and profitability of the selected business solution. Based on these experiences, they can
start a new cycle of learning by sharing the knowledge gained and creating a better solution.
The effects of the simulation day on common understanding were evaluated by making the
participants of the simulation day fill in a questionnaire. The analysis of the evidence is presented later
in this paper. In general, the participants reported an increase in relevant information, understanding
and trust. Also, in the meeting for publishing the final report and other more informal occasions,
people from the two business units reported that cooperation had increased on the grass-roots level by
people’s own initiative without need for the management to tell people to do so.
Comparing our findings on learning during a structured simulation process with the cyclical process
model of inter-organizational learning we found following evidence on the process steps: 1) sharing
knowledge is a basic requirement for the generation of initial mutual understanding and for
collaboration to start, 2) reflecting shared knowledge back to the environment is crucial in gaining
understanding on the customer needs which provide common ground for collaborators, 3) interpreting
environment together is important for sharing past experiences and for, 4) creating shared meanings on
common identity and common environment, 5) creation of new knowledge is required when partners
build collaboration or totally new business because of the change of environmental niche, 6)
generating ideas for innovation is important for finding focus for collaboration and using the
opportunity of combining competences, 7) developing a viable business solution is important for
ensuring the success and continuation of collaboration in networked business, 8) selecting a solution is
required for committing partners, 9) implementation will be a challenging change process, and 10)
collecting common experiences and new information is crucial for building trust and continuous
innovation.

Common understanding before simulation

In the interviews conducted before the simulation day, we found out that there was no common
understanding between the two organizations and collaboration was minimal. We asked the
interviewees what they thought would help them to collaborate and why there was almost no
cooperation. We classified those ideas and reasons and ended up with eight categories that represent
the major challenges for collaboration and suggestions for development:
1. Customers’ needs should be seen in the same way. Understanding customer needs requires “going to the field and
talking to the customers” Both organizations’ employees agreed that the two organizations should collaborate in
the future, because otherwise customers won’t receive quality service.
2. Open communication was considered desirable as it helps to create trust between the participants. The interviewees
said that the other organization’s employees could be invited to participate in the same meetings where the
differences could be talked through and people could learn to know each other better. “Collaboration starts from
little things, like someone calling and inviting you to some occasion.” In general, information regarding both
organizations’ work, like marketing schedules, should be shared between participants.
3. Common values regarding e.g. how customers are served and how money is spent should be shared. Some of the
interviewees claimed that they didn’t share any common values, which has hindered the collaboration.
4. Win-win model was considered a prerequisite for collaboration. Both the organizations should gain something from
the relationship. The two organizations’ employees didn’t share much knowledge about the way money is
generated in each organization. Some of the interviewees said that they should understand each other’s business
logic in order to work together. “We should see what the business benefit for each organization is.”
5. Common goals regarding e.g. the market share and business profits were seen important. Seeing the future of
publishing industry in the same way was also mentioned important. Visioning and planning the future together,
like marketing and customer service, were seen as facilitating issues for starting collaboration.
6. Common service offering means that the two organizations know each other’s products and services so that they can
suggest the best offering for the customer. One company should obviously offer the same products and services
only once to the same customers, “We need to know that the other organization won’t produce the same content as
we and offer it to the same customers.”
7. Common operational model means that the employees know how to operate together. The interviewees wanted to
know e.g. how marketing could be done together and who to contact when problems occur. The interviewees
emphasized that they need to plan the work together, i.e. to have some kind of a common operational model.
8. Knowing each other, i.e., knowing the roles and competencies of the other organization’s employees is important
when working together. Also, knowing in person the “matching pair” from the other organization was seen helpful.
69
 The employees from both organizations argued that they should also have mutual respect for each other. There was
considerable mistrust between the employees because of the lack of knowledge.

Common understanding after simulation

The simulation day was designed to increase common understanding between the two units and to
enable learning with the customers. The questionnaire applied in the end of the simulation day
measured the effects of the day as well as explored the elements of common understanding. The open
ended questions 5, 6 and 7 asked the participants to identify important topics of knowledge to be
shared and things that partners should agree on in order collaboration to start smoothly. The responses
were classified into emerging categories resulting in ten dimensions for common understanding. Most
of the dimensions correspond with the categories identified in the interviews.
1. Common goals and schedules were seen important for the development and coordination of collaboration. By
sharing information about the goals of different organizations, e.g. in terms of business and customer, the
organizations could understand each other and define common goals to strive for. Common schedules were seen as
important when aiming at common goals.
2. Common operational model is about how to run activities together with the other organization. Common operational
model could cover e.g. collaborative operations in marketing activities or customer support.
3. Common process of planning consists of jointly designed activities and jointly made decisions regarding the actions
to be taken in the future. Actually that can be seen as an essential tool for creating common understanding. Jointly
made decisions helps in achieving common commitment.
4. Roles and responsibilities were seen important for example in the conjunction of processes where collaboration of
counterparts of different organizations is essential. Besides the roles of people in collaboration, it was seen
important to learn and understand their roles and tasks in their own unit.
5. Open communication relates to exchanging of information and opinions. Exchange of information between
organizations increase mutual understanding and helps to avoid conflicts deriving from ignorance. Open
communication is a tool to find common schedules, agree on common goals etc. that incrementally increases trust
between parties. The respondents called forth the development of a common system of communication.
6. Common service offering aims at better service for customers. The products and services of the two business units
are offered to customers in a consistent way, with congruent messages, avoiding product and service overlapping.
This requires that partners know the products and services of each unit.
7. Common and own business models came up in the questionnaire in two steps. First, it is essential to understand the
other organizations business model. Then, it is easier to identify possibilities for common business models. The
simulation day helped especially in understanding the business model of “the other unit”.
8. Customer needs and fulfilment were seen important issues to agree on between the business units in order to ensure
smooth collaboration and answer to questions such as how to take care of customerships and how to distribute the
work on a particular customer. It was important to share the same view between the business units about
customers’ needs and fulfilment.
9. Knowing each other facilitates in contacting the other party in the other organization. If the other party was not
known or, in the worst case, the existence of the other was not known, the likelihood of starting communication
was rather low. Knowing each other helps in deciding who to contact and in what purpose. It helps understanding
the other unit’s way of working.
10. Common language was seen important in order to develop smooth collaboration. Common language facilitates in
understanding communication between the two organizations. Hence, the simulation was seen as important place
to create the first kick for the development of the common language.

Summary of case data on the elements of common understanding

Contrasting the two lists of elements of common understanding built based on the interviews and
the questionnaire, we propose an integrated categorization:
1. Customer needs
2. Common business model
3. Common service offering
4. Common operational model
5. Common goals
6. Knowing each other (personal and competences)
7. Common values and language (culture)
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The categories of common values and common language were combined. Also, the categories of win-
win model and common and own business logic were combined to form a category common business
model. The new category common operational model includes the categories common operational
model, roles and responsibilities and common process of planning.
The close correspondence between the two lists is natural because the data is collected from the same
case. Only the data gathering methods and periods are different.

The uses of SimLabTM method

The effects of the simulation day as a tool for building common understanding were tested with a
questionnaire. The questions 2, 3 and 4 measured learning on the elements of common understanding
(Mäkelä’s model) on scale 0-5, in which 0 stood for “I don’t know”, 1 for very little correlation, 2 for
little correlation, 3 for moderate correlation, 4 for strong correlation and 5 for very strong correlation.
The responses to the questions 2 and 3 indicated that the simulation day increased the participants’
knowledge and understanding of shared ways of thinking, shared ways of operating, shared knowledge
and shared goals. Values given varied from moderate to strong correlation. The responses to the
question 4 indicated a high level of trust in general. In addition, the responses to the last item of the
question 4 indicated strong impact of the simulation day.
The responses to the open-ended questions 5 and 6 assessed the relevance of discussion topics for
collaboration. The topics covered in the simulation day were all considered important. Only the topic
of customer thinking was not mentioned. However, the respondents would have liked to get more
information on customer needs and their fulfilment, i.e., the services and products offered to them. The
difference seems to be more a matter of perspective than the topic itself. The respondents wanted also
more information on the roles and responsibilities and how to develop collaboration. The findings
suggest that the SimLabTM method supports building of common understanding, i.e., learning on
common business.

New framework for common understanding

Comparing the case data with Mäkelä’s framework of common understanding results in a new
framework. The context of networked service provisioning clearly affected the emphasis of different
elements as well as created new categories. Our case data gave supportive evidence on the importance
of the elements of common goals (common goals), common ways of operating (common operational
model), common knowledge (common service offering) and common ways of thinking (common
values and language). Common knowledge includes know ’how’ and know ’what’ of collaboration.
The case data also suggested new categories of common business model and understanding of
customer needs. The former category includes common understanding about the way a network is
responding to customer needs and the earnings logic behind it. We propose that the latter category is
named as understanding the external environment in general, even if customer needs are crucial in
business context. There are also other factors important in the external environment such as
competition, subcontractors, legal environment, and resource acquisition.
Already in the operationalization of Mäkelä’s model, we noticed that trust is more a result than an
element of common understanding. Also, the respondents to our questionnaire and interviewees
described knowledge and information requirements for collaboration as a need to know each other
better and to know each other’s competences. Based on our findings, the category should be named as
such instead of trust. Collaborators need to define the added value of combining their competences and
the common resources in order to increase trust. The basic requirement of knowing each other lies
underneath it all. Since this category seems to overlap with the category of common knowledge, we
suggest that category is redefined as the object of collaboration.
Based on our findings, we propose a new framework of the elements of common understanding
consisting of the following categories:
1. Common ways of thinking
2. Common environment
3. Common goals
4. Common business model

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 5. Common operational model
6. Common knowledge
7. Common competences and resources

CONCLUSIONS
The purpose of this study was to describe the process of inter-organizational learning, to develop
further the theoretical framework of common understanding and to explore the role of SimLabTM
process simulation method in building common understanding.
We presented a 10-phase process model of inter-organizational learning and applied it in the
simulation project that provided a common learning process for the two business units and their
customers. The case study gave evidence that the new process model consists of crucial elements in
co-learning about common business. Next, the process model of inter-organizational learning should
be further developed in an empirical study.
The theoretical framework of common understanding was applied in the new context of
collaborative service provisioning. We suggested a new framework of common understanding that
should be further developed in new cases in similar context. It would also be interesting to apply it in
new kinds of contexts and different types of networks. Future study could explore the process of
building common business models in collaboration between network partners. The case study suggests
also research on the role of common understanding as a means of coordination. It is a largely
unexplored topic with practical significance.
The process of building common understanding was explored from the viewpoint of
communication. Since there had not been much communication between the collaborators,
communication was observed mainly as part of the simulation project. We presumed that the increase
in communication would help in building common understanding and trust between the collaborators
and support learning on common business. Our data provided evidence that the simulation project
helped to achieve these objectives. Studying the general means for building common understanding
provides, however, an interesting topic for future research. We intend also to continue research on the
role of SimLabTM method.
This case study is part of a research program using a multiple-case design within a constructive action
research strategy. By analytic generalization, we believe new cases can be found in which the new
framework of common understanding is applicable. This study provides only a weak market test: the
original framework of common understanding was applied in the development project and the new
insights gained on the elements of common understanding were incorporated in the plan as they were
recognized. However, the decision was made by the researchers and the acceptance gained from the
organizations was not as strong as if the management itself applied a construction in their organization.
The quality of our action research was increased by the close connection between the practical and
theoretical problem solving, a structured change process designed in collaboration between the
researchers and people in the case organizations as well as the real-time observation of changes in the
phenomenon and collection of feedback from the participants. Also, the researchers were continuously
assessing and making conscious their role in the project. We conducted the interviews in a passive
mode. In the overall project, however, we listened to the management of the two case organizations
and gave suggestions on the objectives of the development project and concrete action plan. Finally,
the study resulted in new theoretical implications as well as a change toward a desired goal in the
client organization.
Lincoln and Guba (1985) provided four criteria of soundness that are also applicable to the evaluation
of this study. The credibility of this study was increased by active collaboration between the
management of the case organizations and the researchers as well as by the triangulation of methods,
informants, sources and researchers. The transferability criterion was met by describing the context,
case and processes in necessary detail. The dependability criterion referring to the changing social
world and the ability of the researcher to adapt is crucial in action research. Since the researchers were
active participants in a development project and followed changes continuously, adaptation to the
situations, setting and conditions was possible to a great extent. We also provided descriptions of the
process and changes in this paper. We aimed at increasing confirmability by presenting detailed

72
enough descriptions and explanations of operationalization, data collection and analysis as well as
linking data to the development of the framework of common understanding.

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Appendix 1. Interview topics

General list of discussion topics

1. Introduction
- how you were told about the interview?
- describe your roles and responsibilities in the organization
- who are your clients and when do you meet them?
- what are your products or services?

2. Planning process
- how are marketing plans created in your unit?
- what is the most important objective in marketing your products or services?
- what kind of information do you need for making the plans?
- in which phases of the planning process could the other unit be involved and how?
- what and whom do the plans affect?

3. Case
- describe a case of collaboration in which you meet a common client
- how do you prepare for the meeting
- what kind of information you need and from whom
- what happens during the meeting
- what happens afterwards
- who you should inform after the meeting
- how could you involve the other unit or present its products

4. Collaboration
- what kinds of opportunities are there to collaborate?
- what kind of collaboration would benefit you in your work?
- what kinds of things would support collaboration?
- what kind of things hinder you from cooperating with people in the other unit?

5. Communication
- how you were told about the birth of the e-business unit?
- what kind of information you have got on the other unit and its products or services?
- what kind of information you would have liked to get?
- through which channels do you get this information?

6. Customer perspective
- how do you get information on the needs of your clients?
- how do you use this information?
- how are customers needs taken into account today?
- what kinds of questions do the customers ask on the other units products or services?
- how do you respond to these questions?
- what kinds of customer information systems do you use in your work

7. Is there something else you would like to say or ask?

Additional topics for the management

- describe the organization and the processes of your unit?
- what kinds of objectives are there for the collaboration between the units?
- what kind of collaboration is there today?
- how should collaboration be developed in the future?
- what kinds of factors has to taken into account when developing collaboration between the units?

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Appendix 2. Questionnaire

The original questionnaire was in Finnish. This is a translation of the questionnaire.

Please respond to the following questions by selecting the suitable alternative according to your
opinion.
1. Which unit you come from?
I am a consultant, (the school book unit)
I come from (the school book unit)
I come from (the electronic learning environment unit)

2. How much information useful for your work did you get on the following topics today? Give
your evaluation on the scale 0-5, where 0=I do not know, 1=very little, 2=quite little,
3=reasonable amount, 4=quite a lot, 5=very much.
The other unit’s ways of thought (concepts and values)
The other unit’s ways of operating (tasks and practices)
The other unit’s products and services
The other unit’s business goals
The other unit’s people’s competences

Concepts and values behind collaboration between the units

Peoples roles in collaboration and the common ways of working
The object and content of collaboration
The goals of collaboration
Competences central in collaboration

3. How much did the discussion day help you to understand the following topics? Give your
evaluation on the scale 0-5, where 0=I do not know, 1=not at all, 2=little, 3=somewhat, 4=a lot,
5=very much.
The other unit’s ways of thought and language
The other unit’s ways of operating
The other unit’s people work
The other unit’s business goals

Concepts and values behind collaboration between the units

Common ways of operating
The contents of collaboration
The goals of collaboration

4. How would you evaluate another company’s actions and people? How well do the following
sentences correspond to your opinions? Give your evaluation on the scale 0-5, where 0=I do not
know, 1=not at all, 2=little, 3=to some extent, 4=quite well, 5=very well.
I can trust that they have the competences to accomplish their role.
I can rely on them to keep their promises.
I can rely on them to be genuinely interested in collaboration.
I can share knowledge with them openly.
The development day increased my trust in the other unit.

Give a short answer to the following questions based on your opinion.

5. Which of the discussion topics of the simulation day were important for collaboration?
6. On which topics would you have needed more information?
7. What things should be agreed on for collaboration to flow smoothly?
8. How did the simulation day affect your attitude towards collaboration? Do you now see more
or less opportunities for collaboration? Why?
9. How do you think trust could be built between the companies?

76
 PROCESS SIMULATION METHOD IN TRAINING CONTEXT – ANALYZING THE
BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES
ANNA KILPIÖ, JENNI LAINE, MARJA-LEENA MARKKULA

Helsinki University of Technology, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, SimLab

P.O. Box 9220, 02015 HUT
anna.kilpio@tkk.fi
jennilaine@tkk.fi
marja-leena.markkula@tkk.fi

ABSTRACT
This study analyzes the use of the process simulation method for training purposes. The similarities,
differences and challenges of the training simulations are discussed from theoretical and empirical
perspectives. The data consists of two training simulations that were organized for teachers in spring
2005. The main topic was the use of information and communication technologies in teaching. The
role of the facilitator in the simulations was essential. In order to evoke open discussion and enable the
distributed expertise during the simulation the facilitator needs to engage the motivation of all
participants.

INTRODUCTION
This paper discusses the objectives of organizing a training simulation and analyzes how the process
simulation method can be applied to training context. The distinctive feature of the training
simulations in contrast to process simulation is that the focus is not on particular internal processes of
specified organizations. The idea is to gather participants from different organizations to discuss
specified themes and to share experiences and ideas that are common to all participants. In that sense
the training simulations have a strong educational character that aim towards the creation of mutual
understanding and individual learning.

The main question in organizing training simulations is what are the prerequisites of process
simulation in a training context and to what extent is the simulation method applicable to educational
purposes. It is necessary to consider the challenges the new situation imposes and the possible
alterations the method needs. In addition the benefits and the usability of the method for training
purposes are discussed.

The purpose is to describe the whole process of planning and organizing a training simulation and to
analyze the intentions and practices that differ from a traditional process simulation. To get an
understanding of the implications of a training simulation, the theoretical foundations of the process
simulation method are reviewed and their applicability in the new context are evaluated. Also new
theoretical principles are deliberated in order to build a foundation for training simulations. The
theoretical foundation builds on the development of expertise and ideas of distributed expertise and
constructivist learning. The approach to the research interests and analysis is to a large degree based on
practical experience. This article is therefore in many respects written from pragmatic perspectives.

PROCESS SIMULATION METHOD

Theoretical foundation of process simulation

A process simulation is a participative, developmental training method focusing on an organization’s
selected processes. The purpose is to evoke a joint sphere of knowledge sharing and creation, with the
capacity to support the discussion of the participants. In the first phase the process to be simulated is
analyzed and modeled with the help of key actor interviews and discussions. As a result the model is
visualized as a process map. (Smeds et al., 2001.) Process models visualize the activities,
responsibilities and interdependencies of the roles and actors (Evokari and Smeds, 2003, 14). During

77
the simulation day the case projects are examined and talked through step by step. The simulation
itself is a semi-directed group discussion led by a facilitator. (Smeds et al., 2001.)

The facilitator is a neutral actor who knows the process and the case project thoroughly so that she is
able to lead and follow the discussion. The facilitator’s task is to promote a relaxed atmosphere that
enables a smooth discussion. The facilitator should not highlight her own ideas and thoughts but
pursue to guide the participants and encourage them to take part in the discussion. (Smeds et al., 2001.)
The facilitator’s role and main activities include bringing out critical points, introducing new
discussion topics, motivating the participants to discussion, inspiring the participants by asking them
focused questions and wrapping up the main themes (Evokari & Smeds, 2003, 18). A facilitator should
be able to enhance the existence of tacit knowledge and build a spiral of learning between tacit and
explicit knowledge. This is challenging because tacit knowledge is highly personal and hard to
formalize and conceptualize. (Forssén & Haho, 2003.)

All employees of the organization who are engaged in the process should participate in the simulation.
The dynamics of the model is created by the interactive discussion of the participants during the
simulation. (Evokari & Smeds, 2003, 14.) The discussion helps the participants to share their
experiences and ideas and to express their open questions and problems (Smeds, 2001). Participants
achieve a common understanding that enables them to create new ideas in their daily work (Smeds &
Haho, 1995). Participants share their tacit knowledge and work experiences, they then conceptualize
these into explicit form and together combine this knowledge in new ways (Smeds et al., 2001).

As a result of the simulation new ideas emerge concerning the roles, responsibilities and
interconnections between people, activities and tasks. It is possible to gain a good overview and
holistic understanding of the process. Simulations can also improve the organization’s culture and
support creativity and initiatives. (Smeds & Haho, 1995; Haho, 1998.) As outcome of human
interaction and active discussion, shared understanding is created and the tacit knowledge of the
process is externalized (Smeds, 1998). The process simulation is based on the ideas of organizational
learning theories and knowledge creation (e.g. Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995; Wenger, 1999).

Simulation in a training context

The simulation models can be either enterprise specific or generic: enterprise specific models are
tailored to support the development and testing of a specific system or a certain company whereas
generic simulation models focus on fictive processes and behavior. Generic simulation models are
often used for educational purposes, to create awareness and understanding about more general
processes. (Smeds, 1998.)

According to Ruohomäki (1995) learning and education is the most common application area of
simulations. For example technological and organizational changes raise considerable amounts of
learning requirements in working life. Simulations can be used for educational purposes as a training
method that enables the distribution of knowledge among the participants and the transfer of skills and
knowledge from simulation context to real life situations and work activities. In simulation the
participants are active learners instead of being passive recipients of information. The method is very
dynamic – the focus is on changeable processes that demand flexibility in thinking. Participants are
engaged in making decisions, articulating positions and seeing consequences and results. They have to
analyze, construct and modify information. The learning is promoted by concrete activity: doing and
active participation is as important as watching and listening to the discussion.

Evokari and Smeds (2003, 13–15) used the process simulation method in order to transfer the lessons
learnt from one action research case to other organizations and processes. This knowledge transfer
aspect of process simulation emphasizes learning as a main objective of the simulation. Evokari and
Smeds categorize the process simulation by considering the objectives of the simulation as twofold: if
the objective is process development, then the knowledge sharing and creation help the process

78
innovation to realize. On the other hand when process learning is the main purpose, then the
knowledge sharing and transfer encourage joint process understanding.

In a traditional process simulation the participants are typically employees involved in a common
process. They bring into the simulation their own authentic process knowledge concerning their
actions in concrete cases. When all participants are actors in the same process it is possible to share the
process knowledge and create common understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in the process.
(Smeds et al., 2001.) In contrast to developmental simulations participants in pure learning or training
simulations are not usually actors in the specific process and do not possess the experience from the
case. They participate in the simulation from their own viewpoints to learn something new and useful
to be transferred to their own work processes. (Evokari & Smeds, 2003, 15.) The distinction between
the developmental process simulation and the learning simulation reflects the categorization and
principles of enterprise specific models and generic simulation models that were introduced above (see
Smeds, 1998).

The difference between learning simulations and the training simulations, that are examined in this
paper, is that in learning simulation the cases are fictional whereas in training simulations the cases
were based on real experiences of one or two case owners who took part in the simulations. Other
participants were not familiar with the case.

DISTRIBUTED EXPERTISE
The concept of distributed expertise refers to a process where a group of people share resources that
are related to knowledge, plans and objectives in order to achieve common goals. It is assumed that by
sharing their expertise and experiences and by committing to the mutual efforts and goals group
members can solve more complex and challenging problems and improve their intellectual
performance better than they individually could do. (Hakkarainen et al., 2000, 143–146.)

The idea of shared expertise is close to the concept of distributed cognition that assumes that
knowledge is socially constructed through collaboration and challenges brought about by differences
in persons’ perspectives. People appear to think in collaboration with others and with the help of
culturally provided tools in order to achieve shared objectives. (Salomon, 1993.)

Experts seldom exist in isolation. Expertise and professional knowledge often develop in expert
networks or communities in an atmosphere of cooperative creativity. (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1993.)
Networking with other experts in the field promotes thinking processes and activity (Hakkarainen et
al., 2000, 146). Becoming acquainted with different viewpoints and sharing competencies supplement
group members’ knowledge and capabilities. Especially in the information society the distributed
expertise seems to be a useful way to dispose of problems in working life. (Lehtinen & Palonen, 1997;
Eteläpelto & Tynjälä, 1999, 9–12.)

Learning takes place to a great extent through collaboration and interaction in networks. A group that
consists of both experts and novices can realize its plans and goals but also guide and support the
novices and help them to develop their knowledge and skills. Qualitatively divergent knowledge and
know-how of experts and novices help the group regulate its actions effectively and to discover and
correct the mistakes it has made. (Hakkarainen et al., 2000, 146–148.) Sharing of expertise is required
especially when solving problems that are too complex for single individuals. Distributed expertise is
particularly utilized in demanding working life situations. The working environment changes
continuously, and the objectives and problems become increasingly challenging, making the existing
knowledge and skills obsolete. Expertise is developing into a capability of networks and organizations
in solving new and variable problems together. This imposes enormous requirements and expectations
on individuals. Employees need to adapt to continuous changes and especially to technological
changes. (Launis & Engeström, 1999, 64–66.)

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Bereiter and Scardamalia (1993, xii) regard expertise in terms of process; as something people do
rather than as something they have. Expertise is not a stable character or state of a single person but it
requires continuous self reflection and learning in various situations (Tynjälä, 1999, 161). Reflectivity
means subjective understanding and evaluation of learning in relation to previous knowledge. The
learner needs to be active and responsible for the learning process and to interpret and understand the
intentions and motives of her activity. (Rauste-von Wright & von Wright, 2000.) Expertise can also be
seen as a process of problem solving and learning. Problem solving, or integration of formal
knowledge and practical problems, has an essential role in the process of professional development.
(Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1993.) All the members can affect the process of professional development
by expressing their own opinions and clarifying their viewpoints. Distributed expertise is above all a
learning process. Group members need to consider their own conceptions, ideas and knowledge as
outsiders in order to reflect them to the objectives of the whole group. (Eteläpelto & Tynjälä, 1999,
11–12.)

CONSTRUCTIVIST LEARNING
According to constructivist learning theory learning is a process of active knowledge construction.
Learners interpret and construct new knowledge on the basis of their previous knowledge and
experiences. New knowledge is not transferred to a learner’s mind automatically. Neither does the
learner receive the knowledge passively, but by analyzing and evaluating the perceptions, the learner
continuously constructs the existing world view and reality. Learning is always a product of activity
and social interaction. It is important for the learners to create personal and meaningful questions and
interpretations of new situations and knowledge. (Rauste-von Wright & von Wright, 2000; Tynjälä,
1999.)

It is important to consider the previous knowledge and conceptions of the learner. People experience
and undergo the same events and processes varyingly, thus the knowledge and conceptions may be
interpreted and constructed very differently. Training should promote personal interpretations and
meanings and enable the discussion despite these differences. The focus is on social interaction that is
essential for learning and knowledge construction. Constructivist learning requires that the learning
environment supports knowledge sharing, discussion, negotiation, argumentation and presentation of
different viewpoints. (Tynjälä, 1999.) It is possible to develop professional thinking and expertise by
bringing practicing professionals into contact with raw knowledge and fresh ideas. This can happen in
terms of general updating, being exposed to critical thinking and self-evaluation or as the
dissemination of a particular innovation. (Eraut, 1994, 25.)

SITUATED LEARNING
According to Lave and Wenger (1991) learning is not the reception of factual knowledge or
information but a process of participation in communities of practice. They locate learning in
collaboration, not in the heads of individuals. All knowledge and meanings are culturally created and
they are transformed through social interaction. Human minds develop in social situations. This
situated nature of learning, human understanding and communication is the basis for the situated
learning approach that focuses on the relationship between learning and the social situations in which
learning occurs. Learning and knowledge have a clear linkage with the situation or context where
learning takes place. (Lave & Wenger, 1991; see also Kirshner & Whitson, 1997.) Context is regarded
as a social or cultural environment and social interaction is the main component of the learning
process. Also expertise and the development of knowledge is often regarded as contextual (Eteläpelto
& Tynjälä, 1999, 9).

Lave and Wenger use a concept of legitimate peripheral participation. This means that newcomers or
novices adopt the knowledge and skills needed in the community by participating in the actual practice
of an expert but only with limited responsibility. Experts support the learners and help them to reflect
their activity and thinking. The idea of experts and novices is very close to the model of master –
apprentice based learning and also Vygotsky’s concept of the zone of proximal development. Learning
occurs through observing, doing, problem solving, active thinking and guided participation. Learning
80
involves participation that is in the first stage legitimately peripheral, increasing gradually in
engagement and complexity. (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Hanks, 1991; Tynjälä, 1999.)

Becoming a full member of a community of practice requires access to ongoing activity, information
and resources. Participants need to engage with the technologies of everyday practice and to
participate in the social relations of the community. Engagement with technology is significant
because the artifacts used within a cultural practice carry a substantial portion of that practice’s
heritage. Understanding the technology is more than learning to use the technical tool. (Lave &
Wenger, 1991, 100–102.)

DATA
The data consists of two training simulations that were aimed at primary and secondary school
teachers and principals in schools of Espoo, Finland. The initial purpose was to organize the training
simulations in early fall 2004. At that time the administrative personnel in Espoo was not committed
enough to the planning of the simulations and motivating the teachers and principals to participate in
the events. Only a few teachers enrolled and therefore the simulations were postponed. The second
plan was to have the simulations in the turn of the year 2004–2005. The beginning of the year is busy
and toilsome for teachers and it turned out that we had to postpone the simulations again. Finally the
training simulations were conducted in April 2005 when both the teachers and the city of Espoo were
committed and motivated to take part.

The main theme of the training simulations was the utilization of Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) in teaching processes and school practices. The focus was on different aspects of
teaching and learning with ICT. The purpose was to give the teachers ideas, models and concrete
examples on how they can use ICT in teaching. All the teachers had a possibility to use a specific
virtual learning environment in their work but its implementation was still at initial stage in some
schools. Therefore the group of teachers that participated in the simulations was very heterogeneous in
terms of their backgrounds, IT related skills and experiences as well as their attitudes towards ICT.

The cases were selected together with the administrative personnel in Espoo who were familiar with
the use of ICT in schools and who were able to recognize the suitable schools and teachers. They also
made some suggestions concerning the possible discussion topics that might interest many teachers. In
order to map the basic knowledge of each case the researchers needed to interview the key actors, i.e.
in these three cases that meant interviewing one or two teachers from every case. The amount of
interviews was much less than it is when organizing a traditional process simulation when generally
over half of the participants have been interviewed.

The three cases illustrated different purposes and ways of using ICT in teaching. In the first simulation
we had two different cases: the case from an elementary school described how ICT and a virtual
learning environment had been used as project tools for students who planned a school excursion and
the secondary school case considered teachers’ collaboration, subject integration and the use of ICT in
relation to the whole school community. Both of these cases had been visualized as process maps, as a
result of the interviews. The process maps described different phases of the case and showed the
people involved in each phase.

The second training simulation was a facilitated theme discussion on pre-engineered themes and
topics. This simulation was organized for teachers in special education and those who were interested
in the topics of individualization and differentiation of teaching. Altogether 26 teachers and principals,
12 in the first and 17 in the second, participated in the training simulations and 3 teachers took part in
both events. In both simulations there were two facilitators, the first and the third writer of this article,
who planned the simulations together and shared the responsibility of leading the discussion.

When organizing a training simulation the focus group of teachers is very challenging because of their
professionalism in education. Teachers can be quite critical of different training methods and
81
facilitators’ ways of guiding the discussion. This poses an additional challenge in planning the training
simulations.

Both training simulations were videotaped in order to get rich information about the discussion and to
analyze the role of the facilitators during the discussion. After the simulation all the participants filled
in a short questionnaire that enquired their feelings of the training simulation and their attitudes
towards the use of ICT in teaching.

RESULTS
There are some differences in organizing a traditional process simulation and a training simulation.
The training simulations were prepared and arranged with close cooperation with the ICT personnel
from the city of Espoo. Because the research team was not familiar with the schools and teachers,
Espoo was responsible for the marketing of the simulations. The simulations were open for all teachers
in the city unlike in the process simulations where the group of participants is usually closed. The
participation was relying solely on teachers’ motivation and interest and no one was obliged to attend.
Both experts and inexperienced teachers were needed in order to provide an open flow of discussion
with critical and optimistic comments. Cooperation between Espoo and the research team was also
necessary when choosing the cases, planning the discussion themes and organizing the practical
arrangements.

The main challenge in organizing training simulations is in their unforeseeable nature. To minimize
the risks the cases need to be chosen purposefully. The themes should be current and commonly
interesting and they should enable a conversion from the private and detailed to a public and
generalized level. For example in the first phase the discussion focused on the particular case but later
the discussion was brought to higher and generalized level by exchanging the experiences between
schools and teachers. Even though the discussion built on the particular cases the ideas were
transferable to the work communities of all participants. The purpose was to indirectly improve the
organizational learning of all the schools involved.

The purpose was not to achieve a comprehensive overview of the whole process and the
interconnections between different actors in particular organization but to introduce a case that
represents the basic challenges that teachers face when implementing ICT. This was possible by
interviewing only the key actors of the case and giving an opportunity to a larger amount of teachers
from other schools to participate in the simulations. Therefore the amount of interviews was much less
than in organizing a process simulation. Yet the workload was not less than it is when planning a
process simulations – the facilitators needed to acquaint themself with the cases accurately in order to
follow the discussion and highlight the meaningful topics.

The operation of the facilitators is relevant already in the planning phase of the case. The training
simulation facilitation requires additional flexibility regarding the schedule and the choice of
discussion themes. As in these training simulation cases, only a few participants were actively
involved in the case, the manuscript for the discussion had to be planned at a realistic level, so that the
simulation could function as a learning environment for all the participants.

Hearing each others experiences from authentic working life situations helped the participants to
understand the work processes and objectives better. According to the participants there was a
considerable need for discussion and there could have been even more time for questions, comments
and exchange of ideas. It is therefore necessary to keep the number of participants low in order to
leave room for open discussion.

Learning takes place between the individual and the group. The essential objective in developing
expertise is not the collection of formal information but the socialization into professional culture.
Learners need to participate actively in authentic work practices and to familiarize themselves with the
thinking and action of experts. (Tynjälä, 1999, 168.)
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To be successful the simulations need to involve different kinds of teachers, both experts and
beginners, as the theory of distributed expertise proposes. Communicating with experts gave the
novices new insight into the themes discussed. Developing and producing new knowledge or
understanding is a collaborative process. In that sense expertise is always a synthesis of knowledge and
learning of several people. Even though the members of the group may have divergent knowledge the
group should be able to value the contribution of all the members equally and to make use of all the
knowledge. During the simulations experienced teachers shared their experiences, highlighted the best
practices and helped the novices to use their knowledge effectively. Respectively the skilled teachers
had a lot to learn from the novices and their ways to question and make critical observations.

The benefit of gathering several people with different backgrounds can also be seen as a considerable
challenge. Motivating both the beginners and the experts to participate and to take part in the
discussion is demanding. These conditions impose challenges especially on the role of the facilitator.
In process simulation the role of the facilitator is to lead the group, in a way that internal restraints and
opposition are countered and the concentration may be focused on the realization of the groups’ or
company’s activities, toward goal setting and goal achievement through the communications process
(e.g. Forssén & Haho, 2003). Respectively in a training simulation, there was no distinct internal
environment. The group was formed of numerous individuals, and the role of the facilitators was to
lead the gathering into a common context and understanding. The work experiences, IT skills and
other background information of the participants transpired only during the simulation.

The facilitators were not familiar with the majority of the participants or their backgrounds, because
the extensive interview sessions preceding a case were not carried out. The facilitators relied on
limited information concerning the whole and were prepared for encountering possible disturbance and
surprises. The facilitators had to be prepared to face challenging opinions, bad attitudes, lack of
motivation and overall unexpected turning points along the simulation.

DISCUSSION
The simulation method can be utilized in training context in order to evoke open discussion. It is also
useful in sharing experiences, creating shared understanding of the process and generating models for
improved work practices. The purpose of the training simulations was to give meaningful experiences
and new insights to teachers’ everyday work. Learning was not considered as a capability to replicate
new knowledge and skills but as a process of understanding and interpreting new situations from
different viewpoints. This required that teachers challenged their conceptions and assumptions,
developed their ways of thinking and questioned their actions. The critical reflection of ones’ own
thinking is one of the main ideas in constructivist learning (cf. Tynjälä, 1999, 166–167).

The training simulations were based on real life cases of ICT utilization. Therefore teachers could
better anchor the new ideas to their existing knowledge and to apply the new skills and ideas in
practice. Simulation served as a learning environment that enabled knowledge sharing and distribution
of practices related to expertise and professional development. The problem of knowledge transfer
from simulation to working life situations was recognized but the transferability of knowledge and
practices was improved by keeping the discussion on real cases, operations and problems. In addition
the key persons of each case played an active role during the simulations so that they could share their
experiences and other participants could ask them questions relevant to their own work.

A significant challenge for the facilitators was to find the means to engage the motivation and attention
of all the participants and to focus the discussion on commonly interesting topics. In this case,
activating all the participants was challenging because of their different experiences, needs and basis
for discussion. A process simulation generally assumes previous involvement and knowledge of the
common process within the target group, i.e. company. Participants involved in the training simulation
come with little initial knowledge and are there for the sole purpose of observing and learning. Some
have been actively involved in the case and are eager to share and develop their ideas further. Overall
83
the group invited to a training simulation is usually more heterogeneous in terms of their backgrounds,
experiences and interests.

The technological development and the implementation of ICT in schools evoke huge changes in
teachers’ work processes. Understanding all the changes and requirements is challenging for single
teachers. The common discussion helps to recognize the main topics and challenges when
implementing ICT. Participants were regarded as active learners who process new information from
their own viewpoints and build new insights together with others. Discussion ran on a pragmatic level
so that the new ideas and models of use were easily applicable to diverse work situations.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The research reported in this article has been conducted in the Helmi research project at the Enterprise
Simulation Laboratory SimLab, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Helsinki
University of Technology. The authors are grateful for the creative research effort of the whole Helmi
research team, which has made this paper possible. The research is financially supported by the
following organizations, which is gratefully acknowledged: National Technology Agency Finland
Tekes, Academy of Finland, City of Espoo and eWSOY.

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 LEARNING FROM THE END CUSTOMER IN A PROCESS DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
KATJA KOSKELAINEN, MARIKA VÄNTTINEN, MIIA JAATINEN, PÄIVI HAHO &
PÄIVI IIVONEN

Helsinki University of Technology, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, SimLab

P.O. Box 9220, 02015 TKK
katja.koskelainen@tkk.fi , marika.vanttinen@tkk.fi, miia.jaatinen@tkk.fi, paivi.haho@tkk.fi &
paivi.iivonen@tkk.fi

ABSTRACT
This paper illustrates organizational learning process in a process development project. It focuses on
how the presence of the end customer in a process development project promotes organizational
learning. The theoretical framework created in this study develops further the concept of tacit
knowledge. The new framework helps to expound the contribution of the presence of end customer for
organizational learning.

INTRODUCTION
As a consequence of rapid technological development and internationalization, operational
environment of organizations is changing all the time. Surviving in a turbulent environment requires
continuous anticipation, proactive change, adjustment and innovativeness, i.e. learning. Organizational
learning has become a hot topic in management literature.
According to Hannus (1994), organizational processes are triggered by the needs of the end
customer and end when those needs are satisfied. However, previous research on organizational
learning rarely focuses on interaction between an organization and its end customer as a source of
learning.
Organization and business process development can be managed in traditional way by using
external experts or alternatively in a participative way i.e., together with employees (Forssen & Haho
2001, 233). The process simulation method is an interactive, social method for the latter way of
business process development. It supports the conversion of the participants’ tacit knowledge into
shared explicit knowledge which enables organizational learning (Haho & Smeds 1997, Smeds &
Alvesalo 2003).
Organizational learning in process development is the approach of our study. The case study
described in this paper is carried out through process simulation method. The paper concentrates on
what is the contribution of including the end customer in a process development project from point of
view of organizational learning. We aim to illustrate, how the presence of the end customer in the
process development project helped different branches and levels of organization to achieve holistic
understanding of the customer needs and influenced their attitudes and way of thinking i.e. promoted
organizational learning.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUD
Organizational learning is a hot topic in management literature, numerous papers have been written
about it. In this chapter we shortly introduce Senge’s system thinking, Argyris’ & Schön’s single- and
double-loop learning and Nonaka’s & Takeuchi’s tacit and explicit knowledge and organizational
knowledge creation. In the end we point out the inaccuracy of some terms used by Nonaka and
Takeuchi.

Systems thinking, maps and models

According to Senge 1990, in an organization there exist five main principles at the same time:
systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building shared vision and team learning. Systems
thinking is the cornerstone, that underlies all of the rest four. “Systems thinking is a conceptual
framework, a body of knowledge and tools… …to make the full patterns clearer and to help us see
how to change them effectively (Senge 1990,7).” By systems thinking we can learn to perceive
recurrent structures behind action and decisions. If we don’t see those structures, we cannot change

86
events they cause. It’s not reasonable to focus on symptoms, if one does not interfere with the
underlying causes. Thus perceiving of structures and affecting them is important. (Senge 1990, 14-15)
Argyris’ and Schön’s term “map” is very close to systems thinking. ”Maps, as we have pointed out,
are organized pictures which show how the features of the system have been placed in some sort of
pattern which illuminates the interdependence among the parts of the system.” (Argyris & Schön 1978,
160) They classify maps into three categories. ”The first is a map of where the organization is; the
second is a map of where it wishes to go; the third is a map of how to get from here to there” (Argyris
& Schön 1978, 160)

Organizational learning: single-loop and double-loop

According to Argyris and Schön (1978, 19) ”Organizational learning occurs when individuals,
acting from their images and maps, detect and match or mismatch of outcome to expectation which
confirms or disconfirms organizational theory in use.” “Organizational learning consists of
restructuring organizational theory of action (Argyris & Schön 1978, 29).”
Argyris and Schön introduce three types of organizational learning: single-loop, double-loop and
deutero learning. In this paper we consider the first two of them. Single-loop learning is a result of
comparing results of action to the strategies of organization. (Argyris & Schön 1978, 18-19) ”In
organizational single-loop learning, the criterion for success is effectiveness. Individuals respond to
error by modifying strategies and assumptions within constant organizational norms.”( Argyris &
Schön 1978, 29) In double-loop learning in addition to results of action, norms and values behind it
are evalued. (Argyris & Schön 1978, 22) ”In double-loop learning, response to detected error takes the
form of joint inquiry into organizational norms themselves, so as to resolve their inconsistency and
make the new norms more effectively realizable.” (Argyris & Schön 1978, 29)

Tacit and explicit knowledge and organizational knowledge creation process

According to Nonaka and Takeuchi there exist two kind of knowledge: tacit and explicit. Explicit
knowledge is something that “can be expressed in words and numbers, and easily communicated and
shared”. “Tacit knowledge is highly personal and hard to formalize, making it difficult to communicate
or to share with others.” (Nonaka & Takeuchi 1995, 8)
“Tacit knowledge is deeply rooted in an individual’s action and experience, as well as in the ideals,
values , or emotions he or she embraces” (Nonaka & Takeuchi 1995, 8)”
Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995, 8) divide tacit knowledge into two dimensions. The first can be called
know-how and the second one is cognitive dimension, which “consists of schemata, mental models,
beliefs, and perceptions so ingrained that we take them for granted”. Both of these dimensions of tacit
knowledge are very difficult to express in words.
According to Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995, 62), organizational knowledge is created through the
interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge. This dynamic process contains four different modes
of knowledge conversion: socialization (from individual tacit knowledge to group tacit knowledge),
externalization (from tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge), combination (from separate explicit
knowledge to systemic explicit knowledge), and internalization (from explicit knowledge to tacit
knowledge). (see Figure 1).

To tacit To explicit
knowledge knowledge
From tacit Socialization Externalization
knowledge
From Internalization Combination
explicit
knowledge
Figure 1: Four modes of knowledge conversion (Nonaka & Takeuchi 1995, 62)

87
Inaccuracy of terms “tacit knowledge” and “externalization”
According to Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995, 8), tacit knowledge “is difficult to communicate or to
share with others”. They used a famous baseball player as an example: When asked, why he was so
successful in rising to the occasion and hitting so many game-winning runs in tight moments, he used
figurative language and body movement, but was not able to explain by words what he meant. Finally
he simply said, “You have to feel it”. (Nonaka & Takeuchi 1995, 9).
Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995, 64) have their theory of organizational knowledge creation, in which
they explain, how tacit knowledge is possible to articulate into explicit through a process they call
“externalization”. Externalization is a process of articulating tacit knowledge into such explicit
knowledge as concepts, diagrams, metaphors, analogies and models.
So, on the one hand, Nonaka and Takeuchi are talking about a process, how to articulate tacit
knowledge into explicit, but on the other hand –according to their description- tacit knowledge is very
difficult, in many cases impossible to communicate with others. We argue, that Nonaka’s and
Takeuchi’s definition for externalization is inconsistent whit their definition for tacit knowledge.
However, there is no deny, that there exists some kind of knowledge, which is possible to convert from
implicit to explicit by creating metaphors, diagrams and models. Here we find a demand for more
accurate definition of terms.

METHOD AND DATA ANALYSIS

Research method
The research approach selected for this study is case-based action research. Action research is a
combination of research and consultancy that includes intervention into the studied processes
(Gummesson 2000, 17). Case study investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-time
context (Yin 1989, 23). We observed the development of a business network as part of a process
simulation project which followed the SimLab business process simulation method (see Figure 2).
Tacit and experiential knowledge can be shared by participative SimLab business process simulation
and SimLab workshop. This method has been developed by SimLab researchers and it provides
organizations an interactive learning environment. The method consist of the process of setting
objectives, process modeling, interviews, preparation of the simulation day, simulation, data analysis
and the end report. (Smeds 1994, 1997; Haho & Smeds 1997; Smeds, Haho & Alvesalo 2003; Forssen
& Haho 2001; Haho 2002).
The data collection and analysis methods in this case were qualitative, including semi-structured
interviews, observation of group discussions and group work sessions during the simulation day and
analysis of transcribed interviews and discussions.
Approx. 3 months

Preparing
SimLab™ SimLab™ Analysis of
Kick Off Process - Interviews Debriefing
Process Process the Results
Modeling
Simulation Simulation

▪ Objectives ▪ Process Model ▪ Detailed ▪ Process Model ▪ Shared View ▪ Written ▪ Final Report
▪ Schedule (as-is or to-be) Process Model Validation ▪ Development Final Report ▪ Other
▪ Resources ▪ Summary of ▪ Simulation Day Issues Deliverables
▪ Cases the Interviews Objectives ▪ Immediate
Implementation

Figure 2. The Simulation Method

Data analysis
The first round of interviews and follow-up interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed and
carefully analyzed by the researchers. The entire simulation day was facilitated and observed by the
researchers. The simulation held in the morning and the following group work sessions were also
digitally recorded, as well as videotaped and all the output (e.g. transparencies produced by the groups,
idea notes collected during the day and questionnaires filled in by the participants right after the
88
simulation day) of the simulation day were gathered and analyzed afterwards. The researchers
participated as observers and made notes in the internal meeting of the case organization which was
held in connection with the debriefing of the end report.

CASE ORGANIZATION AND SIMULATION CASE

Case organization
The subject of this study is a foundation, owning a group of limited-liability companies. In this
paper the foundation is referred to as case organization. The case organization operates in construction
industry, estate management and urban planning. It employs around 30 people.
The case organization participated in two process simulation project cases in SimLab during the
year 2004. These cases were carried out as a part of a 3-year Co-create project (Co-Creation of
networked business models; 2003-2006) financed by the National Technology Agency of Finland
(TEKES). Two more simulations are to be held during the Co-create project. The findings of the
second simulation project are presented in this paper.
Objectives of the case organization in the Co-Create –project are the modeling, development and
harmonization of customer interface processes originating from customer needs. Another objective of
the foundation is the assimilation of customer service and customership thinking within the foundation
and among its’ partnership networks.

Simulation case
In the selected simulation case the residential form is co-operative building society. The apartment
building is owned by the case organization and is situated in a suburb. The selected case-study times
on the transition phase -from construction phase into residential time- and the first year of residence. In
this case-study we observe the contribution of the customers from two different perspectives. On the
one hand how the customers included in the simulation case influenced on learning on different
branches of the case organization and on the other hand on the communication between different
hierarchic levels of the organization.
The case-study follows the simulation method pictured in figure 2 and specified in figure 3. The
objectives were set and the scope of the study was focused in a meeting where four researchers of
SimLab and four representatives of the case organization were present. The plan was concretized into a
brochure which was distributed to the personnel of the case organization, to clients and
partnerorganizations. Four tentative process maps – a general model of the case in its transition phase
and three sub-processes (handling of resident changes, repairs under warrenty and disturbance
situations) – were created together with the client and the researchers defined them with the data
received from interviews. Three of these process maps were discussed during the simulation day, the
sub-process concerning disturbance situations was omitted. The actual needs stated by customers were
best represented in the three selected processes.
Approx. 3 months

Preparing
SimLab™ SimLab™ Analysis of
Kick Off Process - Interviews Debriefing
Process Process the Results
Modeling
Simulation Simulation

▪ Objectives ▪ Process ▪ Interviews ▪ Specifying ▪ Simulation Day ▪ Written ▪ Debriefing

Sept. 2004 Modeling Oct.-Nov. 2004 the Objectives Dec. 2004 Final Report Jan. 2005
▪ Kick Off for Session ▪ Drafting the Nov. 2004 ▪ Shared View ▪ Implementa-
the personnel Oct. 2004 Process Model ▪ Specifying the ▪ Development tion of the
Oct. 2004 Process Model Ideas Development
Nov. 2004 Ideas 2005 →

Figure 3. The timetable and steps of the conducted case

The researchers interviewed people from different branches of the case organization, a sample of
end customers (inhabitants and the director of the daycare centre) and representatives of partner
companies (constructor and property maintenance). The researchers conducted altogether 19
89
interviews (nine representatives of the pilot company, seven end customers, three representatives of
partner companies). Based on all collected data, the researchers prepared the simulation day and
specified the tentative process maps. The selected processes include aspects of customers’ point of
view, collaboration and information flows.
After the simulation day, the researchers wrote an end report based on all collected and analyzed
data and presented the report to the case organization’s personnel in a separate debriefing session. An
internal meeting of the case organization was held in connection with the debriefing session and the
researchers had the possibility to attend the meeting as observers. In the meeting the personnel went
through the development tables introduced in the end report and discussed the relevance of the
development ideas and decided the implementation schedules and responsible parties of each accepted
development idea.(See Smeds, Koskelainen, Vänttinen, Iivonen, Jaatinen 2005)
To verify our assumptions that the inclusion of the end customer to the process development created
totally new understanding on customer needs, we conducted four follow-up interviews in the case
organization. The follow-up interviewees were selected from different branches of the organization to
evoke a general view of the learning process of the case organization. The follow-up interviews were
conducted three months after the debriefing session.

EMPIRICAL RESULTS
The presence of the actual customers in the simulation day was considered highly important.
Compared with the previous simulation case of the case organization in which there were no actual
customers present, the second simulation case was considered much more rewarding. In the first case
the role of the customers was played by two SimLab researchers. There is considered to be a distinct
difference between an acted role and the participation of an actual customer. When the customer needs
are thought over in advanced and are filtered by the researchers the information received is not
authentic.(Smeds et al. 2005) On the other hand the presence of the actual customers in a simulation
day may prohibit the personnel from expressing their ideas and criticism openly.
The sharing of knowledge in a simulation session is a bidirectional process. On the one hand the
case organization is able to find out the genuine customer needs when the actual customer is present.
On the other hand the customers present in the simulation session are able to get a clearer picture of
the complex processes behind the services received by customers. This sharing of knowledge promotes
the understanding of both sides of the service chain and improves common understanding.
Only about half of the case organizations personnel are in contact with the customers in their daily
work. The simulation day presented a possibility for those individuals who are not usually in direct
contact with the customers to get a good view of customers’ genuine experiences and opinions. The
increase of their knowledge on customer needs was profound and this increased knowledge has
affected especially the attitude of the management level people.
The management level learned during the simulation day what the customers desire and this has
helped the management level to commit to new development ideas. Ideas which have been presented
by the operative level prior to the simulation day and were brought out again after the simulation day,
received quite a different attitude from the management level. The management level was far more
open to the ideas after the simulation day than prior to it. Various specific development ideas were
presented to the case organization in the case end report written by the researchers. The end report was
delivered in a separate debriefing session held for the personnel of the case company. The
development ideas were presented in table form and discussed one by one. Each idea was either
approved or rejected after it was discussed openly. Person or persons responsible for implementing the
idea was selected and a timetable was set for implementing the approved and chosen development
ideas.
The follow-up interviewees considered the division of responsibilities in the internal meeting held in
connection with the debriefing session an important additional step in actually improving and
channeling their service in a more customer friendly manner. Few development ideas were
implemented, but with some modifications. It was considered more important that the discussion has
opened and the issues concerning customer satisfaction have been brought forward.

90
DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
Categorization of tacit knowledge and its communication into explicit
We argue, that tacit knowledge, as it is defined by Nonaka and Takeuchi, is very difficult, even
impossible to articulate into explicit. Though, some kind of knowledge is definitely turned from
implicit to explicit by creating metaphors, diagrams and models. Thus we want to introduce our
division of tacit knowledge into light and deep tacit knowledge.
Firstly, there is knowledge which is tacit, but it is possible with moderate effort to turn into such
explicit knowledge as process maps, diagrams and pictures. This kind of knowledge we call “light tacit
knowledge” and externalization of it we call “modeling” in this paper. Modeling is a tool of sketching
“the big picture”, i.e. seeing the concept and framework, and thus modeling carries out Senge’s fifth
discipline, systems thinking. Outcome of modeling is a map, which according to Argyris’ & Schön’s
(1978, 160) can describe 1) where organization is, 2) where it wishes to go or 3)how to get from here
to there.
Secondly, there is knowledge which is a complex net of experiences, knowledge, know-how, values
and beliefs, which have an effect on action, but is very difficult to turn into explicit. That amounts to
Nonaka’s and Takeuchi’s definition of tacit knowledge. Our term for it is “deep tacit knowledge”. We
are not convinced, if it is even possible to externalize deep tacit knowledge. Any way, according to
Argyris & Schön (1978) in double loop learning there is a question of norms behind the action, but
also of tacit knowledge. In our opinion by double loop learning it is possible to externalize at least
some aspects of deep tacit knowledge.

Facilitating deep and light tacit knowledge by a process simulation method

SimLab™ business process simulation method proceeds by pre-modeling, interviews and modeling
and climaxes with a process simulation workshop, as described in chapter Method and data analysis.
We view SimLab™ business process simulation method as a useful tool for facilitating both light and
deep tacit knowledge in an organization. First, by pre-modeling session and interviews, light tacit
knowledge is articulated into a process map. Then, in a simulation workshop, discussion around the
map creates shared understanding of the process and shared language, which enables communication
about the process and getting at the deep tacit knowledge through double-loop learning. (See Figure
4.)

Map/ Discussion Shared Holistic,

model around the vision deepended
map (on the understanding
simulation
-pre- session)
modeling
-inter- modeling
views double-loop learning

Light Tacit Knowledge

Deep Tacit Knowledge

(values, beliefs, attitudes and mental models behind the action)

Figure 4: Organizational learning by business process simulation method

Mutual learning from the end customer’s presence in the simulation day
The follow-up interviewees considered the presence of the actual customers in the simulation day
highly important. Before the simulation day, management level personnel of the case organization
have very rarely if never been in contact with the customer (figure 5).

91
 MANAGEMENT

CUSTOMER

OPERATIVE
LEVEL
Figure 5: Management, operative level and customer before the simulation day

Personnel of the operative level find it difficult to communicate with management level personnel
about the customer needs. During the simulation day customer became concrete for the management
level. Albeit there were no contact after simulation day with customer and management personnel,
meeting the real customer changed their mental models (Figure 6). Operative level personnel felt, that
management level personnel had better understanding about the customers’ needs, which helped the
communication between management and operative levels. This implicates that the management level
has gone through a double-loop learning process.

MANAGEMENT

CUSTOMER

OPERATIVE
LEVEL
Figure 6: Management, operative level and customer after the simulation day

In addition to learning inside the case organization, it was considered important, that customers were
able to piece together the complex network serving them during the process.
From the perspective of the process simulation method, including the actual customer into the
simulation day has an influence on the rest of the process. The shared understanding of customer needs
was a requirement for common language and communication between management and operative
levels. (Figure 7)

92
 OPERATIVE
MANAGEMENT LEVEL

Model/ Discussion around Shared Holistic,

map the map on the vision deepended
simulation session understanding
-pre-
modeling
-inter-
views CUSTOMER
modeling
double-loop learning

Light Tacit Knowledge

Deep Tacit Knowledge

(values, beliefs, attitudes and mental models behind the action)

Figure 7: Participators in the simulation session as contributors of learning in the rest of the process in
business process simulation project

Feedback session as a contributor of the climate of willingness to change

In this case-study the as-is (describing the current situation) process maps were created together
with the client in a pre-modeling session and completed with the data received from interviews. The
as-is (describing the current process) process maps were discussed during the simulation day and one
to-be (how the process should go) process map was created in the simulation day by the participants.
The map “how to get from here to there” (see Argyris & Schön 1978, 160) was a table of development
ideas with persons in charge and timetables, which was discussed in the debriefing session.
Interesting finding is, that debriefing session was considered highly important, albeit none of the
development ideas were implemented as such. Discussing ideas one by one, considering them,
selecting responsible persons and determination of timetables created an atmosphere of concrete
operation and it contributed the willingness to change. On the other words, it had an influence to
attitudes of the personnel of the case organization which is an indication of double-loop learning. The
discussion about the development ideas continued at coffee tables and corridors. The commitment of
both top management and operative level personnel was a requirement for learning.

CONCLUSION
The new division of tacit knowledge into light and deep tacit knowledge introduced in this paper
responds to the demand of considering articulation of tacit knowledge into explicit during a process
development project. Modeling light tacit knowledge into a map and the discussion around it engender
shared understanding and language, which makes it possible to achieve deep tacit knowledge by
double-loop learning.
The presence of the end customer in the process development session is a bidirectional process. On
the one hand customers are able to form an overall picture of the whole service process. On the other
hand by double-loop learning organization members become conscious of the genuine customer needs
as well as their own attitudes. The changed attitude of the management level improved the
communication between the different levels of the organization, which is requirement of continuous
organizational learning.
The discussing of the development ideas in the feedback session facilitated double-loop learning in
the case organization. None of the ideas were implemented as such nevertheless discussing them
influenced the attitudes and the way of thinking of the case organization’s personnel.

93
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research reported in this paper has been conducted in the Co-Create research project at the
Enterprise Simulation Laboratory SimLab, Department of Computer Science and Engineering,
Helsinki University of Technology. The authors are grateful for the creative research effort of the
whole Co-Create research team, which has made this paper possible. The research is financially
supported by National Technology Agency Finland Tekes and the six pilot companies, which is
gratefully acknowledged. Finally we want to thank our colleague Marja-Leena Markkula for calling
into question the use of the term “externalization” in context of tacit knowledge -without her
contribution this paper would never have been written.

REFERENCES
Argyris, C. & Schön, D. A. 1978. Organizational learning: a theory of action perspective. Addison-
Wesley Publishing Company. Reading.
Forssén, M. & Haho, P. 2001. Participative development and training for business processes in
industry: review of 88 simulation games. International Journal of Technology Management, Vol.
22, Nos. 1/2/3, 2001.
Gummesson, E. 2000. Qualitative methods in management research (2nd ed.). SAGE, Thousand Oaks,
CA.
Haho, P. 2002. Simulointipeleihin perustuvan kehittämismenetlemän hyötyjä liiketoimintaprosessien
kehittämishankkeissa. Hyvän kehittämisjärjestelmän menestystekijöitä. Helsinki University of
Technology SimLab, Publications, Dissertation Series 1, Espoo.
Haho, P. & Smeds, R. 1997. The Softmatch-method: Enterprise transformation through Simulation
Games. In: P. Saunders and B. Cox (eds.): The International Simulation and gaming Yearbook
Volume 5: Research into Simulations in Education. Kogan Page, London, 48-63.
Hannus, J. 1994. Prosessijohtaminen – Ydinprosessien uudistaminen ja yrityksen suorityskyky. 4. p.
Espoo: HM&V Research.
Nonaka, I. & Takeuchi, H. 1995 The Knowledge-creating Company – How Japanese Companies
Create the Dynamics of Innovation. New York: Oxford university press.
Senge, P. 1990 The Fifth Discipline: The art and Practice of the Learning Organization. New York:
Doubleday Currency.
Smeds, R 1994. Managing Change towards Lean Enterprises. International Journal of Operations and
Production Management, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp.66-82.
Smeds, R. 1997. Organizational Learning and Innovation through Tailored Simulation Games: Two
Process Re-engineering Case Studies. Knowledge and Process Management, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 22-
33.
Smeds, R. & Alvesalo, J. 2003. Telepresence in cross-site business process simulation – lessons learnt
in technology, social interaction and organizational learning. Production planning & control, Vol.
14, No 2, 182-192
Smeds, R., Haho, P. & Alvesalo, J. 2003. Bottom-up or top-down? Evolutionary change management
in NPD processes. International Journal Technology Management, Vol. 26, N0. 8, pp. 887-902.
Smeds, R., Koskelainen, K., Vänttinen, M., Iivonen, P. & Jaatinen, M. 2005. Process simulation for
the development of customer relationship management in networked construction projects,
Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Stimulating Manufacturing Excellence in
Small and Medium Enterprises, Ed. P.D.Ball, U.S.Bititci & J.C.MacBryde, University of
Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK. June 2005.
Yin, R. K. 1989. Case study research: design and methods. SAGE, Newbury Park , CA.

94
 THE CONSTRAINTS GAME - LEARNING THE THEORY OF CONSTRAINTS WITH A
DICE GAME
INGO LANGE, ARNE ZIEGENBEIN

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich , Center of Enterprise Science (BWI)
Kreuzplatz 5, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland
ingo.lange@ethz.ch; arne.ziegenbein@ethz.ch

ABSTRACT
Capacity Management is an important part of the education in industrial management. One of the
approaches taught at most universities is the Theory of Constraints (TOC), which addresses the
problem of bottlenecks in a logistics system. To illustrate different techniques to students (in particular
Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR) mechanism, performed in production lines), the `Constraints Game` has
been developed. After a description of the Theory of Constraints and the Drum-Buffer-Rope
mechanism, this paper presents a description of the Constraints Game. A dice game that can be easily
played in class. Using a computer simulation, the results and implication of the Constraints Game are
summarized. Moreover, the authors report on the experiences they gained playing the game with
postgraduate and executive MBA students.

INTRODUCTION
In an industrial environment, there are always factors that constrain the throughput of a logistics
system. Constraints or bottlenecks can take the form of limited capacity, a customer requirement such
as quantity or due date, or the availability of a material. For example, labour contracts and government
regulations can constrain the availability of workers. A machine with relatively small capacity can be
the bottleneck of the production system so that the whole output is limited. It can be stated that there
are many situations where practitioners have to cope with a bottleneck in a logistics system.

The Theory of Constraints addresses exactly these kind of practical situations. The TOC penned by
Goldratt & Cox, argued that the output of a manufacturing system is determined by the capacity of its
weakest link (bottleneck). The widely used Drum-Buffer-Rope mechanism is a production control
mechanism derived from the TOC. DBR controls the flow of materials along the production in order to
produce goods according to the market demand with a minimum of manufacturing lead time, inventory
and operating costs. This technique enables companies to maximize the use of a bottleneck by
establishing buffers around the constraint.
Due to their practical relevance the TOC and the DBR mechanism are part of the education of
postgraduate and MBA students in the area of industrial management. To increase the fraction of
interactive elements in class, more and more management games have been integrated into lectures
over recent years. This paper presents the so-called Constraints Game, a management game that
illustrates the TOC and the DBR mechanism. The dice game is regularly played with postgraduate
students and executive MBA students at ETH Zurich.
After having explained the principles of the theory of constraints, the paper describes the rules and the
procedures of the Constraints Game. Subsequently, the results of a computer simulation of the game as
well as the implications of the Constraints Game are summarized. Furthermore, the authors report on
the experiences they gained playing the game with postgraduate and executive MBA students. Finally,
the conclusions of the paper will be derived and areas of further research will be identified.

95
THEORY OF CONSTRAINTS
This chapter introduces the theory on which the Constraints Game is based. First, the Theory of
Constraints is classified within the area of capacity management techniques and the essential
definitions are given. After that the principles of the Theory of Constraints are summarized. At the end
of this chapter, the drum-buffer-rope mechanism is explained in detail.

The Theory of Constraints within Capacity Management

Capacity Management ensures cost effective and timely provision of the capacities needed to cover the
load on persons and the production infrastructure as determined by orders (Schönsleben 2004).
Depending upon the objectives and the requirements, capacity management provide several different
approaches and techniques. Schönsleben (2004) distinguishes between classes of techniques for
capacity management in dependency upon flexibility of capacity and of order due date (see Figure 1).

Quantitative
flexibility of
capacity along Infinite loading techniques
the time axis above the line

Order-oriented
(infinite), CRP
Flexible Kanban
CPFP
Finite loading techniques
below the line
Order-
oriented
(infinite), LOOR
Not very Order-wise
CRP CORMA
flexible infinite
Constraint-
oriented
Order-oriented (finite)

Process-oriented,
Order-wise
Inflexible order-oriented
finite
(finite)

Flexibility of
Inflexible Not very Flexible order due date
(set due date) flexible

Figure 1 Classes of techniques for capacity management in dependency upon flexibility of capacity
and flexibility of order due date (Schönsleben 2004)

The ordinate of Figure 1 indicates the quantitative flexibility of the capacity along the timeline, i.e.
the requirements of the production system whereas the abscissa denotes the flexibility of the order due
date, i.e. the requirements from the market. Due to this classification techniques can be devided in
infinite and finite loading techniques (Schönsleben 2004):

1) Infinite loading means dispatching orders to the work centers and prioritizing meeting the delivery
time. Especially in a customer order production infinite loading is applied to attach more importance to
due dates than to high capacity utilization.
2) Finite loading focuses on working-to-capacity with greatest possible avoidance of delays in order
processing. Finite loading prevents work centers from overloads at the expense of flexible changes to
start or completion dates. Therefore infinite loading is particularly suitable for limited capacities
especially in a continuous production environment (e.g. the process industry).

As illustrated in Figure 1, the Theory of Constraints or the derived Constraint-oriented finite loading
technique can be classified as finite loading technique, i.e. that the techniques are suitable for
environments where the capacities of the production system are not very flexible and the customers are
not willing to wait for a long time for the products (not very flexible order due date).
96
Definitions
Before introducing the principles of the Theory of Constraints, in this section some basic definitions
around the area of limited production are stated.
A constraint is basically any factor that significantly limits the performance of a system with respect to
its objective. A bottleneck in a production line is a work center where the required capacity is greater
than the available capacity (Schönsleben 2004). Throughput is the total volume of production passing
through this work center in a specified amount of time. Lead time is the amount of time between the
placing of an order and the receipt of the goods ordered. In this paper bottleneck is a by-word for
constraint and refers always to limited machine capacity expressed in work centers controlling the
throughput of all products processed by them.

Principles of the Theory of Constraints

The Theory of Constraints is an approach pertaining to the effective management of organizations
and all real-world systems based on the existence of at least one constraint which limits the
throughput. The TOC was developed in the 1980s and the early 1990s in North America by E. M.
Goldratt (Goldratt & Cox 2000). The basic principle behind the theory is that any organization can be
regarded as a chain. In the logistic context a set of working stations is chained up in a production line.
Figure 2 presents a simple production line in which the constraining work center C limits the overall
rate of production.

Work Work Work Work

α center C Ω
center A center B center D
(constraint)

Figure 2 Production line constrained by a work center

The leading thought is that this production line cannot work faster than work center C. If the
production rate is higher, inventory will accumulate slowly but surely. The TOC argues that in every
system there will always be one constraint determining its capacity which prompted Goldratt to
prescribe a five step focusing procedure to enable an ongoing process of improvement: 1) identify the
system`s constraint(s)- this can be a bottleneck for instance, 2) decide how to exploit the system`s
constraint(s)- a bottleneck capacity could be utilized during breaks by rotating crews to avoid idleness,
3) subordinate everything else to the decision in step 2, 4) elevate the system`s constraint(s)- e.g. make
capacity available, 5) return to step 1 if the system`s constraints were changed (Srinivasan et al. 2004).
This way the TOC introduces some interesting economic considerations. In this context, it is important
to understand that constraints determine the throughput of the production line and have a strong impact
on the accumulation of inventory that is undesired for different reasons but primarily because of the
problem of capital employed. In addition it is elementary to internalize that time lost at the constraint is
lost forever. It can never be made up, whereas non-constraint time lost is not in the focus of attention.
To summarize essentially there will always be one constraint in production lines disturbing the flow in
the system, and if the limiting bottleneck is not eliminable, the only way out is to treat it specially. An
appropriate and widely used mechanism to cope with bottlenecks in production systems is the Drum-
Buffer-Rope mechanism used by TOC.

Drum-Buffer-Rope mechanism
Drum-Buffer-Rope is a finite scheduling mechanism (following the constraint-oriented-finite
loading) that releases material (raw material) based on a signal of the bottleneck. The production rate
of the bottleneck work center “beats the Drum” and controls the throughput of all goods processed by
it. The idea behind the Buffer is to establish a protection area in the form of buffers around the
bottleneck to make sure the constraining work center is always busy. As figure 3 illustrates, a time
buffer inventory (material buffer) is placed ahead of work center C to ensure that materials arrive at
the work center well in advance of their scheduled processing at the bottleneck. Another space buffer
97
should be established after the bottleneck to prevent the work center from ever having to wait due to
disturbances of the succeeding work stations. The following downstream work centers fed by the
bottlenecks have their throughput controlled by the bottleneck. In a final step as shown in Figure 3 the
Rope refers to the mechanism that releases material into the production system (shop floor). The rope
ensures that the raw material is not injected into the system at a rate faster than the bottleneck can
process (Srinivasan et al. 2004). The rope is essentially an analogy for the communication process. It
represents the set of planning, release, and control instructions for bringing the necessary material to
the constraint in due time (Schönsleben 2004).

Rope

Drum

Work Work Work Work

α center C Ω
center A center B Material(constraint) Space center D
(time) buffer
buffer

Figure 3 The Drum-Buffer-Rope mechanism (Schönsleben 2004)

It is interesting to realize that DBR always synchronizes with the production rate of the least
capable resource in the process. This least capable resource is referred to as the work center where the
required capacity is higher than the available capacity (bottleneck). In the case where all work centers
exceed the rate of output demanded by the customer, the external demand rate (the market) is
becoming the bottleneck. Thus DBR controls the flow of materials through the production system in
order to produce goods in accordance with market demand with a minimum of manufacturing lead
time, inventory andoperating expenses. Experiencing the impact of the DBR on these performance
measures is the primary objective of the Constraint Game.

THE CONSTRAINTS GAME

In this chapter the Constraints Game is introduced. After having explained the rules and the set up,
the three different techniques of the game are presented before some general advices for the
proceedings are given. The Constraints Game is basically a dice game for illustrating the discussed
Drum-Buffer-Rope mechanism. The authors at this time are not aware of the original initiator of this
game due to the fact that publications on the game have not been tracked down.

The Rules of the game

Build teams of 6-8 students but not less than 5 players. Each player is representing a work center
in a simple production line. In preparation of the game give each person 4 crown caps representing the
work in process (poker chips, individually wrapped candies, anything which is small and manageable
works well). The next step is to select one team member (other than the first and the last players of the
production line) to be the bottleneck. Finally give each person 1 or 2 dies (according to the technique
chosen). Figure 4 shows the layout for 5 players.

98
 Raw material

Customer
Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4 Player 5

(constraint)

Figure 4 Layout of the game for 5 players.

There are three techniques of managing the bottleneck which are explained in more detail in the next
paragraph. Basically one roll of the die represents the actual capacity of one day. At the beginning of
each day, pass the corresponding number of crown caps on to each next work center, respectively, and
finally on to the customer. The players can only pass on crown caps which are available in front of
them at the beginning of the day. Thus, sometimes, if the players are running out of inventory, the
capacity for this day is lost and cannot be made up. The first player has unlimited access to the raw
material box. He will pass on the number of chips depending on the pips on his dice. He is never
running out of inventory because he is always allowed to fill up his work center.
Naturally the game is running for 10 days per round. Statistically, the teams should be able to ship
35 chips average because the average number “pips” on the dice of one throw is 3.5. After playing 10
days the Units sold and the Work in process (WIP) were counted to measure the performance. In this
context units sold represents the total amount of chips delivered to the customer. WIP represents all
chips in the production line, no longer part of the raw materials inventory and not yet part of the
finished goods inventory ready to be delivered to the customer. Based on these two numbers, the
Average production per day and the Lead time can be calculated easily:

̇ Average production per day = Units sold/ Days per round

̇ Lead time = WIP/ Average production per day

Play three rounds according to the following three different techniques of capacity management.

The Techniques in the game

Round 1: “Production with a bottleneck.”. In preparation of this technique set up the players as
shown in the Figure 4. There is a modification concerning the equipment of the players. Every work
center except for the bottleneck is provided with 2 dice. The person at the bottleneck has just one die.
Round 2: “Balanced” Production. Adopt the layout as it stands. Persons from all work centers except
for the bottleneck player give one die back to the facilitator so that everybody now has one die.
Round 3: Drum-Buffer-Rope. The layout remains constant. Everyone except for the bottleneck and
the first player in the factory (raw materials person) get one die back. Furthermore, the first player in the
factory gives up his single die and will have no die in this round. The major difference concerns the
passing of the chips from the bottleneck player. The number still depends on the pips on his die, however;
in the case a 1, 2 or 3 the bottleneck has to pass on 3 chips, while rolling a 4, 5 or 6 allows him to pass on
4 chips. Everyone else passes the chips as played before in relation to what his or her die produces.
To ensure that raw material is not introduced into the system at a rate faster than the bottleneck can
handle there is another modification for the player releasing chips into the system. Whenever the
bottleneck person passes 3 chips on, the raw material person will enter 3 chips into the system. If the
bottleneck player passes 4 the raw material person will release also 4 chips into the system. In this way
the players at the bottleneck and in the raw material factory are synchronized.

Evaluation of the game

After playing through the three introduced techniques, sum up the achieved results as described in the
games rules. For interpreting the results it is advisable to present performances measures of all rounds in
table form as shown in Figure 5.

99
 1. “Production with
2. “Balanced” Production 3. Drum-Buffer-Rope
a bottleneck”

Units sold 33 / 37 24 / 27 35 / 38

WIP
(number of pieces)
60 / 57 36 / 27 23 / 20

Average production
per day
3.3 / 3.7 2.4 / 2.7 3.5 / 3.8

Lead Time 18.2 / 15.4 15 / 10 6.5 / 5.3

Figure 5 Table form with game results

Exemplary results are from a Constraints-Game-workshop within the Executive MBA program at ETH
Zurich played in 2003. In this program the game was played parallel in two lines, hence two numbers are
mapped per cell in Figure 5.

Procedure
To prepare the game, a medium-sized seminar room with a sufficient number of relocatable tables
(according to the number of participating players) is required. The tables should be aligned, so that
each player can operate his work center similar to the production line layout in Figure 4. In terms of
the size of the tables, it is advisable to provide each player with enough space to roll the dice, but not
so much that it hinders the chips from being passed on quickly. In addition to a huge amount of chips
an adequate number of dice should be provided by the facilitator. Furthermore an overhead-projector, a
blank foil similar to Figure 5 and some overhead markers are needed.
From experience with several student groups it is possible to play the game with two groups
(production lines) the same time. The lines run parallel and this normally ends in an active competition
between the two lines. In this way the game provides the opportunity to play with up to 16 players (2 x
8) plus an increased fun factor.
The facilitator is playing the roll of the “Drum”. He starts and beats the production line clapping
his hand once every time. After every round he makes the players count up the chips for writing the
results down on the foil. The results should be discussed afterwards followed by the presentation of the
underlying theory. All in all the game will take 1.5 hours including a brief introduction and discussion
of the results afterwards.

RESULTS AND IMPLICATION OF THE CONSTRAINT GAME

In the last chapter the authors built up a simulation model of the Constraints Game to produce a
representative sample of results. Based on the results of this simulation the performance of the
different techniques is compared. Afterwards the managerial implications of the game are drawn.

Results
Since a throw of a die of the persons in the game can be modeled as a random number from 1 to 6,
there is no difference between the physical Constraints Game and the computer simulation. The input
parameters for the simulation model are the number of working centers, position of the bottleneck,
number of throws in a round and number of simulation runs. The output of the simulation is a discrete
probability distribution, the mean and variance of each performance measure, the Units sold, the
Work-in-process, and the Lead time of all three techniques over all simulation runs.
The game was simulated for 8 work centers, with the bottleneck placed at the 3rd work center because
this represents a common setting for games in classroom. To obtain significant sample of results 1000
games have been simulated whereas a round has 10 days like in the dice game (see Figure 6-8). The
100
diagrams in Figure 6-8 show the discrete probability distributions of WIP, Unit solds and Lead time
dependent on the technique calculated over 1000 samples. To visualize the distributions more clearly,
a line connects the discrete points though it is not a continuous curve. In the following the performance
of the three techniques are compared pair wise.

WIP
(1000 Simulations, 8 work centers, bottleneck at 3rd work center, 10 days per round)

18%

16%

14%

12%
Probability

10%

8%

6%

4%

2%

0%
15 19 23 27 31 35 39 43 47 51 55 59 63 67 71 75 79 83 87 91 95 99 103

Work in process

Production with a bottleneck Balanced Production Drum-Buffer-Rope

Figure 6 Discrete probability distribution of WIP depending on the used techniques

Units sold
(1000 Simulations, 8 work centers, bottleneck at 3rd work center, 10 days per round)
20%
18%
16%

14%
Probability

12%
10%
8%
6%

4%
2%
0%
15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45
Units sold

Production with a bottleneck Balanced Production Drum-Buffer-Rope

Figure 7 Discrete probability distribution of Units sold depending on the used techniques

101
 Lead-Time
(1000 Simulations, 8 work centers, bottleneck at 3rd work center, 10 days per round)

30%

25%

20%
Probability

15%

10%

5%

0%
5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39
Lead Time

Production with a bottleneck Balanced Production Drum-Buffer-Rope

Figure 8 Discrete probability distribution of Lead Times depending on the used techniques

Drum-Buffer-Rope versus “Production with a bottleneck”

The major difference between the performances of the DBR mechanism and the “Production with
a bottleneck” consists of the fact that the DBR has much less work-in-process (see Figure 6).
Comparing the two distributions by the arithmetic average the DBR wins with 33.69 chips in process
versus 65.66 chips for the “Production with a bottleneck”. The reason of this phenomenon is simple:
The rope in the DBR controls the number of chips that are released in the system, i.e. only the amount
that is needed at the bottleneck get into the production line. In contrast, the “Production with a
bottleneck” technique does not have an information loop like the rope, so that as many chips as the
first working station can handle get into the system. Since the first working station’s capacity is double
in average of the bottleneck’s capacity, this technique ends up with high amount of work-in-process
and thus capital employed. Moreover, the DBR mechanism results in a slightly better performance
concerning the unit sold (see Figure 7) so that the Lead time is much lower than that for the
“Production with a bottleneck” (see Figure 8).

Drum-Buffer-Rope versus “Balanced Production”

In Figure 7, it is noticeable that the probability distribution of each technique is evenly spread over a
limited range. There is obviously no significant difference in variance but there is a wide difference
between the performance of Drum-Buffer-Rope and the “Balanced-Production”. Comparing the
arithmetic average of 33.28 chips for DBR and only 26.79 chips for the “Balanced Production”
demonstrates the significant difference. In contrast to the Drum-Buffer-Rope mechanism the
“Balanced Production” has limited capacity at all work centers over the production line. This
technique will generally tend to a low number of units sold because all work centers become
bottlenecks. Therefore, it appears that the bottleneck effect is increasingly amplified and bottleneck
capacity is lost at each work center in the system. As introduced in the theory description this capacity
is lost forever. The arithmetic average of the Units sold with 33.28 chips per round for DBR
mechanism is nearly equivalent

102
to the statistical capacity of one bottleneck work center for 10 days (which is 35 (3.5 chips * 10) chips).
Moreover, the DBR mechanism results in a slightly better performance concerning the WIP (see Figure 6)
so that the Lead time is much lower than that for the “Balanced Production” (see Figure 8).

“Balanced Production” versus “Production with a bottleneck”

The difference between the “Production with a bottleneck” and the “Balanced Production” in Figure 6
(WIP) is easily understandable when taking into account the fact that the first player in the “Balanced
Production” has only one die which limits his release of chips in the system. In this case the first person
plays the role of the first bottleneck in the system. Consequently, using the “Balanced Production”
technique, the number of chips in process is lower than in the “Production with a bottleneck”
Finally, it was in the authors` interest to show the development of Lead times (Figure 8) according to
the three techniques as the Lead time it is very important from a customers` perspective. Derived from the
performance measure (see calculation term in chapter 2) WIP, it is less remarkable that the probability
description chart of Lead times looks similar to Figure 6 (WIP chart). All charts demonstrate the superior
position of the Drum-Buffer-Rope mechanism compared to the “Production with a bottleneck” and the
“Balanced Production” techniques. Though, it must be taken into account that the area of application of
the DBR mechanism is limited.

Managerial Implications
All diagrams demonstrate the superior position of the Drum-Buffer-Rope mechanism compared to the
“Production with a bottleneck” and the “Balanced Production” techniques. Therefore, the application of
the DBR mechanism results in lower operational costs and better performance. But there are some
limitations of the DBR in practice:
Problems will appear within production lines with more than one bottleneck. For a single order with
multiple bottlenecks on different production stages the Drum-Buffer-Rope mechanism is particularly
unsuitable. In these cases it would be more than difficult for the production planner to co-ordinate the
ropes. Concluding, the Drum-Buffer-Rope mechanism is mainly qualified for simple product structures
with not too many bottlenecks.
Further more the application area is focused on production lines with non-changing bottlenecks.
Changing completion times may shift the bottlenecks in the line. Resulting in more planning work as the
planning procedures have to be changed and repeated several times.
To conclude, the Drum-Buffer-Rope mechanism is suited to mature line production running at a fixed
rate, e.g., simple chemical products, food processing, or production of simple parts. The techniques are
particularly suited for machine-limited-capacity, or a production environment where a specific machine
limits throughput of the process (APICS 2001).

CONCLUSIONS
There are lots of situations where practitioners have to cope with a bottleneck in a production system.
Constraints or bottlenecks can take the form of limited capacity, a customer requirement such as quantity
or due date, or the availability of a material. The Theory of Constraints and the derived Drum-Buffer-
Rope mechanism are appropriate methods to cope with constraints in production line. After the
description of the theoretical background, the paper introduces the Constraints Game, a management
game for learning the Theory of Constraints and the Drum-Buffer-Rope mechanism. The Constraints
Game is a dice game that is successfully played on a regular basis with postgraduate and executive MBA
students at ETH Zurich.

The paper describes the rules and the proceedings so that the readers can easily play the game. To
visualise the results of the Constraints Game the authors build up a computer simulation of the game.

This simulation model will help the authors in further analysis of the Constraints Game. For example,
the sensitivity of the position of the bottleneck on the performance of the Drum-Buffer-Rope
mechanism will be analysed in a next step.
103
References
APICS (2001) Dictionary 10th edition, APICS – The Educational Society for Resource Management,
Alexandria, VA
Goldratt, M., Cox, J. (2000), “The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement”, 2nd edition, North
River Press, Norvich, CT
Schönsleben, P. (2004), Integral logistics management - planning and control of comprehensive supply
chains, 2nd edn, CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, Florida
Srinivasan, M., Jones, D., Miller, A. (2004), Applying Theory of Constraints Principles and Lean
Thinking at The Marine Corps Maintenance Center, Defense Acquisition Review Journal,
[Online] Available at http://www.realization.com/press.htm, called 05/11/05 21:12h
Fox, R. (2005) The Theory of Constraints - Fad or Future? The TOC Center, [Online] Available at:
http://www.tocc.com/Articles.htm, called 05/12/05 19:17h

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FACILITATING BUSINESS PROCESS UNDERSTANDING IN A NETWORKED PROJECT
- SHARING PROCESS KNOWLEDGE IN TRAINING SESSIONS
LAURA LEINIKKA, ANTERO HIRVENSALO

SimLab Enterprise Simulation Laboratory

Helsinki University of Technology, TKK
P.O.Box 9220, FIN-02015 HUT
laura.leinikka@tkk.fi, antero.hirvensalo@tkk.fi

ABSTRACT
This article discusses the facilitation of business process understanding among networked project
participants through special training sessions. The main focus is on the type of knowledge related to
business process that would be important to share in these training sessions. This article approaches
the concept of business process by understanding it as multifaceted and examining it from different
perspectives, which enables structuring and differentiation of knowledge. A theoretical construction of
the different perspectives to knowledge related to business processes is created based on the literature
study. The construction is then tested and deepened with the help of two case examples from the
construction industry. Results of the study emphasize the importance of understanding each of the
different perspectives to business processes in some level in order to gain adequate business process
understanding. The results also stress that part of the process knowledge is explicit and part tacit and
this has to be taken into consideration also in the training sessions.

KEYWORDS: business process, perspectives on business process, process knowledge, explicit

knowledge, tacit knowledge

INTRODUCTION
In a networked project there are a lot of parties and intersecting objectives. Problems will arise if
expectations concerning results and practices of the project are not at the same level. Especially with
new partners there are often problems, when people don’t know what to expect from each others way
of working. A common understanding of the business process would help the project enormously.
Especially true this is in business models of the construction industry, which are based on partnership
and mutual interaction of the customer and the contractor. These key actors may not be aware of each
others processes in the beginning of a new project.
There are many tools that can be used visualize expectations concerning products of the project, e.g.
CAD-pictures and other different 3D-models. Business processes are quite abstract phenomena. Their
complexity is often difficult to visualize (Bal 1998). There are different visual process models, but it’s
not realistic to assume that only these can guarantee sufficient business process understanding in
organizations and people’s minds (Laamanen 2003, 96). For example Haque (2003) recognizes the
lack of business process understanding as one of the main barriers for a concurrent or integrated
product development effort to success.
One way of facilitating business process understanding in a networked project could be special
training sessions. The objectives for the training sessions would be to help the project’s participants to
understand what is expected from each other and how the common process proceeds. It’s always
easier and more efficient if problems can be anticipated and averted than clarify them later, as
nowadays often happens.
This article approaches the fundamental properties of process knowledge in order to gain
understanding of how the variety of process knowledge related to networked projects could be framed.
The main research question is what knowledge related to business processes would be important to
share in the training sessions between participants in a networked project prior to engaging themselves
into collaboration. In addition the types and embeddedness of process knowledge are examined in
order to suggest what methods would be suitable for sharing it. A networked project in the context of

105
this article is a project in the construction industry which incorporates the independent organizations
of the customer, the project management contractor, the consultants and the suppliers.
Process knowledge is defined as (all) knowledge that can be acquired from business projects and
processes.
To be able to make a difference between a business project and a process, the following definitions
are made: a single project takes place in reality at a certain point or interval in time, having unique
characteristics such as a specific contingencies, resources and goals to be achieved. Instead, what a
process represents is a generalization of the properties of many projects of a similar kind. Hence, we
define a project as a unique instantiation of a certain type of process.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
A useful way to understand business processes is to regard them as multifaceted (Melão and Pidd
2000). Despite the fact that business processes have been studied from different perspectives there are
quite few studies that present a model recognizing the variety of perspectives to business processes. On
the other hand this kind of a model is needed if we want to understand knowledge residing in business
processes.
In our literature study we found four studies representing this kind of a model: Bal (1998), Curtis et
al. (1992), Melão and Pidd (2000) and Raghu et al. (1998). We choose to look into all models expect
Curtis et al. This because the model of Bal covers all the same and one additional perspective than the
model of Curtis et al.
We classified the models and their perspectives to different groups (table 1). The classification was
made based on the main focus of every perspective; what kind of process knowledge a perspective
mainly offers. We could label five groups of business process perspectives based on the earlier models.
We then created our own theoretical construction, which consists of five business process perspectives
and their related process knowledge content. We named the perspectives as following: workflow,
decision-making, flow of information, social structure and process thinking.
Earlier studies and perspectives they present Process knowledge,
which perspectives
Bal Melão and Pidd Raghu et al. are offering
● Functional view ● Business ● Workflow -Functions and their
● Behavioral view processes as structure relationships
● Organizational deterministic -Actors of process and
machine their responsibilities WORKFLOW
view
-Scheduling of the process
-Objectives of process
● Decisional view ● Business ● Decision -Decisions and practices
processes as structure concerning them
interacting feedback DECISION-MAKI NG
loops (in some parts)
● Informational ● Business ● Information -Information in the process
view processes as structure and relationships bet ween
interacting feedback information
loops (mainly) -Acquiring, using and FLOW OF
storing information INFORMATION
-Exploiting technology in
sharing information
● Business ● Agency structure -People and relationships
processes as social between them (beliefs,
constructs values, expectations,
earlier experiences, trust)
SOCIAL
-Own goals of actors of
STRUCTURE
process and aligning them
with the goals of process
● Business - Understanding the entity
processes as PROCESS
complex dynamic THINKING
systems

Table 1 Original theoretical construction based on the literature study

106
 To be able to determine how process knowledge should best be shared we classify process
knowledge further by using Nonaka’s categorization into explicit and tacit knowledge (Nonaka 1991,
Nonaka 1995, Nonaka et al. 2000). Nonaka’s categorization has been used widely concerning
knowledge related to organizations. Emphasizing the importance of intellectual capital, creativity,
continuous learning and innovations isn’t a new idea, but Nonaka’s model has deepened this kind of
knowledge concept and helped to understand the essence of knowledge in its whole scale (Suurla
2001).
Explicit knowledge is knowledge that can be expressed explicitly. Tacit knowledge is knowledge
that is personal, context-specific, and therefore hard to formalize and communicate. As a hypothesis
we presuppose that also process knowledge is partly explicit and partly tacit.

DATA GATHERING AND ANALYSIS METHODS

The study was done using constructive action research approach. A theoretical construction of the
different perspectives to knowledge related to business processes was created based on the literature
study. The construction was then tested and deepened in the context of networked projects with the
help of case examples.
The data was gathered from two case examples from the construction industry using the SimLabTM
process simulation method (e.g. Haho ja Smeds 1997; Smeds 1997; Forssén ja Haho 2001; Smeds ja
Alvesalo 2003; Feller et al. 2004). The method applies concrete cases and ideally involves the whole
network of employees in a selected business process. It therefore supports the elicitation of knowledge
spread out to the whole network and also knowledge of tacit nature. The practical realization of
applying the method on these two case examples was on the responsibility of the authors.
The data collection instruments during the empirical study were documented interviews and
observation of group discussions during a process simulation session. Both in interviews and group
discussions the employees were representing different organizations and organization levels. In the
first case 14 employees were interviewed individually in a preparatory phase and 26 employees
participated in a joint process simulation session. In the second case these figures were 20 and 23
employees respectively.
Afterwards the data was analyzed using the theoretical construction. The common business process
was analyzed in both cases from all five perspectives of the construction. The main objective was to
link the individual pieces of knowledge to the construction and to evaluate how important a particular
piece of knowledge was when considering the success of the whole project. We also studied what part
of the knowledge should have been shared especially in the beginning of the project and in what form
the knowledge mainly was in order to be able to determine how this knowledge should be shared.
These evaluations were mainly based on interviewees’ opinions but some are made by the authors
based on observations of the group discussions and interviews.

INTRODUCING THE CASES

Construction industry is traditionally very project oriented. It’s projects are also generally
networked: there are many participants in a construction project. The participants represent differing
professional cultures, such as the cultures of architects and engineers, project management
professionals and specialized workers. It is also of main importance in the study that the customers are
organizations of yet another industries and therefore lack the experience of large-scale construction
projects. This is where the consultancy companies play an important role.

Project management contracting

A particular business model in the construction industry is project management contracting. Project
management contracting is a form of contracting which content and scope differs depending from
country and line of business to another (Koskelainen 2004, 5). There isn’t a definition that would
define project contracting perfectly.
In our case examples project management contractor is responsible for managing and implementing
a project but the contractor doesn’t have any own workers who would do the actual work. Project
management contracting differs also a lot from traditional construction projects. It requires dense
interaction and deep trust between the entire network of participants.
107
 The goal of project management contracting is to find financially efficient planning solutions and
cut the lead-time of projects through intensive co-operation of the builder, project management
contractor and planners and by overlapping planning and implementation phases (Landström 1990,
10). Because planning proceeds in co-operation between different participants also innovative
solutions are possible. In Finland there are only few companies having taken project management
contracting deeply in practice.

Case company
The case company is a large Finnish construction company specialized in project management
contracting. Characteristic to the individual construction projects are that different factors change the
flow of the process. The aim of the case company is to study different kinds of construction projects
with different customers and other actors to better understand the requisite variations in its processes.
The authors have been engaged as action researchers in the case company’s process development
activities during the year 2004 through the Co-Create research project. The development focus has
been in the relationship between the customer and the case company (project management contractor),
although the whole network has been involved in the development activities.
The empirical material consists of two cases (figure 1). In both cases the construction project was
realized using the project management contracting model.

End-user

Engineering
office
Customer

Consultant Architect

Project
management
contractor SAME IN BOTH CASES, OTHER
ACTORS WERE DIFFERENT

Subcontractors

Case: state-owned company

Interviews Process simulation
(in total 14 persons) (in total 26 persons)
-End-user: 2 -End-user: 0
-Customer: 2 -Customer: 7
-Project management contractor: 5 -Project management contractor: 12
-Consultant: 3 -Consultant: 2
-Architect: 1 -Architect: 2
-Engineering office: 1 -Engineering office: 1
-Other: 2

Case: listed company

Interviews
(in total 20 persons)
-End-user and customer: 5
-Project management contractor: 6
-Consultants: in total 4 persons
(A: 2, B: 1, C: 1)
-Architect: 2
-Engineering officies: in total 3
persons (A: 2, B: 1)
Process simulation
(in total 23 persons)
-End-user and customer: 4
-Project management contractor: 12
-Consultants: in total 4 persons
(A: 2, B: 1, C: 1)
-Architect: 1
-Engineering officies: in total
2 persons (A: 1, B: 1)

Figure 3 Case company networks and employees participating to this study

108
Case: state-owned company
The first case was a construction-renovation project of a large office building. The case was
considered really successful and the most critical reason for this was considered open and confidential
relationships between the people involved in the project. The most critics came from the end users of
the building, who considered that their needs weren’t noticed enough in the process. This happened
although the end users were represented by professionals from the construction industry.

Case: listed company

The second case was a construction project of a large office building. The project was considered
quite successful when considering the results of the project but there were challenges in the
construction process. Needs of the end customers changed substantially which demanded flexibility
from all participants and from the process.

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND INTERPRETATIONS

Our theoretical construction proved to be suitable for analyzing the cases as intended. It was
complemented according to the findings from the cases. The new construction presents the five
perspectives towards business processes and the types of process knowledge offered by these
perspectives (see figure 2). The darker arrows present the interaction between explicit and tacit
knowledge whereas the brighter arrows present the interaction between different business process
perspectives. The positioning of the business process perspectives indicates their relation to the
explicit- tacit dimension of knowledge showing which type of knowledge they mainly offer.

Workflow
- Functions and their relationships
-Actors of process and their responsibilities
-Scheduling of the process
-Objectives of process

Decision-making
- Decisions and practices concerning them
TACIT
KNOWLEDGE
Flow of information
-Information in the process and relationships
between information
-Acquiring, using and storing information
-(Exploiting technology in sharing information)
-the role of contracts in sharing information «NEW»
EXPLICIT
KNOWLEDGE Social structure
-People and relationships between them (beliefs,
values, expectations, earlier experiences, trust
professional culture «NEW», professional skill «NEW»)
-Own goals of actors of process and aligning them with
the goals of process
-counterparts «NEW»

Process thinking
-Understanding the entity
-emergence of costs «NEW»
-problematic situations«NEW»

Figure 4 Final theoretical construction improved with case findings

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 The results of applying the theoretical construction to the above-mentioned two cases emphasize the
importance of understanding each of the different perspectives to business processes in some level in
order to gain adequate business process understanding. This observation has some implications for the
training sessions aimed at facilitating business process understanding. It means that the training
sessions should include exercises concerning all five perspectives to business processes. These
perspectives are partly overlapping but important to be acknowledged. The links between different
perspectives seemed to be very important also.
We didn’t find any new perspectives to business processes in addition to those offered by the
original construction. A justified question here is whether the results would have been different if the
study would have been done using grounded theory approach, which means having analyzed the case
examples without a theoretical construction ex ante. We don’t believe this is the case because when
looking at the cases from different perspectives we also stayed open to the possibility of finding new
perspectives. We also believe that our ability to assess the business processes from different
perspectives was sufficient because as action researchers we were able to see the business processes
from really close. – Altough no totally new perspectives were found, we observed some new types of
more specific process knowledge that were not included in the original theoretical construction offered
by the literature study. These are marked as “NEW” in Figure 2.
The most significant difference between the two empirical cases was caused by the properties of the
customers. Whether the customer was a state-owned company or a listed company had significant
influence to the processes. Although this fact shaped heavily the common processes it didn’t seem to
have an effect to the process knowledge that was important to the project’s success.
The work flow perspective seemed to offer basic knowledge about the process. Without this
knowledge it would have been difficult to work. The knowledge related to work flow was mainly in
explicit format, mostly in project plans and contracts. On the grounds of the two cases it seemed that it
was quite easy to discuss the practices of work flow.
In both cases most of the actors in the process had been working also earlier using the model of
project management contracting. In the case of ‘state-owned company’ the operations model was new
to the architect office. Their representatives admitted that they didn’t know how to prepare to the way
of working and it would have been beneficial to go it through before starting the project.
Going through workflow relational practices seems to be a good idea. This is perhaps specially true
because we are dealing with networked projects where every organization has its own ways of working
and these need to be linked together to be able to start the actual work as soon as possible.
The decision-making perspective was considered as one of the most important. This was found so
because it is the domain where commitments to costs are made and all the important actors of the
process are present. Decision-making processes were in both cases described literally in the project
plan and were thus explicitly expressed.
The decision-making process was in both cases agreed exactly beforehand and according to
interviews actors felt that it was essential to obey agreed ways of doing. In a construction project vital
decisions are made quite early in the project, but these decisions do not always take into account the
end user needs and their representatives. So process knowledge related to decision-making practices is
important to share in the beginning of a project with all stakeholders.
Practices of information flow seemed to be in both cases relatively well shared and jointly
understood. The information flow perspective seemed in these cases to offer knowledge that was both
in explicit and tacit format. Problems arouse if there wasn’t understanding about why someone asks
you to do something and why some information is especially important to someone. Exploiting
technology in information sharing wasn’t in either case in a significant role. Mainly telephone and e-
mail communication was used. Instead the role of contracts was experienced as very important by the
interviewees. Contracts acted as a way to transfer information between employees who are involved in
the project planning phase and employees who do the actual work. This interface existed also inside
individual companies.
The social structure and knowledge about people and their relationships seemed really important.
The knowledge offered by this perspective was mainly in tacit form. In both cases almost everyone
knew each other earlier. Also organizations had made co-operation also earlier. Trust between

110
different actors seemed to culminate and be born through professionalism and know-how. When you
are sure that the other person is professionally competent you can also better trust him or her.
In both cases understanding the starting points of the different employees of the project seemed to
be very important. The results especially emphasize the differences in professions. Construction
projects link together many different professional groups. This is requisite for innovativeness but also
poses additional challenges if you don’t understand the starting points of different people, for example
professional backgrounds.
The process thinking perspective seemed in both cases offer really important knowledge when
thinking about the success of project. The knowledge was mainly in tacit format. The point, where the
fluency of co-operation was tested seemed to be a holistic way of thinking and if the actors had it or
not. Co-operation seemed to culminate specially to emergence of costs and how to handle problematic
situations in a good spirit.
Together the social structure and process thinking perspectives seemed particularly important. These
are also the perspectives, whose knowledge is most difficult to share because the knowledge offered by
these perspectives is mainly in tacit format.
Raghu et al. (1998) emphasize that the importance of a particular perspective depends on the process
that is being modeled. Also Melão and Pidd (2000) emphasize in their research the significance of the
use of the perspectives. It might well be that in the exact case of project management contracting
model, the importance of social structure and process thinking perspectives of knowledge are
highlighted.
The results also stress that part of the process knowledge is explicit and part tacit. Knowledge
related to the operations in the process is mainly in explicit form and therefore quite easy to share
between the network. An example about this could be the reporting activities in the process. On the
other hand there is also a lot of knowledge related to the “spirit” of the process, which is mainly in
tacit form. An example about this could be behavioral patterns in problematic situations. The fact, that
there’s both explicit and tacit process knowledge cause some demands also for the training session and
the tools and methods used. The interaction between these two sides has to be present.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The results of the research support the need of special process training sessions. The collaborative
processes include a lot of practices which have to be determined among several participants.
Additionally this has to be done quickly in the beginning of a new project. A good place to organize a
training session would be just before engaging to collaboration because potential reasons for later
unclarities are born just in the beginning of a project.
When organizing such training sessions the multifaceted nature of business processes has to be kept
in mind. In the training sessions all the perspectives found in the study seem to be important to be
handled at some level. Besides the perspectives of process knowledge also knowledge concerning the
product domain must be comprehended by the participants. The study showed that before it is possible
to effectively share process related knowledge there should be an adequate understanding on the
product, in this context meaning the building itself to be constructed.
Construction projects executed using the project management contracting model demand deep trust
between participants. In the results of the study this was also confirmed and the importance of “softer”
perspectives to business processes was highlighted.
Melão and Pidd (2000) and Raghu et al. (1998) argue in their own research that the multifaceted
nature of business processes demands from modeling tools and other process development tools more
than they are now capable. The results of our study somewhat explain their statement. Process
knowledge was found to be partly explicit and partly in tacit format. According to Nonaka (Nonaka
1991, Nonaka 1995, Nonaka et al. 2000) these knowledge types should be shared with different
methods. This has to be noticed also in the training sessions. Traditionally process inspired
development tools have perhaps supported only the sharing of explicit knowledge. There should be
also methods that support the interaction between explicit and tacit knowledge (methods have been
studied for example by Feller et al. 2004 and Hyttinen 2004).
Modeling processes with flow charts offers a way to discuss the work flow, information flow and
decision making perspectives. It’s quite easy to discuss and decide about these because they can be
111
expressed explicitly rather easily. Sharing knowledge about the social structure and process thinking is
on the other hand harder because they contain a lot of tacit knowledge.
One way of sharing tacit knowledge in training sessions could be to adapt benchmarking principles.
In addition to people from the starting project, also people with experience from same type of projects
could participate in these training sessions.
Results of the research showed that the places where process understanding and collaboration
between participants will be really tested are problematic situations. The ideal situation would be that
there would be such an open atmosphere, detached from the employee’s daily roles and
responsibilities, that would support “probing” of getting into problems and internalizing behavioral
patterns that enable overcoming the problems in the “spirit” of collaboration. This should be practiced
in training sessions with examples in group works, where employees from different organizations
could think what they would do in specific problematic situations (cf. Evokari and Smeds 2003).
As our results show extremely important is successful co-operation between so-called counterparts.
In training sessions this observation could be exploited by organizing pair exercises, where
counterparts together could solve specific tasks.
Our research brought up the fact that professional differences bring beside innovativeness also
challenges to the communication between different actors. This has to be kept in mind when
organizing training sessions. Improving the communication between people from different
professional background must be a priority in training sessions.
This study offers many opportunities for further study. In both case examples almost all participants
had worked together already earlier and participants were experienced in the construction industry and
its processes. Further studies would therefore address case projects including participants with little
prior construction process knowledge, for testing and developing further the theoretical construction
and methods of disseminating process knowledge in training situations.
A point of interest would also be to study the possible levels or hierarchies of process knowledge. In
other words this would mean defining what is ‘basic knowledge’ that has to be acquired before more
complex information can be absorbed. The theoretical construction should also be tested in different
case companies and different lines of businesses in deep trust demanding networked projects.
The case company is continuing with the idea of special training sessions. Our research is a
preliminary study for laying the theoretical basis for this kind of process-oriented training. Looking
business processes from different perspectives may give the case company tools to better understand
the complex nature of its business processes. A broad view on business processes helps to avoid the
restrictions of some specific perspective or method.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research reported in this article has been conducted in the Co-Create (Collaborative Creation of
Business Models in Company Networks) research project at the Enterprise Simulation Laboratory
SimLab, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Helsinki University of Technology. The
authors are grateful for the creative research effort of the whole Co-Create research team, which has
made this article possible.
The research is financially supported by the National Technology Agency of Finland (TEKES) and
the pilot companies, which is gratefully acknowledged.

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 URBAN PLANNING AND EVERYDAY LIFE : A LEARNING PROCESS

MIRJA LEMMETTY1 , ERJA VÄYRYNEN1, HELI RANTANEN2, AIJA STAFFANS2, RIITTA

SMEDS1,

1
Helsinki University of Technology TKK, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, SimLab
2
Helsinki University of Technology TKK, Department of Architecture, Urban Planning and Design

ABSTRACT
In addition to the traditional view of urban planning as a process of professionals preparing the
decisions and land use plans, urban planning may be considered as a more comprehensive process
including a.o. social, ethical, environmental and political aspects. This brings in a need for a more
dynamic and interactive organization of networks and partnerships. These challenges are met in a
research project combining competences from the fields of urban planning, management of business
processes and environmental psychology. The aim of this interdisciplinary action research is to create
a concept of “urban planning as a learning process”.

INTRODUCTION
This paper introduces the background and research aims of a starting three-year research project called
OPUS. OPUS is an interdisciplinary research project between two laboratories at the Helsinki
University of Technology: the Enterprise Simulation Laboratory SimLab at the Department of
Computer Science and Engineering, and the Laboratory of Urban Planning and Design at the
Department of Architecture. The novel combination of research tools is also introduced, as well as the
results from the project’s feasibility study. The OPUS acronym is based on the Finnish name of the
project, translating to “urban planning and everyday life: a learning process”.
Traditionally, and also judicially, the most powerful instruments of urban planning are different
sanctioned land use plans on regional, general and detailed levels. From this point of view, urban
planning can be seen as a community of practice, which is institutionally bound up with the political
decision making (mainly on local, municipal level) and with the professional expertise responsible for
preparing the decisions and plans.
Besides this narrow but judicially clear definition, urban planning can be seen as a more
comprehensive concept including several social, professional, ethical and political processes by which
the community affects its members´ quality of life and environment, and future development. From
this point of view, urban planning is no longer only a question of preparing land use plans but a wide
range of timely managed processes including different plans, decisions and actions. This requires a
more dynamic organization of networks and partnerships to enhance the quality and to increase the
innovations in urban planning processes.

RESEARCH AIM AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Recent trends in planning theories have been guided by the social sciences. This has resulted in
theories of communicative planning which do not sufficiently take into account social interaction in
planning practices (Staffans 2004). However, interaction is crucial for learning, knowledge co-creation
and innovation (e.g. Vygotski 1978, in Hakkarainen et al. 1999, Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995). In the
development of cities, and in increasing the competitiveness of the planning institutions, knowledge
co-creation in collaborative networks is largely an unutilized resource. The OPUS research project
corresponds to this need by creating the concept of “urban planning as a learning process”.
Our research is problem oriented, and therefore fundamentally interdisciplinary. In OPUS project,
planning is examined as a communal learning process in which there is a continuous dialogue between
the institutional conditions, political and professional ideals and norms, and the practices of everyday
life. Learning is examined through the theories of knowledge creation and organizational learning (e.g.

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Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). In addition to the communal learning aspect, the urban planning process
is examined from the theoretical approach of the management of networked business processes and
models (e.g. Hammer and Champy 1993, Hamel, 2000), Internet-based communication and
environmental psychology.
Urban planning can be defined as a process creating, collecting and managing new knowledge
(Puustinen, 2004). However, Staffans (2004) points out that present planning processes don’t
sufficiently bring together the residents’ local knowledge, based on every-day-life experiences, and the
formal planning institutions based on expertise knowledge. When the aim is to create innovations in
this process, it requires, according to the theory of knowledge creation (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995), a
community consisting of individuals with different backgrounds and mental models. Only part of these
different experiences and mental models can be presented explicitly. The problem with the tacit,
experimental knowledge has been that it usually also remains tacit. Therefore the creation of
innovation requires sharing of tacit information and a shared space (ba) where people can
communicate with each other.
Organizational learning requires a systematic effort to learn, elimination of the barriers of learning
and knowledge management (Otala, 2002). Additionally, developing a networked process requires
“network learning” in order to allow all the organizations in the network to work for a shared target,
with each organization concentrating on its core competencies (Lemmetty, 2005). Network learning
processes would result in changes to attributes of the network, such as interaction processes and
structures, and shared narratives (Dunford & Jones, 2000). The prerequisite for process development is
continuous double-loop learning (Smeds, 1996). Double-loop learning means questioning
organization’s working methods, values and norms and implementing radically new ways of working
(Argyris & Schön, 1978). An urban planning process can learn by systematically analyzing and
reflecting experiences about the process and utilizing the learning to improve the process (Lemmetty,
2005).
In the theory of management of business processes, processes are often classified as core processes or
support processes. Core processes are the processes that have a direct connection to an external
customer and that are refining the product (Laamanen, 2003). Core processes cross the organizational
units and extend beyond the organizational boundaries, to the activities of the customers, retailers,
subcontractors and other stakeholders (Hannus, 1994). Support processes can be defined as processes
that enable the actual core processes (Laamanen, 2003). Urban planning process can be regarded as
part of a core process, beginning from the interests of the stakeholders and ending with a solution
acceptable to them. Developing the urban planning process requires that urban planning is regarded as
a preliminary phase in a process of building and maintaining the urban environment (Lemmetty, 2005).
Visualizing the logic of organizational operations by modelling the processes offers a means to
develop the processes further (Hannus, 2004). By the means of process descriptions, the aim is to
understand what is critical in achieving organization’s main targets. The evaluators often recognize the
interdependencies between different tasks when evaluating and developing processes. They also often
realize the importance of collaboration, and thus learn to appreciate the work of the others (Laamanen,
2003). To avoid the resistance towards a change in process development, empowerment of the
personnel is crucial (Smeds & Alvesalo, 2003). Process innovations are more efficient ways to
organize the work in customer oriented value chains. They cannot be successfully implemented
without a shared understanding of the process, or without organizational learning in the organizations
forming the business process network (Smeds, 2001). Participation in process development creates
shared understanding and commitment to change. At the same time it enables the emerging of feasible
ideas and facilitates the implementation of the improved process (Smeds, 2001). The principles of
organizational knowledge creation apply for both product and process innovations. Both can also be
accelerated with a social simulation without the actual learning by doing (Smeds, 2001).
This broad process approach also suggests that the urban planning process can be seen in the context
of a value network, composed of public and private organizations and the residents. According tothe
definition of network management literature, the value networks are formed by organizations
producing value for customers through their collaboration. Each organization in the value network
adds value to the collaboration by operating on the field of its core competences (Möller & Halinen,
1999). Hannus et al. (1999) claim that to achieve the best possible outcome from the network
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collaboration, the value network should be directed by a central organization possessing the best
possibilities to collect and utilize the information needed to direct the network. When applied to urban
planning, an important element of the network approach is including the residents and the resident
associations in the planning process as significant actors. The residents can be regarded as
“communities of practice”, that by Wenger’s (1999) definition are “voluntarily gathered together to
promote a shared interest”. Wenger and Snyder (2000) point out that the communities of practice can
be directed towards the targets of a formal organization by providing an environment for their
activities and supporting organization’s members to engage in those activities.

RESEARCH APPROACH
Since the network of actors in an urban planning process also includes the residents, the traditional
public-private-partnership (PPP) approach is not sufficient in this research. The OPUS project
promotes an approach of a public-private-people-partnership (P4).
The concept of local knowledge is approached by promoting the role of informal information like
experiences, recollections and conceptions of local actors in the area, including residents,
entrepreneurs, associations and municipal officials. Bringing together professional knowledge and
lived experience, citizens and experts form an “interpretive community”. Through mutual discourse, a
community seeks a persuasive understanding of the issues under investigation (Fischer 2000).
This research applies the approaches of constructive research and innovation action research.
Constructive research begins from a relevant and scientifically interesting problem (Kasanen, Lukka &
Siitonen, 1991). The next phase after the problem recognition is connecting the problem to prior
knowledge and constructing a solution model. Then the practical functioning of the solution is tested
and the scientific novelty value is demonstrated. By Kaplan’s definition (1998), innovation action
research engages the researcher in an explicit program to develop new solutions that alter existing
practice and then test the feasibility and properties of the innovation. In innovation action research,
scholars work with client organizations to enhance and test an emerging theory that has been proposed
to improve organizational performance.
In OPUS research project, the empirical research data collected from the pilot cases is used to analyze
the functionality of the new methods, their impact on the urban planning and the challenges in their
further development. The empirical data is also used to answer the interdisciplinary research questions.

EMPIRICAL BASIS

Urban planning pilot cases

The concept of “urban planning as a learning process” is created with a help of action research in four
Finnish urban planning cases including both existing and new urban areas. Three cases are situated in
the city of Espoo and the fourth case is in the municipality of Kangasala. All pilot cases include an
existing network of partners willing to develop their activities as part of the cases. Pilot cases aim at
developing both the urban planning process and new service models. In 2004, before the start of the
actual OPUS-project, we have conducted an empirical OPUS feasibility study concerning the
Suurpelto city planning case in cooperation with the city of Espoo and other stakeholders.

Evaluation pilot cases

The aim of the evaluation pilot cases is to collect and refine information about the perceived
environmental quality factors of residents. Evaluations will be carried out in several municipalities in
Finland. The special interest is on families’ experiences of their environments and the environmental
child impact assessment. The perceived quality of living environments will be studied in three
subprojects:
o The family friendly qualities of the living environments will be studied in five different
towns in Southern Finland. Several hundreds residents will take part to this sub-study.
o The qualities of family friendly housing will be studied in a neighbourhood in Tuusula
municipality. The interest in on everyday practices of each member of the family and the
characteristics of their indoor and outdoor settings.
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 o The environmental child impact assessment will be studied in the city of Turku. The contents
of this evaluation will deal with the everyday life of children and their important places: the
school routes, perceptions of dangerous places and children’s favourite places.

DATA GATHERING, ANALYSIS AND DEVELOPMENT METHODS

OPUS research project develops and applies new interactive learning methods to support urban
planning in selected areas in Finland. The methods are based on SimLab’s process development
method and on the use of the Internet as a planning and communication environment during the
whole process. The process development method is enhanced with Internet-based interactive
methods such as a local Development Forum, project databases and geographic information systems
(WebGIS). All these Internet-based tools are developed further in the OPUS-project.
Applying the methods mentioned above, the research project conducts constructive innovation action
research on multiple levels:
o The development of the selected urban areas from the point of view of the users
o The spin-off innovations in those areas: the unfolding of networked service models between
public and private actors
o The development of the networked urban planning process
o The development of a comprehensive Internet based planning tool including interactive maps
(webGIS), citizen forums and visualizations.
o The development of the SimLab simulation method itself into an interactive map supported
learning environment.
Different methods will be described more detailed in the following.

Evaluations
In the evaluation pilot cases, the qualities of the living environment will be studied with the so-called
“Soft-GIS”-method. This Internet-based method combines experiential, individual evaluations with
actual, physical places. The objective is to produce user evaluations that can be effectively used in
planning processes. “Soft GIS” maps visualize the residents’ qualitative preferences in new ways, and
they can also function as tools for the residents as they comment and evaluate their own living
environments.
The environmental child impact assessment will be studied by developing a web-based evaluation
method for children and young people. The qualities of family friendly housing will be studied by
using qualitative methods. Families will be interviewed about their living environments’ qualities. The
results from these interviews will be utilized as a basis for a social simulation session.

Internet-based tools
A local Internet-based Development Forum is applied in one of the urban planning pilot cases in the
OPUS project. The development Forum is designed and built in cooperation with local residents, city
quarter’s associations, municipal officials and other stakeholders. Residents and local projects can
utilize a WebGIS map while collecting different kinds of local data. The City can collect information
e.g. from the children (“the best places to play”) and the elderly (“too dark places”, “places difficult for
walking” etc.). It is possible to make links from the map to other web sites and databases too. In a
town planning and zoning processes both the residents and the planners can use the Development
Forum as a local database. The Forum supports residents’ participation on planning issues by offering
a media for expressing ideas and arguments and pointing out deficiencies based on peoples’ every-day-
life experiences. There is a need for disclosing this kind of local information because the representative
decision making process or the traditional planning apparatus cannot produce this information itself
(Niemenmaa 2005). This collaborative data bank with its on-line features will be utilized in the social
simulations during the project.
Internet based planning and communication tools have been developed an tested in the Department of
Architecture during numerous projects, e.g. Home Street Project (1997-2002) and its sub-projects, and
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Nettimaunula-project (2001-2003) in cooperation with City Planning Department and the Public
Works Department of Helsinki, Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council YTV (Regional Registry WebGIS
-project SePe) and citizen organizations such as Helka ry (Federation of the Associations for Helsinki
City Quarters). ‘Citizen GIS’ (=simple web based maps, occasionally including spatial coordinates and
a data base of their own) applications have been tested in the districts of Pihlajisto (Virtual Nature
Management Plan, 1999, and Planning Game for Children, 2000) and Maunula (“My Maunula” –
interactive map, 2003).
The experiences from the previous projects have shown that local development forums with
discussion areas, data banks and interactive maps are easy to access and use, and they have an
increasing role in creating the residents’ own local knowledge resource – especially when they are
integrated to other local medium and activism. For example, if a city quarter has a local web portal, the
Development Forum should be a part of it (e. g. case of the City Quarter of Maunula,
http://www.maunula.net). In order to make a contribution to actual planning processes, these forums
and map applications need to be attached better to the official planning procedure. Unfortunately the
local information provided by the residents via a local web forum – or other medium – often remain
disconnected in relation to actual urban planning processes. Planning institutions do not always know
what to do with all the local information produced by residents, or the information never reaches the
planners. The difficulty in general is also that information management systems in municipal
organizations in Finland are not designed to combine different kinds of data, produced by different
stakeholders or even by different sectors of administration. Also the lack of a time axis attribute in
formal GIS and city plan data is a problem. Therefore this data is not being utilized in a decision
making process properly (Rossi, 2005). In order to make a contribution to more open and
comprehensive planning practice, a close cooperation with the municipal officials and a clear research
focus on the planning process and practices itself is needed.
A wide local coalition is gathered in the OPUS-project in order to support an open two-way flow of
information in a planning process. The Development Forum will be an easy-to-use web interface,
which is maintained by local actors: OPUS project only launches the forum. Many kinds of
independent local projects with web contents of their own are gathered and linked into the forum. The
Internet and GIS resources of the City of Espoo are also exploited. Consequently it will be easier for
the residents to find information about different development issues concerning their neighbourhood.
The aim is to arouse and support a comprehensive understanding of a changing and developing urban
city quarter among all stakeholders. OPUS project will focus on integrating the non-formal knowledge
provided by the residents and other stakeholders of the area with the formal expertise of the planning
institutions.

Process development by social simulation

The SimLab process development method is applied in three urban planning pilot cases. The method is
utilized as a tool to facilitate interaction in urban planning process, as a collective arena of cooperation
for the OPUS project itself, and as a tool to collect research data. The process development method is
based on participation and empowerment. The method includes carefully prepared and guided social
simulation sessions with 30-50 process stakeholders, followed by the analysis of the simulation
material and reporting.
The focus of the simulation sessions in the OPUS project can be on the development of cooperative
planning process or on the plans and their visualizations as such. In case the focus is on the plans, the
results from the evaluation cases and the Internet forums can provide material needed for the
simulation sessions. The internet-based solutions can be used to collect information from residents
about the case areas. This promotes the residents’ view as a basis for simulation session discussion to
develop new and existing areas. The results from the simulation sessions can then be disseminated
back to the residents through the Development Forums. These different methods support each other to
promote the resident view in planning as well as to inform and thus to empower the residents in the
planning process.

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In case the focus is on the planning process, an important simulation tool is the process chart, which is
developed by interviewing the key actors in the process. The simulation phase in the method creates a
shared understanding of the process, which increases both the motivation of the participants and the
change flexibility of the organization. Commitment to change arises from understanding of the whole.

LINKING THE THEORETICAL BACKGROUND TO THE OPUS-PROJECT TOOLS

The tools explained above will promote the theoretical approaches in a following way:
Creation of new local knowledge can be facilitated by connecting together people with different mental
models. In the OPUS project, we aim at making the tacit knowledge explicit and refining it into a form
that is applicable and useful for the processes of urban planning. The OPUS project connects the
experiences of the public and private organizations and residents through the simulation sessions and
in the Development Forums, with the aim to transform the diverse experiences into shared
understanding. In addition, the residents’ experiences of the quality factors of their living
environments will be translated into explicit knowledge with the help of the analyzed information from
the evaluation pilot cases. The feedback from the residents through the evaluations, development
forums and simulation sessions can help the planners to understand the demands of everyday life on
the plans. Respectively, an open discussion and information can help the resident to understand the
planned changes in their environment and therefore to accept the plans. The Development Forums can
serve as a platform for residents to be informed about the plans and to give feedback about their living
environments. And while storing and visualizing the development and planning processes they support
local learning process among all the stakeholders.
The social simulation sessions offer an environment for organizational learning, by the means of
systematic preparation and guiding of the discussion. The simulation sessions also provide a shared
place for reflection of experiences, which is an essential prerequisite for learning and the creation of
new knowledge. The learning process can be enhanced further with the analysis of the results from the
simulations.
Based on the theory of management of business processes, the development of the urban planning
process will be facilitated in the simulation sessions with a joint discussion about the process and by
means of process visualizations. Social simulation sessions offer a structured way to share experiences
about previous projects and to create a shared understanding about the process objectives. Participation
in the simulation sessions can also contribute to creating commitment to the improved process. This
can promote the co-operation in the public-private-people-partnership and thus facilitate the actual
implementation of the new working methods in the process.
This research applies a broad process approach with its public-private-people-partnership approach on
urban planning process. Including the residents in the planning process by means of the Development
Forums and simulations contributes to making the needs and expectations of the end users more
visible. The needs of the end users will also be made visible with the evaluation of residents’
experiences on quality factors of their environments. The active empowerment of the residents can
also reduce the amount of complaints about the plans and thus facilitate the process flow.

RESULTS FROM THE FEASIBILITY STUDY

The aim of the feasibility study was to simulate the concept and plans of a new urban area, called
Suurpelto, in the city of Espoo. The feasibility study also tested the suitability of applying the process
development method and its social simulation in the field of urban planning. The topics covered in the
interviews preceding the simulation session were everyday life and living environment, local services
and communications, business and work, learning and studying, leisure, recreation and transportation
in the Suurpelto area. One of the main concerns was how to assure that the vision of the area would be
sustained through the planning and building phases and would finally be converted into reality.
One of the main findings of the feasibility study was that SimLab’s method of business process
development is also applicable to urban planning. The method was applied to visualize the future
activities in Suurpelto and to bring developers together to create a shared understanding about the
plans. Even if the aim was not to develop the process, the tools of process development method could
be utilized to support the building of shared understanding about the plans as well.
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The feasibility study also demonstrated the need to rethink the urban planning process. The Suurpelto
feasibility study case is an example of the impacts of the renewed Land Use and Building Act on urban
planning. The amount of actors in the process has increased and therefore the roles of established and
new actors need clarification. The Act, renewed in year 2000, has increased the demands of
communication and the empowerment of the residents in the urban planning process. All these new
demands have illustrated the need for more comprehensive knowledge management in urban planning.
This issue was also discussed in the feasibility study. The study concluded that fostering the shared
objectives requires organized communication between the different actors.

CONCLUSIONS, NOVELTY VALUE OF THE RESEARCH

The aim of OPUS is to elaborate a collaborative and learning urban planning process in which all the
stakeholders (P4) can make a contribution. This will eventually give way to a more transparent,
conversational and instructive planning process.
This multidisciplinary action research approach combines the research of business process networks,
urban planning and environmental psychology in a novel way to produce a concept of urban planning
as a learning process and to generate concrete development results for the partners involved.
Especially innovative in the OPUS-project is the aim of applying interactive web-tools to the social
process simulations. This is also likely to create methodological innovations of learning environments.
The Local Development Forum will foster and support transparency and reliability of the planning
process: it will give an opportunity to the public to participate in a planning process by bringing up
local issues and creating a local data base based on their every-day-life experiences. The Forum should
also challenge the planners and the municipal information management system as a whole to utilize
better the different kinds of local knowledge in a decision making process.
Important elements in the SimLab process development method are visualization and empowerment.
Different actors can together utilize the process chart to simulate and develop their ways of working.
There is a lot of research in several universities in the fields of virtual learning environments and 3D
applications. These virtual environments are however typically developed only for the use of
individuals (often specialist designers), rather than to be used as empowering learning environments
for the whole network of actors.
Interactive web-based methods in urban planning are internationally rare. Usually the interactive map
applications are designed to create thematic maps according to user’s own interests. Evaluation of the
living environment with GIS applications and interactive planning in web environment are yet new
applications. The “Soft-GIS”-method developed in the OPUS-project has already gained international
interest. OPUS will create new significant research results and experiences about the methods used in
urban planning and in the evaluation of the living environments.
The OPUS research project meets the challenges of urban planning and every life by pursuing to build
a bridge between the planning practices, scientific knowledge and the experimental knowledge of the
stakeholders. The desirable elements of the “urban planning as a learning process” concept include
transparency of the process and interaction of all key actors. The results aim to benefit and satisfy the
members of the public-private-people-partnership involved in the processes of urban planning, design
and construction.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research reported in this paper has been conducted in the collaborative OPUS research project at
Helsinki University of Technology. The scientific partners in OPUS are the Enterprise Simulation
Laboratory SimLab at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and the Laboratory of
Urban Planning and Design at the Department of Architecture. The Family research unit of the Family
Federation of Finland collaborates in OPUS as an affiliated partner. The authors are grateful for the
creative research effort of the whole multidisciplinary OPUS research team, which has made this paper
possible.
The research is financially supported by the following organizations, which is gratefully
acknowledged: National Technology Agency of Finland Tekes, City of Espoo, YIT-Yhtymä Oyj,
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Asuntosäätiö, Vahanen Yhtiöt, LM Ericsson Oy, Sodexho Oy, TeliaSonera Oyj, City of Turku, and the
municipalities of Järvenpää, Kerava, Mäntsälä, Nurmijärvi and Tuusula.

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 EXPERIENCES WITH THE MANGO CHAIN GAME
SEBASTIAAN MEIJER1), GUILLERMO ZÚÑIGA-ARIAS2), SIETSE STERRENBURG2)
1)
Wageningen University, Information Technology Group
Postbus 9101, Bode 143
6700 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands
Sebastiaan.Meijer@wur.nl
2)
Wageningen University, Development Economics Group
Guillermo.Zuniga@wur.nl
Sietse.Sterrenburg@wur.nl

Abstract
The mango chain game is a simulation game used for research purposes. It facilitated studying the
bargaining power of Costa Rican mango producers in international supply chains of mango. The game
simulates a simplified mango export chain in which real world local producers can play the role of
producer association, multinational, independent exporter or retailer.
The game is an operationalisation of a conceptual model of a netchain build upon theories from
multiple disciplines, including transaction cost economics, bargaining theory and cultural dimensions.
The design is a board game, using simple forms, coins and pieces as game material.
After series of test sessions in a university environment, five sessions have been played in the field.
This paper presents results fro experiences porting a game from a university environment to the field,
learning experiences in a research game and existing relationships versus bargaining.

Introduction
The Mango Chain Game is the operational version of the prototype “Costa Rica Chain Game”
(Sterrenburg and Zúñiga-Arias, 2004). The game is used for research purposes in a project of
Wageningen University. This project studies the bargaining power of Costa Rican mango producers in
international supply chains of mango.
The game provides a method to get real producers simulate a simplified mango chain. Producers play
all roles in the game. This configuration allows studying the expectations producers have of all actors
in the chain, the influence of existing relations on bargaining, on top of the economic analysis about
bargaining power, contracting and quality improvement that is done in any configuration.
This paper starts with a theoretical background and a description of the game. Next it describes how
theories are operationalised in the game. Then we continue with the sessions we did in Costa Rica,
results obtained and conclusions drawn from these results. We finish with a discussion on value of this
game and how to continue.

Theoretical backgrounds
We divide the theoretical background in two groups: firstly there is literature on game design.
Secondly we use literature on the research topics this game is about. In this section we describe all
literature used on the first topic. From the second topic we focus on bargaining and social issues as the
economic analysis will be subject of a separate paper.

Game design – the methodology

Meijer (2004) discussed the usefulness of simulation games and concludes they match the issues in
this field excellent. Meijer and Hofstede (2004) identified that, although simulation games are
certainly not new, the application of simulation games in the field of chains and networks is new and
growing in number.
Most simulation games however are used for training purposes and facilitation of group dynamics Few
people use it as a data gathering tool. Duke and Geurts (2004) describe the full methodology of design,
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play and debriefing of simulation games for policy making. With their thorough approach they link
theoretical concepts and an analysis of the current and newly wished situation to design parameters of
the game. This approach is very similar to the methodology of laboratory studies, except for the newly
wished situation (Verschuren and Dodewaard, 1999). Both methods use theoretical concepts to link
observations to. Both have predefined methods of observation and both use an artificial setting to focus
on interesting aspects of real world phenomena. When a game design is so thorough that all internal
and external variables are defined, including the borders of the simulation, one might call it a social
laboratory. Game sessions are the individual experiments.
Meijer and Hofstede (2003) describe simulation games on two aspects: a bounded or unbounded world
model, meaning that all options are described or that new aspects of the real world can be brought into
the model during the game, and the size of the participant action space, a combination of width and
depth of actions participants can make during the game.

Bargaining
Muthoo (2002) describes six factors influencing bargaining in a non-technical overview article. His list
consists of the factors:
1. Impatience: the speed at which a negotiator needs to get an agreement,
2. Risk of breakdown: the economic of social consequences when no agreement is reached.
3. Outside options: the number of alternatives to achieve the results you want to get from this
negotiation,
4. Inner options: the profitable outcomes you have from the situation negotiated about when not
reaching an agreement,
5. Commitment tactics: attaching “switching costs” to leaving your demand position, due to
external pressure of the group you represent for instance.
6. Asymmetric information: the seller knows more about what is being sold than the buyer, for
instance.

On each of these six topics economic studies have been done describing models and cases. Many of
these papers have a mathematical model describing relationships. We used some of these papers for
the economic analysis of the game but leave this part out in this paper. For this paper we take the
economic content of each factor as a given, but do consider the factors as they determine the
bargaining between traders. Social circumstances will determine how much weight is given to each of
the six factors.

Social issues
The use of simulation gaming in this research is to incorporate real people and especially their
behaviour and mental models in the simulated environment. The existence of influence of personal
relationships on economic activity is well documented in the real world, for instance for the dilemma
of transparency in chains and networks (Hofstede et al, 2004)
Trust is a key concept to be able to have a relationship (Pimentel Claro et al, 2004). Nooteboom et al
(1997, quoted by Pimentel Claro et al (2004)) stressed that trust enables partners to manage risk and
opportunism in transactions. Powell (1990) stressed that trust helps to reduce complexity in transaction
making. Anderson and Narus (1990, quoted by Pimentel Claro et al (2004)) explained that trust
reflects the extent to which negotiations are fair and commitments are sustained.
All these aspects come together in Transaction Cost Economics (Williamson 1985, 1998). There are
four sources of transaction costs surrounding the life time of a contract: searching (for supply, market
information and business partners), bargaining, monitoring of a contract and enforcing the fulfilment
in case of problems. The costs made for each of these activities can exist both from real money due to
employee hours involved or business diners, but also from time spent by people not involving money,
missed opportunities because of waiting for options set and a revaluing of relationships. Factors in this
are uncertainty and asymmetric information. The less uncertainty one has about the fulfilment of a
contract, the less monitoring and enforcing is needed. The less asymmetric information exists between
buyer and seller, the less costs have to be made during the searching phase.

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Williamson (1998) describes the embedding of daily economic activities via the governance level and
the institutional level in culture. Hofstede et al, (2002) describe five dimensions of culture, as
represented in table 1.

Table 2: Value dimensions of culture (Hofstede et al, 2002)

Dimension One extreme Other extreme
Identity Collectivism Individualism
Hierarchy Large Power Distance Small Power Distance
Gender Femininity Masculinity
Truth Strong uncertainty avoidance Weak uncertainty avoidance
Virtue Long-term orientation Short-term orientation

Every culture can be (and many have been) scored on each of these five dimensions. It does not
describe the personality of a person, but shows tendencies of valuation of social outings among groups
of people from a certain geographical background.

Operational model of concepts

Due to the interdisciplinary nature of this research we need a middle-stage model between the theories
we build upon and the actual game, to integrate the concepts we use in one workable model. Figure X
shows the grand scheme, which builds upon the scheme presented by Meijer (2004, netchain lab). The
modelling method used is an entity-relationship diagram, best known from the field of database design.
Each box is a distinguishable entity, of which there can be multiples. The lines between the boxes are
the relationships, mostly of the type one-to-many. In the figure below for instance, one TradeAgent
can fulfil one or more TradeRole(s). A TradeRole is a part of one Institution, and an Instution has one
or more TradeRole(s).
We illustrate here the two most important parts of the scheme for the Mango Chain Game:
The TradeAgent is the individual participant. He has personal relation ties with other TradeAgents. In
a game with one participant per company in the game there is a one-to-one relation between Institution
and TradeAgent. The Institutions have interdependencies. (Lazzarini et al, 2001), meaning they are
depending on other Institions for supply and demand, a good reputation of the entire supply network,
or access to markets for instance. Institutions can be part of other (larger) Institutions. This is the case
in chain forming or merging of businesses. The Institution has Contract_Access for several
Contract_Types. The individual TradeAgent however is the person making contracts. The point made
with this conceptual design is the discrepancy between individual relations and contract making and
the possibilities and interdependencies of companies individuals represent.
The second illustration of a part of the scheme is the process of making and successfully getting
fulfilled a Contract. To get to a Contract a TradeAgent will do one or more ContractAttempts. For this
ContractAttempt Tasks have to be done. (Searching, bargaining, and later on monitoring and
enforcing, following Williamson (1998). These tasks can be fulfilled by Use_of_Methods, which are
transaction costs made.

The game
The Mango Chain Game development was aimed to have a ‘bounded world model’ about the structure
and options possible. The models used should be completely described and compared to theory and
real world situation. The ‘participant action space’ however should be unlimited. The simulation does
not model any behaviour of humans (except for producers / consumers) and does not limit them in
their interactions. (Although the behaviour of the participants is aligned by the contracts they should
use in order to make transactions, they still can do whatever they think is appropriate.) Everything is
allowed and should be possible, even if it falls outside the ‘world model’, it is just not valued in the
econometric analysis of the game.
Table 2 describes keys aspects of the game.

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Within-game objective
Target audience
Preparation for participants
Briefing and setup time
Playing time
Debriefing time
Number of participants
Game materials
Equipment required
Venue requirements
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Figure 1: operational model of concepts
Table 3
making profit
Producers from the Costa Rican mango export chain
None
30 minutes
1 to 2 hours
1 hour
7 to 13
game board, game money, information sheets for each player and game
leader, products to be traded, ships and boats for transport on the game
board, material to apply randomized uncertainty in the production and
transport, name cards for each player, transaction forms, consumer
market forms
Some calculators and pencils
One large table for the game board, enough room to walk around the
board for the participants.
 Legend:
p=1 n=1-2 p = players per role
(B) n = number of roles
Independent
Exporter Player
(A) (B) role
Producers (B)
p=1 n=3-5 p=1-3 n=1 p=1 n=2-3
(B) (B) (C) Supporting
(C) Producer Multinational Retailer Consumers
role
Association
Domestic poss. product flow
market
A,B,C = steps each
(B) round

Figure 2. Overview of the simulated chain and the steps per round.
Players get the role of traders in a simplified model of the mango export chain from Costa Rica,
depicted in figure 1. They have to trade products by making one- or three-round agreements with other
players or by vertical integration of their firms.

Producer association
Transaction cost color legend
buy on credit
Searching
sell to DM
Bargaining
improve quality
Monitoring and Enforcing Contracts
Operational
Retailer
price consumer market
charter official ship
break-up effect
Contract 1 round
buy/sell trade partner agreement to improve quality
quantity red break-up effect
3 rounds
price red
quantity yellow
company price
price yellow
way of payment
risk responsibility
Buy service included / salary?
other agreements
company agreement to improve quality

Figure 3. Overview of decisions / actions possibly taken each round and the related

Each round during step A (see figure 2) there is a certain level of production, the quantity depends on
chance, the quality (high or low) of the products depends on the initial quality configuration of each
producer association (this quality configuration can be improved by investments by the producer
associations). Producer associations buy products from producers at fixed prices per quality type. They
can sell their products at the domestic market at a fixed price which doesn't differentiate in quality.
During step B the players get a limited amount of time to trade these products completely through the
chain. Normally products produced in one round reach the consumer or the domestic market in that
round. Finally during step C the retailers sell at a self determined price at the consumer market. The
quantity the consumers buy is a function of the quantities and prices of all retailers together.
Consumers value high quality more than low. Products can be kept until the next round, but high
quality product will degrade to low quality. Low quality product will perish completely. Products are
transported between producer association and intermediaries (Independent exporter and multinational)
with trucks owned by the producer associations; between the intermediaries and retailers with ships

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owned by the intermediaries. Retailers can also charter an expensive ship for direct trade with producer
associations.

For each transaction with another player, a written agreement (in the game called “contract”) is
needed. This can be a 1- or 3-round contract or an agreement for vertical integration of two firms.
After the respectively named governance mechanisms for a transaction: spot market, hybrids and
vertical integration as described by (Williamson, 1985). The most used options in contracts can be
found in the contract part of the player decisions overview in figure 3.
After checking a contract on consistency a game leader places a line between the involved contract
parties on the game board. The lines have different colors per type of contract: 1-, 3-round contract or
vertical integration.
All players MN / IE RL
horizontal price agreement rent own ship charter intermediary ship
vertically share information
horizontal cooperation
high quality/bulk
tacit vertical integration

Figure 4. Background or strategy decisions, not explicitly mentioned in game

The rules of the game leave some room in the participant action space making it possible for players
to form alliances ad libitum and invent new roles during the game. Some examples of actions which
are not explicitly mentioned by the game leaders are denominated in figure 4.
At least two game leaders are needed for the facilitation of the begin and end markets and registration
of the game data.

Sessions
The game has been played in five sessions in the field involving Costa Rican mango producers. In the
development and testing phase another 3 sessions have been completed using the final version of the
game. The latter sessions had students and scientists as game participants and there were some minor
differences in the appearance and lay-out of the game material.
A day with a field session typically had the following time schedule: around three o’clock in the
afternoon four game facilitators (game leader (Guillermo Zúñiga), two game assistants (Sietse
Sterrenburg and Jose Zúñiga) and observer (Sebastiaan Meijer) would arrive in the village where the
game will take place. After meeting with the local head of the producers association or his assistant
they set up the game in the meeting room or area. After diner participants would walk in. Usually there
would be half an hour between arrival of the first and the last participant. The game leader introduces
the game to everybody for 20 minutes. Then the game is played for 50 to 70 minutes, after which there
is a debriefing of about an hour accompanied with drinks.
The observer and game assistants made notes during the game and the debriefing. The next morning
they meet and discuss observations and conclusions about one session. Due to field circumstances
everything was worked out on paper. When returning to the university campus the notes were
transferred to PC documents.

Results
In this paper we would like to present three results obtained from the sessions.

Transferring a game from university to the field

The main differences between our test environment at universities and the field sessions are threefold.
First of all, the knowledge about actual production is far larger in the field than it is at university. In all
game sessions we had participants telling us that long term contracts were not favourable as production
is highly uncertain in the real world. The university participants most often formed long-term contracts
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as their theoretical frameworks predict this is cheaper in the end. University participants sticking to
short-term contracts were opportunistic: an attitude rarely found in the field itself.
Secondly, although there can be some confusion about the rules of the game in university environment,
everybody is able to read and understand the instructions. In the field we had some participants not
able to read the instructions. They needed support from a game leader or asked other participants to
explain. The question for help influences the start position of the participants.
Thirdly, commitment to play in a university environment is based on loyalty to the researcher who
needs to test his game; a fun-factor and that you might learn something from it. Although there are
existing relationships between university participants, most take competition in the game not too
serious. Damage done in the game, in our experiences, rarely lead to real world consequences. In the
field however the commitment to play was much harder. The Paquera session was postponed many
times and in the final session the manager of the association did not show up. It was because of the
amiable assistant of the manager that participants attended the session. It took a while before the
researchers got the trust of the participants. Game start-up was relatively slow, as some participants
didn’t dare to move that much. In Jicaral the manager of the association is a very smart and
straightforward man. He convinced his producers about the usefulness of the game. Getting two
sessions with different participants was not a problem. Everybody showed up who was expected to be
there, and participants were enthusiastic and fast in trading.
Lessons learned about transferring a game from university to field environments are:
1. The behaviour of field participants will include their perceived models of daily reality. This
makes university tests not valid on the aspect of production-related conclusions. We do not
have enough sessions to say the same about the social aspects, but have signals that social
aspects are comparable as they depend on culture more than on production experience.
2. The design of the game needs to be simple and self-guiding. University participants are not
a good reference for this. In sessions in Holland with another game we found such a
problem through participation of two bus-drivers and the night guard. They resembled the
level of field participants more than did the university level participants.
3. Real world circumstances through which participants get involved in the game are different,
and should be accounted for in the design of the game. What if some don’t really like to
play? And what if there is a power issue that you are not aware of as researcher? In our case
all facilitators were aware this existed and informed about each situation. This avoided
problems by acting carefully.
4. It is important to have a good facilitator and motivator for the local participants, loyalty to
the researcher is not as in the university.

Learning experience in a research game

The primary objective of the Mango Chain Game is research. In the debriefing the researchers first of
all want to receive response from the real-world models of the participants on the game model. The
learning experience is of secondary importance to the researchers. As pointed out in the section before,
getting participants involved in the real world leads design decisions about the game, which might
detract from the subject to study with the game.
The Mango Chain Game is designed with the explicit decision to study behaviour of participants
during the game, and not to make them learn explicitly. Feedback on their behaviour and insights in
the structure of the supply network would only be given in the second half of the debriefing. The
“selling argument” to managers of producer organisations was to let the participants experience
different roles in the entire supply network and to give them feedback on that afterwards.

Although learning during the game was not the goal of the game, we observed three learning effects
that were agreed upon by the participants afterwards:
1. The real world producers start slow in the game, compared to university participants. They
do get up to speed however after a while. The time they need to get familiar with the rules
of the game is large compared to university participants, but they do get to the same level.

129
 2. After round 1 we observed mainly two streams of behaviour of the participants: one sticks
to the real-world mental model that risk should be avoided in contracting. The other sees
opportunities and dares to play more, trying to make more money and win the game.
3. Producers that played the game more than once spent less time learning how to play and got
control over the game faster, gaining them competitive advantage.

In the debriefing most participants showed interest in the steps in the supply network after their real
world clients. The role of the multinational, the power of the independent exporter and even more the
power of retailers in the Western world and their consumers were the topic of discussion. In 3 out of 5
sessions the group was silent for a while when the topic of perishability during the transport and trade
in the network was brought to the table. Most participants never realised that the quality they delivered
to the multinationals and independent exporters might not be the same as the end consumers receive.
In Jicaral the (highly involved) manager used this to emphasize the importance of high quality
produce, as this is a policy he tries to get his producers loyal to.
The lesson learned about the learning effect in a research game is that although learning is not made
explicit, elaborating on what the researcher observed during the game and why he thinks this is
important will make the participants think about this topic. They will learn of it, not in terms of new
skills, but in terms of understanding another perspective of the problem at hand. The learning effect
during the game in terms of skills is there, but we have not been able to pinpoint this as valuable
experience for the participants.

Existing relationships versus bargaining

As described in the second illustration of the operational model, we were interested in the discrepancy
between personal relationships between participants (TradeAgents) and the position of the company
they play in their role (Institution). The bargaining participants need to do to successfully manage
their company and be the best performer in the game takes place in an environment of participants who
all know each other in the real world. We assumed that existing relationships would be brought into
the game. Following Muthoo (2002), relationships between players before the game affect the
bargaining outcome, as they change the value of outside options and have a negative value of inside
options. In this case the inside option of the buyer and seller is the damage done to a relationship
when the two negotiators do not reach an agreement. The outside options are the possibility to buy
from or sell to other participants. The value of those outside options change when one has social
obligations to sell to or buy from friends. Rao (2003) and Williamson (1985) stress that uncertainty
increases transaction cost. The negative value of the inside option for the buyer and seller that have a
relationship before entering the simulation will prohibit opportunism. This decreases the transaction
cost of searching for other business partners (the learning cost), asymmetric information in bargaining,
uncertainty about fulfilment of a contract. Preferring friends is profitable following transaction cost
theory.
Knowing Costa Rican culture in which power distance between bosses and employees is large, we
hypothesized that important people within the group of participants could dictate terms of agreements
and secondly that friends would favour each other as business partner.
We were able to confirm both hypotheses in the five sessions played.
Observations made of the simulation games are the following:
1. Most producers that participated in the simulations knew each other beforehand, making it
difficult to conclude the effect of relationships on bargaining. We were able to distinguish
friendships however.
2. In many cases the friendship in the game produced an almost unbreakable bond that gave
more opportunity to these people to practice power to other participants. This went up to
the level of participants making a long term agreement with a friend in the first round of
the game, and then doing nothing anymore for the entire game. The comment of one
participant doing so in Jicaral was: “He is my friend, he will do what is good for me.”
3. Some participants said that they did business with a particular person due to friendship.
They stressed that with this transaction, they did not spend time looking for buyers, plus

130
 they got better prices, felt comfortable and secure. In other words, they reduced
transaction cost of asymmetric information due to the use of trust in the other party.
4. People that played the game without knowing other participants stress that they had
problems finding other business partners to trade, and experienced disadvantage from
asymmetric information. We can add that the inability to do transactions can be explained
as that this person is entering a new relationship and must invest in trust, confidence and
good reputation to try to keep the relationship and reduce the transaction cost.
5. Other participants observed that the biggest problem was to not know anybody before the
simulation. This observation has strong relationship to the previous one, but we can add
that in terms of Muthoo (2002), the value of outside options (possibility to find another
buyer or seller) was smaller for people that knew each other than to the players who did
not knew anybody. Because of this person being alone in a network of people with a low
value of outside options he was forced to invest much effort in developing a relationship.
One strategy was to work together with players that did not knew other players, the other
strategy observed was to take risk and do business in not so good conditions such as accept
a produce price bellow market price.
6. In any of the sessions where real world managers of the association or real world large
business owners attended they were able to dictate the terms of their agreements. We did
however observe that they were not always the preferred business partner. This was the
case in Paquera where a dominant man, owner of a large business in real life, was very
busy managing his business and completely determined his terms for a contract, but was
ignored when looking for a business partner by most of the other participants, if possible.

Conclusions and discussion

The Mango Chain Game has been played successfully in the field with local mango producers. The
number of sessions played (five) was good for testing the usefulness of our approach and for getting
qualitative results on the role of real world relationships in the bargaining in the game. It was not
enough for the amount of data needed for a statistical econometric analysis of the bargaining power.
Now that we understand the differences between university students and real world participants and
the way to successfully involve the first, it is preferred to add more game sessions with real actors in
the network rather than to perform sessions with university students.
The possibility of performing more game sessions with real-world producers is not easy to obtain.
Producers don’t think this simulation is a priority in their daily life. We as researchers must look for a
really good leader in the producer association to get in touch with the producers and make them
respond positively to the activity. Although there are around 2000 mango producers in Costa Rica it
was hard to get 8 to 12 to participate in the simulations. That is why our strategy was to work with the
producers that participate in a producer association. Econometric analysis of the game difficult if we
decide to do the simulations with real producers only. One alternative is to make a product-generic
simulation of the game and play it with different fruit producers.
The learning in this research game was twofold: first there are the rules of the game. The learning
effect here was obvious, but not pointed out as valuable by any of the participants, nor in the
experience of the researchers. Secondly, the learning effect in the debriefing from reflection on the
game and the real world model it represents was valuable to the participants. We have not been able to
measure the long-term change in insight or attitude of the participants, but got consist feedback that it
was a fruitful way of thinking about what happened with the product before it reaches the consumer,
and its consequences for production.
As a learning tool, we believe that the researchers were the ones learning the most. These sessions are
important in research because they give a picture of what real life is for the real players of the chain.
Researchers get a feeling of the behaviour of the people and the way that transactions are made and
also about the validity of the sessions.
It is clear that that a relationship beforehand makes the participant more competitive to other
participants with no relationship beforehand. Trust is a very important issue in a transaction and it is
clear from observations that it is able to reduce transaction costs and increases bargaining power of the

131
participants. We need many more sessions to be able to support this with econometric analysis, but
proved it in a qualitative way.

References
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partnership. Journal of Marketing, vol 54, number January, pp. 42-58.
Duke, Richard D. and Jacques Geurts (2004): Policy games for strategic management. Dutch
University Press, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Hofstede, Gert Jan, Hans Schepers, Lia Spaans-Dijkstra, Jacques Trienekens, Adrie Beulens
(2004)(Eds.): Hide or Confide, the dilemma of transparency, Reed Business Information, The
Netherlands.
Hofstede, Gert Jan, Paul B. Pedersen, Geert Hofstede (2002): Exploring culture, exercises, stories and
synthetic cultures, Intercultural Press Inc.Yarmouth, Maine, USA.
Lazzarini, S.G., F.R. Chaddad and M.L. Cook (2001): Integrating supply chain management and
network analysis: the study of netchains, Journal on Chain and Network Science 1, Nr. 1, pages 7 - 22
Meijer, Sebastiaan (2004): The usefulness of chain games, in Proceedings of the 8th International
workshop on experimental learning. IFIP WG 5.7 SIG conference, May 2004, Wageningen, The
Netherlands.
Meijer, Sebastiaan and Gert Jan Hofstede (2004), Simulations and simulation games in the agro and
health care sector. KLICT working paper TR-214, Den Bosch, The Netherlands.
Meijer, S.A., G.J. Hofstede (2003), Simulation games for improving the human orientation of
production management, in: Current trends in production management. Proceedings of IFIP WG 5.7
Working conference on human aspects in production management, Karlsruhe, Germany
Muthoo, A (2002): Bargaining Theory with Applications. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge,
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Nooteboom, B., Berger, H. and Noorderhaven, N.G. (1997): Effects of trust and governance on
relational risk. Academy of Management Journal, vol 36, pp. 794-829.
Pimentel Claro, Danny, Zylbersztajn, D and S.M.F. (Onno) Omta (2004): The impact of network
information an long-term relationships in the Duch potted plant and flower industry. Journal on Chain
and Network Science. Volume 4, number 1. pp.7 – 24.
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Organizational Behavior, vol 12, pp. 295-336.
Rao, P.K.(2003): The Economics of Transaction Cost. Theory, Methods and Applications. Palgrave
Macmillan. Great Britain.
Sterrenburg, Sietse, Zúñiga-Arias, Guillermo (2004): “The Costa Rica Chain Game” in Proceedings of
the 8th International workshop on experimental learning. IFIP WG 5.7 SIG conference, May 2004,
Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Verschuren, Piet and Hans Doorewaard (1999): Designing a research project. Lemma, The
Netherlands.
Williamson, O.E. (1985): The Economic Institutions of Capitalism. Free Press, New York.
Williamson, O.E. (1998). "Transaction Cost Economics: How it Works, Where it is Headed", The
Economist, Vol. 146, No. 1, pp. 23-58

132
MOMENTS METAMODEL AS A TOOL FOR EVALUATING LEARNING AND
INNOVATIONS IN A RESEARCH TEAM
JARI MULTISILTA

Tampere University of Technology

Advanced Multimedia Center
PO Box 300, FI-28101 Pori, Finland
jari.multisilta@tut.fi

ABSTRACT
In this paper, we discuss about the evaluation of learning and innovations in small research team.
The research question is how to facilitate the creation of innovations and learning in the research group
and as a result of the innovations and gained competence get higher quality research results. In order to
answer this question we should have a way to study conceptualise innovations and learning in a
research team. Research can clearly be characterised as knowledge work. The background theory for
this article is based on the Moments metamodel that can be described as a framework of current
pedagogical models, particularly pedagogical models that can be used to carry out collaborative and
communal modes of learning and studying (Tella et al. 2004). The productivity of a knowledge worker
is evaluated based on a list of 6 dimensions presented by Drucker (1999). In this paper, we claim that
the Moments metamodel can be applied to the analysis of employer-employee results and development
discussions and the output can be used for the successful development of a research team. The
proposed method was tested in my own research group employer-employee results and development
discussions (N = 10) on autumn 2004. In addition, the results of the analysis are presented in the
Moments metamodel framework.

INTRODUCTION
In this paper, we discuss about the evaluation of learning and innovations in research team. A
research team is typically a group of 10 to 15 expert researchers whose work is highly knowledge
intensive i.e. the researchers are clearly knowledge workers. From the point of view of successfully
managing and leading a research group (i.e. facilitating the creation of innovations and learning in the
group and thus getting high quality research results) we should have a way to conceptualise
innovations and learning in a research team. A way to evaluate knowledge workers productivity is a

• Knowledge-workers productivity demands that we ask: What is the task?

list of 6 thesis presented by Drucker (1999). Drucker claims that:

• We impose the responsibility for their productivity on the individual knowledge workers

• Continuing innovation has to be a part of the work, the task and the responsibility.
themselves. They have to manage themselves and have autonomy.

• Knowledge work requires continuous learning and continuous teaching.

• Quantity and quality must equally important in knowledge work.
• Knowledge worker must be seen an asset (not as a cost). This way the knowledge worker wants to
commit to the organisation.
The research questions for this study can be formulated as follows:
1) What kind of model or framework best describes or explains the learning and innovations aspects
in a research team?
2) Does the framework include support for the list of Drucker (1999)?
These questions can be approached using qualitative research method. Qualitative research
methods have successfully been applied to social sciences and to organisational research (Brewerton,
Millward, 2001). Qualitative research methods in IS research has been studied for example by Trauth
(2001) and Myers (1997). International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP) working group 8.2
is also emphasising the qualitative research methods in information systems design (Trauth, 2001;
Myers; 1997). From the educational sciences point of qualitative research is reviewed (in Finnish) for
example in Metsämuuronen (2003).
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MOMENTS METAMODEL
Based on pedagogical models and methods of network-based education (NBE) and theoretical
models of learning (e.g., Jonassen 1995; Ruokamo & Pohjolainen 1999; Tella et al. 2001, Ketamo
2002, Ketamo & Multisilta 2003), the MOMENTS consortium have analyzed several pedagogical
models and developed and designed an integrated model – Moments Metamodel (Tella et al, 2004) -
that was theoretically based on existing pedagogical theories, models and frameworks. The Moments
Metamodel was then applied to several case studies (f. ex. Multisilta, Paajanen, 2004), it was evaluated
(Koskimaa, Heinonen, 2005) and its characteristics were finalized (Ruokamo, Tella, 2005).
The Moments Metamodel can be described as a framework of current pedagogical models, particularly
pedagogical models that can be used to carry out collaborative and communal modes of learning and studying.
In this context, collaborative implies that learners work together and construct their knowledge in cooperation
with each other, using their knowledge and skills on the one hand, and mobile technologies on the other
(Jonassen 1995; Ruokamo & Pohjolainen 1998; 2000; Vahtivuori & Masalin 2001). Collaborative learning is
grounded on the socio-constructivist approach. In addition to collaboration, the Moments Metamodel
emphasizes a communal approach, as it helps highlight the organizational aspects of learning (e.g., Castells
1996). By communal learning and studying, we refer to the philosophy of interaction, dialogic communication
and to learning as a shared research process. (Vygotsky 1934/1962; Panitz 1996; Tella 1998). All this will
enhance learners’ future knowledge construction and lead to rewarding lifelong learning and learning as life
(Ruokamo et al. 2002).
Main components
Conceptual
levels Culture Interaction Adaptability

Culture
1 discourse
(society)

Pedagogical Teaching
2 framework Teachability

Technology

Action Studying
3 (groups) Studyability

Technology

Activities Learning
4 (individuals) Learnability

Figure 1. Moments Metamodel.

The starting point for the Moments Metamodel is a synthesis from the different theoretical models
and frameworks of the learning. The foundation of the Metamodel consists of four conceptual levels
which describe the conditions of the framework: cultural discourse and cultural practices, pedagogical
models and principles, operations and actions and individual acts. The different functions of formal
and non-formal studying to which the individual acts are connected as essential building materials, are
presented at the level of the operations and action. The main components of the model are the culture,
the interaction and the adaptability. (Tella et al. 2004)
The dimensions of the Metamodel are at the intersections of the conceptual levels and of main
components. In the centre of dimensions there is the pedagogical activity that is seen as a process of
learning-teaching-studying (Uljens 1997; Tella et. al. 2001).
One of the key concepts of the Moments Metamodel is the teaching–studying–learning process
(TSL; Uljens 1997). In TSL, all three components are equally important. Uljens argues that teaching
cannot directly influence learning; rather, teaching affects learning indirectly through the individual’s
study activity (Uljens 1997, 39). We contend that TSL is a most beneficial way to organize and assess
NBE in general and educational applications of human centered technologies in particular. Combining
the understanding of TSL together with educationally justified uses of human centered technologies
and edutainment software is expected to contribute to learners’ future knowledge construction and fa-
cilitate interdisciplinary implementations of these technologies.
134
 A tool for evaluating learning and innovations in a research group is formal yearly employer-
employee results and development discussions. In this paper we propose that the Moments Metamodel
can be applied to analyse and visualise the results of the employer-employee results and development
discussions. The first application of the Moments Metamodel has already suggested that it can
successfully be applied to study the productivity of knowledge work (Multisilta, Paajanen, 2004;
2005).

ANALYSIS AND VISUALISATION PROCEDURE

Qualitative data is typically interviews written in textual format. The analysis of the data is often
based on coding the textual material based on classifications that the researcher can identify from the
data. Another way to analyse the data is to use analytical processes. Examples of analytical processes
include cognitive mapping, pictorial story telling and scenario analysis. (Millen, 2000) In this article,
we will focus on using cognitive mapping as a analysis and visualisation tool for qualitative data.
Cognitive mapping is not a new tool to analyze qualitative data. For example McDonald, Daniels
and Harris (2004) discusses cognitive mapping in organisational research. Based on Millen (2000)
there are variations of the basic cognitive mapping process that include causal modelling, influence
diagramming, and concept mapping. In principle, the cognitive mapping means that the researcher
develops a network of variables and their relations and draws them as a graph. The resulted map
represents the researchers understanding of the informant’s cognition on studied subject.
In this article we propose a method for constructing a cognitive map that is represented in the
Moments metamodel framework. As a first step, the researcher should identify the variables or
concepts from the qualitative data. This means that the researcher should classify the data according to
themes that can be recognised from the data. For example, in our study, general themes to all
discussions were team learning and support. The concepts are placed in the Moments metamodel
framework to a position (level and component) that the researcher relates the concept. According to the
model the levels are society, organisation, team and individual and the components are culture,
interaction and adaptability.
The level characterises the nature of the concept. Some concepts relate to the organisation level
weather as some to the individual level. A concept might be for example self organising team learning.
It is clear that it should be mapped to team level in the Moments framework. An example of a concept
in individual level is high motivation. In the organisational level there could be a concept such as
training organised by the company. Sometimes it is not clear to which level a concept should be
placed. An example of such a concept is change. Society is changing and so are companies, teams and
individuals. It is up to researcher decide which level best describes the concept. The researcher could
also refine the concept so that there is one concept change in the society in society level and another
concept change in the company in the organisation level. These concepts could be related to each other
by joining them with an arrow in order to represent that from the changes in the society follows
changes in the company.
The components of the framework are culture, interaction and adaptability. These components
were selected to the Moments metamodel after a careful review of existing theoretical frameworks of
learning. In this context, culture should be understood to represent the culture of a society,
organisation, team or individual. This component describes the procedures inside a society,
organisation or team and the way how individuals are doing things. This component should include
rules, guidelines, procedures, habits, and even tacit knowledge the levels might have.
The next component is interaction. It describes interaction between societies, organisations, teams
and individuals. The interaction between a team and an individual can also be presented in this
component.
Finally, the last component is adaptability. It represents the adaptability of society, organisation,
team or individual. For example, the adaptability can be either adaptability to things happening inside
an organisation or outside the organisation, in the environment of the organisation. The environment of
an organisation includes partners, clients, suppliers etc. The selection of the components in Moments
metamodel can be seen as a restriction. An aim of this study is to find out if this is a serious limitation
for the analysis and visualisation.

135
EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE RESULTS AND DEVELOPMENT DISCUSSIONS
In this study we had 10 employer-employee discussions during august 2004. A set of predefined
discussion topics were covered and a written report were produced for all the discussions. Afterwards
the discussions were analysed using qualitative research methods (phenomenography).
Phenomenography “is a research method adapted for mapping the qualitatively different ways in
which people experience, conceptualise, perceive, and understand various aspects of, and phenomena
in, the world around them" (Marton, 1986, p.31).
Dimensions

Conceptual levels Culture Interaction Adaptability

Commitment to organisation D Lifelong learning D

1 Society
The charasteristics of the work D Adaptation of humans

Identifying things to be developed Improvement of processes

2 Organisation Learning from workmates D Good atmospere to work

Expert in own area

Doing things together Dynamical

3 Teams
Directing the work of the team
Nice to teach
Indipendence More challenges
Motivation D Teaching as a heavy load

Individual
4 Pioneering Enjoying the work

Setting own goals Learning new things

Figure 2. Visualisation of employer-employee results and development discussions.

As a result of the analysis, we identified a set of concepts (such as “doing things together”) that
relate to innovations an learning in the discussions. The relation information was derived from the
context of the discussion during the analysing process by us. Afterwards we draw a cognitive map
consisting of the concepts and links between the concepts. The map was then structured using the
Moments Metamodel.
From the data we were able to find relation between most of the statements presented by Drucker
and the concepts in the map. The propositions from Drucker theory are marked with character D inside
a blue box.
In addition, we found other concepts that seem to support innovations and learning in a research
team. The analysis shows that in the interviewed research group the innovative environment builds on
the feeling of “doing things together”. Also, there was a strong motivation to learn and study new
things in the group. We interpreted this as a key element in innovative research team. The individuals
in the research group had strong visions of their own aims and goals and that fact supported their
ability adapt to new research tasks. Interestingly, teaching was classified as a motivational factory by
some researchers and as a heavy load by some researchers. Based on this study, the key factors for

• to have feeling of doing things together,

learning and innovations it this group are:

• to consider him/herself as an expert and a pioneer in his/her own area,

• to have independency and set his/her own goals,
• to have an environment that supports learning (such as learning from workmates),
• to have a motivation to identify things to be improved,
• to improve procedures,
• to commit to the organisation, and
• to have a motivation to learn.

CONCLUSIONS
In this article, we presented a procedure for analysing and visualising qualitative data using
cognitive mapping with Moments metamodel. The procedure was tested on analysing employer-
136
employee results and development discussions in a research group of 10 researchers at Tampere
University of Technology. We have showed that the proposed procedure can be applied to analysing
qualitative data.
For the future the process should be compared to the other cognitive mapping techniques presented
in the litterature. Also, the produced visualisation have not yet been discussed by the interviewed
research team. By doing this, we should get feedback of usability of the visualisation for improving the
performace of the research team.

REFERENCES
Cassell Catherine, Symon Gillian (eds) (2004) Essential guide to Qualitative Methods in
Organisational Research. SAGE Publications.
Drucker, Peter F. (1999) Knowledge-Worker Productivity - The Biggest Challenge. California
Management Review 41(2). 79-94.
Brewerton Paul, Millward Lynne (2001) Organisational Research Methods. A Guide for Students and
Researchers. SAGE Publications. London.
Marton, F. (1986). Phenomenography – a research approach to investigating different understandings
of reality. Journal of Thought, 21 (3), 28-49.
McDonald Seonaidh, Daniels Kevin, Harris Claire (2004) Cognitive Mapping in Organization
Research. In Cassell, Symon (2004).
Metsämuuronen Jari (2003) Tutkimuksen tekemisen perusteet ihmistieteissä. Gummerus Kirjapaino
Oy, Jyväskylä. (In Finnish)
Millen David R (2000) Rapid Ethnography: Time Deepening Strategies for HCI Field Research.
Symposium on Designing Interactive Systems archive. Proceedings of the conference on
Designing interactive systems: processes, practices, methods, and techniques. New York
City, New York, United States. pp. 280 – 286. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=347763
[15.5.2005]
Multisilta Jari, Paajanen Matti (2004) Tietotyön tuottavuus, työssä oppiminen ja uudet teknologiat.
Sosiaaliset innovaatiot työelämän muutoksissa - Suomen Akatemian kolmen
tutkimusohjelman yhteiskonferenssi. Kansallismuseo, Helsinki, 28.10.2004
Multisilta Jari, Paajanen Matti (2005) Tietotyön tuottavuus: tapaustutkimus terveydenhuollon
ammattilaisten työssä oppimisesta. Submitted to Smeds et. al. (2005).
Myers, M. D. (1997) Qualitative Research in Information Systems. MIS Quarterly (21:2), June 1997,
pp. 241-242. MISQ Discovery, archival version, June 1997, [http://www.misq.org/discovery/
MISQD_isworld/]. MISQ Discovery, updated version, last modified: November 09, 2004
[http//www.qual.auckland.ac.nz]
Smeds R., Tella S., Ruokamo H., Multisilta J. (eds) (2005) Oppiminen ja tieto- ja viestintätekniikka
opetuksessa ja opiskelussa, to appear 2005.
Tella Seppo, Lehtonen Miika, Ruokamo Heli, Tissari Varpu, Ketamo Harri, Kiili Kristian, Paunonen
Ulla, Koskimaa Raine, Vahtivuori-Hänninen Sanna, Nurmi Kari E. & Multisilta Jari (2004)
MOMENTS metamodel. Multiscientific tool for building future networked learning. In
Mietola Reetta, Outinen Helena (eds.) Kulttuurit, erilaisuus ja kohtaamiset, Kasvatustieteen
päivien 2003 julkaisu. Helsingin yliopiston kasvatustieteen laitos, Helsinki. (In Finnish)
Trauth Eileen M. (2001) Qualitative Research in IS: Issues and Trends. Idea Group Publishing.
Hershey, London.

137
 Abstract

RECREATING THE MANAGEMENT ISSUES THROUGH EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Professor Alastair Nicholson

London Business School

Business education and learning has avoided the central question of management: how to run the
business operations every day effectively and in a way which meets the conflicting goals of
employees, customers, engineers or shareholders. The subjects are taught in the very ‘silo’
departmental way which business education so much decries: marketing, finance, behaviour etc.
Strategy studies on separate topics do not pull these together as it is essentially off-line. Only the
running of the business every day as the reality confronting managers is kept out of the classroom.

Visiting companies with students or students doing projects in companies demonstrates the same
frightening gap: students can only relate to the problems they are taught about and the majority of
these are off-line and can be addressed externally to the business practices. The inside ”black box” of
the working business remains a mystery – to the students and usually to the teachers and the business
itself. The black box houses the people, their skills, attitudes and their know how; it has a structure
and work-in-progress; it has relationships, targets and assumptions. Management’s job – management
being the task of the roles of management assigned and unassigned is to monitor the structure, the
progress or orders, the problems, all concurrently through a diverse set of people with different
motives and awareness’s in order to win on the performances requirements.

A new kind of teaching format is needed for this learning. It cannot be done simply through teaching
facts and models, through discussion and case studies – not by visits or visiting speakers. The
‘students’ – undergraduate, graduate or executive – must re-experience the context of the live situation.
The aim of this paper is to report the research which has been undertaken into understanding the
conditions in which the typical management issues can be exposed through a reproduction of the live
learning context.

Any business, indeed, any part of a business, is worked by people using experience to confront issues.
The experiences may or may not be embodied in formal knowledge and procedures. The issues may
be temporary problems on current work-in-progress, persistent difficulties, surprises, impositions of
new requirements or the attempt to adopt new systems and structures. The confrontation takes the
form of the challenges between what is required and what is possible within the timescales permitted.
Knowing the limits of the current system and practices is the key and that is only known to those who
do it.

The reconstruction of this operational context in a learning environment requires the following
components at the very least:
1. A structure containing a variety of tasks in which different people do different jobs which

− a delivery system to a customer or a market base

somehow add up to the outcomes of

− a costing or evaluation system which is capable of reflecting performance and

economy of resource usage on fixed or variable resources
138
 2. A mechanism through which ‘time’, events and requirements impose themselves on the
resource structure which contains commitments and is needed to reproduce pressure and
uncertainty.

3. An authorisation or permissions system is needed which guides the priorities and actions which
are taken and expose choices about how people, the structure and the practices can be reviewed
and revised.

Within London Business School we have used a base plate system called Discovery and two other
tools, Impulse and Formula 3, over recent years for the development of such a managerial learning
context. We have since been asked to create two further constructs for managerial learning and change
processes management. Both of the latter demands have been in the supply chain field – one for the
development of process orientation within a global group and the other for the development of supply
chain restructuring in a way in which the ‘lean’ concept is both delivered and questioned.

In working on the latter developments we have found it difficult to succeed in reproducing the working
managerial context in an educational setting with the right dynamic and learning process whereas our
earlier Discovery exercise worked well for reproducing the conditions for managing the improvement
process, the new requirements demonstrated that we did not understand the general parameters and
characteristics required for experiential learning on managerial issues. The paper will illustrate our
initial findings on the key dimensions to have in mind when constructing a managerial learning
experience.
We will express these requirements for a learning system in broad terms and then remark on the means
of testing such a context in action. We see the need for managerial learning as being most demanding
for existing executive groups who want to explore an idea on developments and reach conclusions by
discovery rather than be told or dictated to by prescription. We also envisage a limited time frame for
the experience such as two to three hours inclusive of discussion time.

The broad questions on which designs must be chosen are:

•
•
how to reproduce the operational reality sufficiently

•
how to define roles which are precise but changeable

•
how to discipline the whole scheme in time, specification, change possibilities and outcomes

•
how to stop, review, recreate and progress the discussion
how to conclude an experience with transferable learning and an awareness of a model which is
clear both as a concept, an inspiration and a reality

Our provisional list of contents necessary for re-constructing such learning contexts are:

• the use of physical objects as representation of products and services to provide a necessary

•
“on-the-ground” reality
the job which people do must be able to be mastered in a short time, say ten minutes, and the
overall aim and challenges should be no part of the initial learning as otherwise the spirit of

•
engagement will be lost due to excessive delay
the exercise or reproduction needs to be represented or displayed in some way on a continuous
basis to maintain some kind of control

Since beginning work in this area we have always used radio or wire linked telepads through which the
people record actions and decisions within their role so that we have a chance of contrasting the reality
139
in the mind of the people with the reality provided by the data and its interpretation. This also
provides the means of evaluation as well as a ‘clockwork’ timing scheme for guaranteeing discipline
of the exercise.

All discovery based or experiential based learning requires repeated trials or challenges in which the
running practice itself is reviewed and interpretation of the overall effects creates the real ‘learning’
based on the outcome of the ‘doing’ and revised in a systematic way. The tension here is to have a
means of exposing the structure of the business exercise as a realistic question with the context of the
exercise and in a way in which progress steps are taken which are not too great or too small and on
which reassessment of gains and losses is possible.
Finally the lessons of the experiential exercise must be recognisable and transferable. The challenge is
to achieve sufficient generality in the results.

The test of this kind of experiential learning is how to live with the major trade-offs:

complexity of reality v simplification of representative

model

actual behaviour in the business v reproduced behaviour in the

exercise

realities and creative review engineering the exercise to produce

processes with data and an intended result
v
discussion

The conclusion of the paper will demonstrate how the imposition of the context and the statement of
the requirement will constrain choices of exercise construct and how the conditions for success can be
defined to reduce the risk in the learning process.

140
 PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING: CHALLENGES AND FUTURE FORMS

JENS O. RIIS

Center for Industrial Production, University of Aalborg

riis@iprod.aau.dk

ABSTRACT
Problem-based learning has proven its merits in engineering education, especially in addressing the
issues of complexity and dynamics that modern enterprises are confronted with. It has been the main
pedagogical principle at the Aalborg University for more than 30 years and has lead to a high recogni-
tion of engineering graduates in industry and in the international educational community. However,
certain unintended practices have emerged, some of which will be identified in this paper. This will
form a basis for proposing to augment the problem-based learning approach, e.g. to use simulation and
games to give students a comprehensive understanding of the complex nature of industrial issues. It is
further proposed to strengthen reflection and innovative experimentation. To illustrate how this might
be realized, a scenario of a future student’s daily life will be presented.

INTRODUCTION
Most companies have realized that their competitive advantages are temporary and that they con-
tinuously need to develop their current competitive strength and, at the same time, explore new direc-
tions. The environment of most companies has become dynamic and complex and challenges them to
develop innovative and holistic solutions.
Since its inauguration in 1974, the Aalborg University has used problem-based learning in all its
educational programs. The Aalborg University model divides the student’s study time into two halves
of equal size, one for regular courses and one for a group project. Each semester has a theme around
which a project issue is defined. Over the years, graduates have been well received in industry and
recognized for their capability to develop holistic solutions to complex problems and to work in teams.
However, the pedagogical approach should continuously be developed, as industrial companies face
new challenges, and new technologies offer new opportunities.
The aim of this paper is first to identify future challenges to problem-based learning, based partly on a
review of practice that has developed over the years and partly on industrial challenges. Secondly, new
directions and solutions will be presented and discussed.
In the next section we shall briefly outline key features of the problem-based learning approach
including some of the dilemmas of designing a curriculum. In the subsequent section observations
from more than two decades of teaching will identify unintended practices. This would give rise to
proposals for future elements of problem-based learning, first by augmenting problem-based learning
and second in the form of scenarios of the life of a student, based on reflection and experimentation as
the key elements of learning.

FEATURES OF PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING

Problem-based learning starts with a set of real-world issues, typical of an industrial enterprise. It
entails identification of the specific tasks of a company as well as observation and analysis of the way
in which they are carried out. This provides a basis for defining the scope of relevant problems to be
addressed. Students are then expected to develop and evaluate appropriate solutions that integrate
different perspectives and disciplines. Finally, they address how to realize and implement the devel-
oped solutions, cf. Kjersdam & Enemark (1994) and Kolmos,Fink & Krogh (2004).
141
Thus, problem analysis and formulation is an essential part of problem-based learning. Although very
important, these two activities are often the most difficult part of problem solving to carry out in
practice, and they are often not dealt with in traditional educational exercises. In any engineering issue
a multi-perspective analysis is warranted. This offers different views and will contribute to a compre-
hensive understanding of the processes and challenges of the issues studied. Furthermore, it is impor-
tant in industrial management to acknowledge that there are several actors involved in the issue, each
with their own role, value, mindset, knowledge and potential influence.
Similarly, the development of one or more solutions implies dealing with different elements of a
solution; for example technical aspects, organizational aspects, business aspects, and stakeholder
aspects, cf. Riis & Mikkelsen (1997). When working with a practical industrial issue, a student group
may realize that a solution, in fact, may be several things. One type of solution represents a “Quick-
Fix” approach and identifies what immediate actions may be taken to at least partially remedy the
problems encountered. An alternative approach would be to dream of a future idealized solution. A
third type of solution rests on an organizational learning approach leading to a sequence of steps and
corresponding solutions.
Implementing a solution in an industrial enterprise may take from a few months to several years.
Hence, it is beyond the scope of a semester project to experience a full implementation of a solution.
On the other hand, a project carried out in close interaction with an industrial enterprise offers several
opportunities to address implementation issues. For example, students may be asked to present their
initial analysis and diagnosis for a group of managers and employees. In this way, a collaborative proc-
ess will be initiated of developing a common understanding of issues in the company. The same holds
when a student group presents their proposed solutions. This leads to a discussion of advantages and
limitations, and does in fact represent one of the first steps in implementing a solution.
In the first semesters, the scope and boundaries are usually well defined, and the industrial setting may
be presented by a case description and a company visit. In the later semesters of the engineering
curriculum, students become heavily involved in analyzing a specific company and formulate the focus
and objectives of their project in cooperation with the company’s management. For example, the
development and design of a new manufacturing process, plant design for manufacturing of a new pro-
duct, analysis of production planning and control in an industrial enterprise and implementation of
improvements, or the identification of strategic challenges to a company and the development of a
vision for its future manufacturing.
The use of problem-based learning especially in the engineering education suggests that co-operation
with industry should play an important role. Over the years personal and institutional relationships
have developed and have led to a number of different modes of co-operation with mutual benefit.
Most of the projects are carried out in groups of students which allows for practicing inter-personal
communication skills. Unfortunately, resource constraints at our university often lead to relative large
groups of students.

Reflection and experimentation

The nature of engineering problem-based learning may be illustrated by the four stages of the Kolb
learning cycle: a) experimentation, b) reflection, c) conceptualization, and d) test (Kolb, 1984). At the
extreme, university teaching deals with b) and c), and the practicing engineer and industrial manager
may in their day-to-day operations primarily focus on a) and d). Problem-based learning aims to com-
plete the learning cycle by emphasizing reflection from empirical work and experimentation with new
approaches and methods in practice.
The taxonomy introduced by Bloom (1956) may be useful for relating problem-based learning to other
means of learning. Bloom includes the following steps of mastering a field of study: Knowledge,
Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation. Traditional teaching methods, such
as lectures, exercises and case studies, seem appropriate for studying well defined problems of a disci-
pline. However, when it comes to acquiring proficiency in analyzing and defining a complex issue, and
in developing one or more holistic solutions, the problem-based learning approach stands up as almost
the only method.

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Of course, there are also limitations to problem-based learning. For example, the actual issue
determines to a large extent which theories and methods are pertinent; thus, there is no guarantee that
all important theories and methods are studied.
This suggests awareness in curriculum design to combine various learning approaches. In view of the
complex and dynamic environment of industrial enterprises and the need to develop innovative and
holistic solutions, it is suggested that the use of problem-based learning be concentrated on analysis
and diagnosis of complex issues, development of holistic, multi-perspective solutions, and on imple-
mentation issues in cooperation with the case company.

Some dilemmas in designing education programs

In planning any education program several dilemmas have to be addressed representing a number of
conflicting objectives that somehow need to be balanced; not once for all, but at regular intervals.
Short versus long time horizon (topical proficiency versus invariant understanding). On the one
hand, companies and institutions employing young graduates will expect that they are proficient in
dealing with day-to-day problems in a professional way almost from their first appointment. For this
reason, many professional educations include a period of internship or traineeship. Also, educational
emphasis on training practical problem solving from cases and exercises are means seeking to address
this short-term goal. The obsolescence of methods and practice calls for a continuous up-grading.
On the other hand, employees expect that a graduate has a deeper and more fundamental understanding
of basic phenomena. This represents a rather invariant body of knowledge that will enable the graduate
to understand new developments and methods, and to continuously learn new practice.
A discipline oriented scope versus an integrative, multi-perspective approach. As found in a study
of different industries, industry expects that employees have a professional background in relevant
disciplines. But in addition, they should be able to integrate different perspectives and disciplines, and
to be custom oriented (problem oriented), Riis (2004).
A comprehensive appreciation of industrial issues versus a mastering of solutions. Full time
students most often begin their engineering studies after high school and have only a very limited
understanding of the issues confronting industrial enterprises. In their engineering studies they are
introduced by the teacher to issues and problems, before solutions are presented. This may seem
appropriate as long as the issues are easy to convey and appeal intuitively to the background of the
students. But when it comes to complex issues of industrial management, it seems that alternative
methods should be applied. For example, simulation games have proven to be very effective,
especially to appreciate the dynamic interaction between jobs, functions and organizational units.
Similarly, comprehensive case studies can provide a good insight into the complex operations of an
industrial enterprise.

OBSERVATION OF PRACTICE
It seems fair to say that every educational system holds a great deal of robustness, because, by an
large, students are eager to learn, and teachers and advisors are dedicated to teaching. However, the
behavior of students and teachers is guided by the reward system and constraints imposed.
In the following some of the unintended behavior will be presented based on observation over more
than two decades of the Aalborg University Problem-Based Learning System:

Students are too eager to help the project case-company

When a project group carries out their project on the basis of a problem in a case-company, which is
the usual situation in the latter part of their studies, the students become very motivated to address the
issues relevant for the company. The strong feeling of relevance experienced when working with a
real-life situation is transformed into a genuine interest in helping the company. This tends to lead to
rather specific proposals for short-term improvements, often turned into a direction that will please the
management of the company. To put it a bit exaggerated, the greater savings documented, the higher
the grade.

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It will require a firm effort on part of advisors to counter-balance this trend by emphasizing that a case-
company in reality is only a means for the learning process. Defining learning objectives and pointing
out specific means and opportunities for learning would enhance the benefit of student projects.

Repairmen rather than innovators - Proficiency in repair and small improvements rather
than the development of innovative solutions
In addition to the behavior observed above, the students in general are very ambitious with respect to
their project. They tend to define a large scope for their project. First, it implies that they are working
very hard and try to follow an elaborate plan. Second, they do not leave much room for risk-taking, for
instance encountered when indulging in a creative brainstorm and discussing how to utilize new
opportunities not foreseen. As a consequence, the students are reluctant to engage in a more innovative
endeavor.
A means to counter-balance this tendency is to ask the students to include in their report a discussion
of the trajectory that their problem solving process has followed in the light of their learning processes.
Furthermore, generation of new ideas and forming them into innovative scenarios should be
encouraged; for instance it could be made more explicit to the students that innovative elements are
necessary in order to earn one of the best grades.
Acknowledging the benefit for graduates to be proficient in proposing short term solutions, it is
however equally important that graduates have experienced that it is possible, and even fun and excit-
ing, to develop innovative solutions. When first in industry, time pressure in day-to-day operations will
limit the inclination to engage in a more explorative development of solutions.

Advisors guide student projects in a direction of their own area of specialization

Each semester has a theme around which courses are defined, and it is expected that the advisor for
each group of students help find a relevant case company and guide the group to address issues
covered by the theme. However, in many cases the advisors are tempted to focus on issues that are
closely related to their own field of specialization. Knowing that the advisor has a major influence on
the grade to be given for the project, for obvious reasons the students are likely to follow the direction
given by the advisor; especially because the grade of the project has a high weight compared with
other grades.
For a long time advisors have been allowed to maneuver almost freely. But recently, the role of a
semester coordinator has been made more explicit to include supervision of the advisors as a means of
ensuring a greater loyalty to the semester theme.
A major goal of the engineering education at our center is to train students to apply a holistic approach
by integrating different disciplines and perspectives. A production system includes both technology
and human components and should be viewed from different perspectives, such as for example a
managerial, systems, human, organizational, technological, and economical viewpoints. However,
faculty members are encouraged to specialize their research in order to be able to publish their
research. Thus, there is a challenge to stimulate and train advisors to adopt a holistic approach. In view
of the economic constraints imposed on the number of counseling hours given per group, it is not
feasible to allocate two or more advisors to each group. New means are warranted.

AUGMENTING PROBLEM BASED LEARNING

Many student groups have been able to uncover the intricate mutual interaction between organizational
units in an industrial company often to the surprise of management. This has been accomplished by
interviewing a great number of managers and employees around key processes, and the students have
mapped their findings onto a problem matrix indicating the interplay. Often several problem chains
have emerged representing vicious circles, cf. Riis (1994). This effort has provided a comprehensive
understanding of the complex dynamics of modern industrial enterprises and forms a good basis for
identifying a holistic approach to developing new solutions. Often the analysis and diagnosis are
presented at a workshop in the company to have the picture supplemented and commented on, but also
as a means for developing a shared understanding in the company.

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Simulation games and role playing are means for creating an appreciation of the dynam-
ics and complexities
The broad analysis and diagnosis effort requires a rather heavy involvement in a case company and is
usually only carried out in the later semesters. Although a very beneficial learning experience it may
not be possible in the early semesters. Hence, there is a great challenge to give students an appreciation
of the dynamics and complexity of industrial organizations and manufacturing systems. Traditionally,
courses and exercises seek to prove understanding of phenomena, and solutions are offered to students
just graduated from high school and thus with no industrial experience.
Simulation games and role playing have been used widely to give students a broad understanding of
the complex and dynamic world of the future workplace. Although time-consuming, there are not
similar effective pedagogical means available for this purpose. Also, they are useful instruments for
developing and trying out various solutions.
In tune with the keen interest in helping the case company, we have observed that students tend to
propose only one solution, and they put much effort into arguing and demonstrating that their solution
is but not the best a very recommendable route to take. Knowing that a company may apply a wide
range of criteria for selecting a specific solution, students may actually make a more significant contri-
bution by proposing several, alternative solutions for each of which a thorough analysis of some of the
dynamic features has been carried out. This will offer to the company a much more substantial back-
ground for selection a solution.

A variety of problem solving means will maintain student motivation

We have noticed that students in their 8th and 9th semesters show signs of fatigue in the sense that the
new semester project does not offer new challenges. They experience that they have learned the
problem based learning method, for example how to define a problem, carry out analyses in a case
company, derive a solution, work in a team, and how to write a logical and well presented report.
In the development of a new bachelor and master engineering program in global business systems
development, great effort has been taken to ensure professional progression during the semester, and to
introduce different forms of the project working mode. For example, in parallel with a major semester
project a minor exercise has to be carried out aimed at acquiring skills in using specific methods. Also
it is under consideration to replace a group project with an individual project aimed at writing a paper
on a selective topic.
In most cases the project mode is used for students with almost the same background, although there
are personal difference to cope with. However, in their future professional career, the students will
experience one of the real beneficial features of the project mode, namely that interdisciplinary groups
have been given a complex task. In only very few instances it has been possible to organize cross
disciplinary project groups, for instance with mechanical and electrical engineering, software,
marketing and economical background.
There is a need to develop and apply a broader variety of pedagogical means within the problem-based
learning approach in order to ensure a more efficient and motivating learning environment.

Implementing new, designed solutions

When preparing students for a professional career, implementation of solutions should somehow be on
the agenda. As mentioned in the beginning, due to the nature of university studies it is very difficult to
practice this aspect. One of the reasons is that implementing a new solution in industrial enterprises
normally takes one or two years, or even more, thus far exceeding a university semester.
It is a key feature of our center that development of holistic solutions and their implementations are
considered as two, mutually interdependent research areas. For example, the development of a manu-
facturing strategy and vision is studied with respect to content and process. With respect to the first,
focus is on which components do constitute a manufacturing strategy, how to integrate different disci-
plines and perspectives into a manufacturing vision, and which good practices exist. The process
aspect entails questions such as which phases can be identified for analysis, design and implementation

145
of a new manufacturing management system, who should participate in this process, what are enablers
and barriers for sustaining an innovative, participatory process.
For this reason we have experimented with several ways of including implementation issues in our
engineering education. For example, to involve the case company in discussions of analysis and
design. By presenting their initial findings of the mutual interplay between organizational units and
value creation in the handling of the customer order process the students receive useful comments.
But, in addition, an organizational improvement process is initiated creating a commonly shared
understanding in the organization.
Similarly, students are encouraged to present initial solution ideas in the company. Not only does this
lead to valuable comments and critique; but ideas and suggestions from managers and employees are
voiced and can be included in the final proposed solutions.
This active involvement of the case company will provide an appreciation of some of the issues of
implementation, yet by far only a minor part of issues related to implementation. It does require a pro-
active role of the advisor, often far beyond the number of hours allocated.
In line with the research strategy to deal with both content and process, an Experimental Lab for
Production and Logistics Systems Development (ELP) has been established. Several action research
projects have been carried out, on the basis of which a general process for the development of a manu-
facturing vision has been established (Riis & Johansen, 2003).
In addition to apply the ELP to industrial enterprises as part of research projects, an effort has been
initiated to develop means and settings for using the ELP as part of student group projects. This still
has to be further developed, but the objective is to develop the students’ proficiency in dealing with
implementation issues as an integral part of their engineering approach to design innovative solutions.
In this way the traditional project based mode is expanded to include implementation issues.

SCENARIOS FOR A FUTURE ENGINEERING EDUCATION

It’s not difficult to make a list of the abilities and competencies that an engineer should possess to be
able to meet the demands of the future. The list will be long and reflect some of the general charac-
teristics of future activities: dealing with dynamic, complex, and often vaguely formulated issues in
collaboration with global partners. Nor would it be difficult to name a number of new technology-
based future forms of teaching.
Instead I have chosen to frame my contemplations in a scenario using excerpts from a imaginary
student’s diary. Hopefully, this can lead to a more lively discussion and broad debate. This is urgently
needed, and the sooner it starts the better.
When does the future begin? Tomorrow, or in 10 years? The following will describe some conditions
that we do not have today, but which are based on current ideas and practices.

Lise’s reflection diary

It was no ordinary diary Lise had started to keep. It was called a “reflection diary”, and became an
important basis for her monthly tutorials with her tutor. The old English system had been introduced at
CIP a couple of years ago as a way of stimulating learning, and in recognition of the fact that academic
and professional learning takes place across course and project work. “It’s actually called a reflection
and experimentation tutorial”, her tutor once said, because he asked her each time whether she had
tried anything new since their last tutorial. He was also interested in hearing what she thought about
the many topics that had been discussed in courses and seminars, and in workshops and project work.
Søren always asked about meaning and coherence.
As part of her assignment, Lise had decided to describe her efforts to analyze a chapter of a book by
March and Simon, which she was to present at a seminar on the history of management theory. She
had had to read it three times before she understood it. She found good interpretations and
explanations of the concepts presented in the article on CIP’s homepage. It also included several
examples of how they had been applied and a Question-and-Answer section, which gave deeper
insights. There were also several PowerPoint presentations which she could use in preparing her own
presentation.

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It occurred to Lise that she could save a lot of time by going directly to the homepage and searching
for a presentation she could build on, and by choosing a few judicious questions and answers so she
could get through her presentation. This is what she often did at other times anyway, e.g. when she
wanted to get a quick idea of which articles on a new topic were worth reading. But the form of the
seminars was subtly different. Here, the focus was on a deep, personal absorption of management con-
cepts. Lise could not really explain it. It was not because the teachers had insisted that they go straight
to the source, it was more the overwhelming atmosphere at the seminar of exploring a topic fully for
the first time. Lise realized that learning and understanding various management theories was not an
end in itself, but a necessary means for her own creative thinking and development of theory.
In her reflection diary, which was her personal tool for self-reflection, Lise described her frustration of
only having understood about 10% of the article after having read it for the first time. The learning
process can be tough, but after her presentation at the seminar and the discussion that followed, Lise
had to admit that she had actually been able to communicate her insights quite convincingly. It had
been a personal experiment, which had given her the satisfaction of knowing that, despite the difficul-
ties and frustrations, she had nevertheless grasped several important concepts. Lise decided that she
would discuss her reflections on this learning process with her tutor next time.

Multiple learning rooms in project work

Lise thinks that projects have become much more exciting and challenging since the group started
working systematically with learning rooms. In the various phases of a project, they have defined a
number of working situations which they can effortlessly alternate between, e.g. the generation of
ideas, concretization, and analytical in-depth analysis versus overall integrative assessment.
Lise recalls how irritated she was when her first-year teacher asked her project group to agree on
which working situation they were in. This was a bit too formalized for her liking. Now, however, she
realizes that it is a good thing that everyone in the group knows which “mode” they are working in.
She has especially noticed the difference between being in the “bubble” learning room, where you can
give your fantasy free rein, and in giving tangible form to ideas, where you need to include details. She
also feels that her group evaluates their analysis, diagnosis and proposed solution much more thor-
oughly by making a clear distinction between a quantitative, analytical evaluation involving many
calculations, and an overall evaluation, which attaches more importance to intuition and “gut feelings”.
Lise thinks that copying De Bono’s ideas of different colored hats when developing ideas helped per-
petuate the various learning rooms.
Talking about learning rooms has made her project group more aware of the fact that the project itself
is the focal point of their common learning – as opposed to previously, where the most important thing
was to achieve improvements for their project firm. Lise clearly remembers the feeling of satisfaction
from having shown that their project firm could often save significant sums by implementing the
group’s improvement suggestions.
However, in Lise’s view, the focus on learning makes sense, since most of their project report has to
deal with what they have done and learnt. The results they have achieved for the project firm are
relegated to appendices – both in the form of an Executive Summary and detailed analyses and solu-
tions. The main body of the report must describe how they have applied the various theories, models
and methods, and include a summary of what they have learnt from the project.
The exam involves a discussion with their tutor about which parts of the report to include as a con-
tribution to CIP’s Knowledge System for Industrial Management. Lise considers this as an honour, not
least because she has used the knowledge data base a lot herself. The database, which has been built up
over several years, contains both outlines of and references to relevant literature – as useful sources of
inspiration – as well as experiences with and examples of the application of models, methods and tech-
niques.

Modeling – the key to collective learning

Thinking back to the beginning of her degree course, Lise recalls that the word modeling was on
everybody’s lips – model me here and model me there. She could not make head or tail of all the
different forms and kinds of models that the teachers casually bandied about. Then, in her fourth
semester, one of her teachers said that the important thing was not to learn all the different models by
147
heart, but to be able to formulate models, or, as he put it, the “art of modeling”. This is when Lise
realized that this was a factor which would determine the future success of her professional career as
an engineer.
The emphasis on modelling was also reflected in the fact that, in both courses and project work, they
were urged to model phenomena themselves. This could be a social model to explain human behavior
during a company reorganization or in a development group where several disciplines were
represented. Or it could be a quantitative model for determining the stability of a global supply chain.
Lise gradually realized that modeling was not just a means of making one’s thoughts more explicit, but
just as much a means of developing a meaningful and constructive dialogue in a group. One of her
teachers said that modeling is the key to collective learning, and she understands this now. She no
longer thinks only of developing a model which reflects “the real world”, but one which is also able to
start a good and innovative discussion in the group. Thus, models play an important part in the visuali-
zation of common ideas and knowledge.
Lise has especially noticed that modeling has helped her group in collaborating with student groups at
other universities, and that it has given them a leading role in creating a common perception.

A think-new room
One day, when Lise was searching for a particular report in the CIP archives, she stumbled across a
large pile of old project reports. While leafing through them, she suddenly understood what one of her
teachers had meant when he said that, previously, students were taught to become good “fix-and-mend
engineers”, because most of the old reports described improving an existing situation in a firm. Now,
by contrast, they were expected – by both their project firm and their tutor – to develop detailed inno-
vative scenarios for the firm’s future within a relevant area. This requires a mix of creativity, profes-
sional insight and the involvement of management and employees in the project firm.
Lise remembers the first time they were told that they were expected to question present methods and
ways of thinking as a bit scary. But now, after having participated in numerous workshops at CIP’s
Learning Lab and establishing a “Think-new” room herself, she regards it as a natural part of their
project work.
Lise thinks that working with a project firm is very challenging, because they are actively involved.
She especially thinks that arranging workshops in the Learning Lab for a firm is an exciting part of
their project. In this way, they gain insight into how a firm’s development processes function in prac-
tice. This is a new aspect of project work compared with the previous company projects she saw in the
archives, where the firm’s contribution consisted mainly of making information available and com-
menting on the students’ concluding report. And she was surprised and delighted to discover that these
workshops have also given something new to the firms.
Lise reflects that many of the foreign students she is in contact with around the world are often hesitant
about plunging into a creative, experimental development process. But the first time they have
experienced “getting high intellectually”, their enthusiasm is palpable. This was also evident from
recently held video conferences with foreign student groups.

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

The problem-based learning approach has proven its merit in engineering educational programs,
especially in the light of the complex and dynamic issues that many industrial enterprises are con-
fronted with. The more than 30 years of experience in applying this approach at Aalborg University
has lead to a high recognition in industry of engineering graduates and in the international educational
community. However, the way in which the problem-based learning approach has been implemented,

• that students tend to focus more on helping the project case company than on learning
certain unintended practices have emerged, as for example

• that students tend to focus on proposing short term, incremental improvements rather than

• that academic advisors tend to guide students in the direction of their own area of
on developing innovative solutions

specialization rather than to address the issue of an integrative approach, combining several
disciplines and perspectives.
148
 • Emphasizing the need to give students a comprehensive understanding of the complexity
An augmentation of the problem-based learning approach was proposed in the direction of

and dynamics of the issues of industrial enterprises, e.g. by using simulation and role play-

• Including a variety of problem-solving means and types of projects during their studies to
ing games.

• Addressing implementation issues, however difficult this is, because this is an important
maintain student motivation and to train different skills, both individual and collective.

part of the students’ future professional career.

In tune with the learning model of Kolb it was proposed that the practice of problem-based learning
should be changed in the direction of emphasizing reflection and creative experimentation. To illus-
trate how this might be realized, a scenario of a future student’s daily life was presented. This included
the idea that each student should prepare a reflection diary; explicit use of multiple learning modes;
extensive use of modeling; and a “think-new” room for creating and exploring ideas and scenarios.
The scenarios are meant to provoke a much needed discussion of the many issues of problem-based
learning, and especially how it can be developed to meet the challenges of the future enterprises.

References
Bloom, Benjamin S. (1956), Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. The Classification of Educational
Goals. Handbook 1: Cognitive Domain, New York: David Mckay Company, Inc. (7th Edition
1972)
Kjersdam, Finn & Stig Enemark (1994): The Aalborg Experiment, Project innovation in university
education, Aalborg University Press, Denmark.
Kolb, D.A. (1984): Experiential Learning, Experience as the Source of Learning and Development,
Prentice-Hall, Inc. USA.
Kolmos, Annette, Fink, Flemming K. & Krogh, Lone (2004), The Aalborg PBL model, Aalborg Uni-
versity Press
Riis, Jens O. (1994), “Situational production management: a practical theory for the development and
application of production management”, Production Planning & Control, Vol 5, No. 3, 240-252
Riis, J.O. & H. Mikkelsen (1997): “Capturing the nature of a project in the initial phase: Early identifi-
cation of focal areas”, Project Management 3/1997, pp. 18 – 22.
Riis, Jens O. & Johansen, John (2003), “Developing a manufacturing vision”, Production Planning &
Control, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 327-337.
Riis, Jens O. (2004): “Key competencies and conditions for learning in companies of the knowledge
society” (in Danish), Report for the Danish Council on Commerce.

149
 THE MODEL OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
KAMIL SITARSKI

Warsaw University of Technology, Institute of Production Systems Organisation

Narbutta Street 85, 02-524 Warszawa
kamil.sitarski@gt.pl

ABSTRACT
The author hereby presents the role of knowledge as a key-resource in global enterprises. He
discusses the means of stimulating knowledge administration and explains the use of placing emphasis
on promotion of actions supporting the general public and administration. Further on in the paper he
suggests how to manage knowledge resources in organisation. Keywords of the paper: knowledge
management, knowledge engineering, knowledge economy, information society, methods of
knowledge codification.

PREFACE
From the dawn of time we deal with knowledge. However, are we aware of this fact? That question
was already asked by people in ancient times. What is knowledge?
Even before that time, apart from acquiring skills by individuals, the process of learning was taking
place when members of community shared their experience with one another. In that way the level of
fixed content was increasing, as well as the knowledge later known as the so-called practical
knowledge (utilitarian). Apart from experience and skills there are other components of knowledge,
namely beliefs, myths, legends, and rituals. The people of that time didn’t seek general truth to explain
the phenomena of the world, but instead they relied on extraterrestrial forces, deities, or supernatural
events. During their own learning process ancient people mastered their skills and practical solutions
without even trying to understand the cause of the phenomena mentioned earlier. The concept of
knowledge aroused an interest in philosophers of ancient Greece. At the turn of VIIth and VIth century
B.C. the search for general truths has truly begun trying to understand why something happens one
way or another. As Tatarkiewicz W. (Tatarkiewicz, 2001) quotes, Thales of Miletus made an attempt
to classify, arrange, analyse and prove different things. In philosophy emerges the concept of science.
However, science differs from the concept of skill in such a way that it is not enough to state the fact.
It is necessary to put an observation in order, then analyse and prove it true. Thus, only the skills
arranged in such a scheme can be considered as science.
According to what Japanese authors Nonaka I. and Takeuchi H. have written in their book, the
concept of knowledge can be also defined as “justified and true beliefs”, which is not entirely true, as
beliefs could be misleading. In order to begin the problem analysis connected with knowledge
management it should be noted that the history of philosophy deals with two approaches to knowledge
and science acquisition, namely rationalism and empiricism – the two streams with great influence on
the form of Western (modern) philosophy.
The former is based on the statement that “the truth should be determined by reason and factual
analysis, rather than faith, dogma or religious teaching”. The latter says that “there is no a priori
knowledge and the only source of knowledge is sensual experience”. These two doctrines stem from
two great Greek philosophers: Plato – rationalist, and Aristotle – empiricist. In the course of science
the two doctrines have clashed with each other very often, and many famous philosophers tried to
consolidate and unify them into one.
Moving a few millenniums further it can be seen that the attempts to classify our cognition were
becoming more and more uniform. We can now analyse the history of education, creation of industrial
or information system, but to cut a long story short we may say that knowledge has been the driving
force of human progress. Of course, there were also other reasons: desire to become rich, search for

150
and discovery of new natural resources or even war. The role of knowledge in such systems was
limited to the point where it was only possible to use its resources.
With the progress in communication technology, that is, the discovery of telegraph, telephone,
radio, and later assets like computers, transistors or lasers, the amount of information reaching to
people greatly increased. Information has been known to be the essential element for proper
functioning of different organisms – physical as well as virtual, like the need to communicate with one
another, which is the basis of every single society. The information has become very precious, though
such concepts as information economy or information society didn’t exist, and one was not aware of
the fact, that information is going to become one of the main factors leading to society or economy
development in the near future.

EUROPEAN UNION INITIATIVES

From the European Union’s point of view (but taking into account global information society) the
most important matters are the following:
1. assurance of essential conditions for information society development
2. expanding coherent e-strategies, acting as a determinant for creating new legal standards,
without which the development of new technologies for information society will not be
possible
3. information society development will be beneficial for the whole society as well as
individual people at all exchange platforms, i.e. economic, scientific and cultural platforms
Through its actions the European Union secures the possibilities for information society
development. The first initiative of European Union announced in November 1999 – “eEurope” was
meant to assure that every individual, school, company or government institution in countries that were
members of European Union as well as membership candidates would have access to the new
information and communication technologies and that would be able to use them to the highest degree
possible. One of the applications could be the access to the Internet in order to use in everyday manner
that is, selling and buying goods and services, in education, administration, health or culture or even
for entertainment. The “eEurope” initiative was not intended to give EU enterprises competitive
advantage on the global market. Rather, it was meant to give access to the state-of-the-art technologies
all European Union citizens, which is to improve their standard of living. The access should be
permanent and in real time, and that is the duty of governments of all European countries.
One of the most important causes for introducing the initiative in Europe was the fact that some
world economies, e.g. the United States economy, were ahead of European economy in terms of new
technologies application (mainly the Internet).
Because one of the economy foundations is the exploitation of information by enterprises, giving
the access to the modern information technologies should be a key-factor, but not the only one to
ensure competitive advantage. Another issue is the problem of “having” a high-developed citizen
society, where it would be possible to make use of modern technologies, both by employees and
customers. Therefore, the basis of modern economy is “human investment”.
“e-Europe” is the main developing factor, but it should never be forgotten that knowledge consists
of not only advanced technology used by a well-educated consumer. Science research is equally
important, and the confirmation of these words is the fact that European Union leaders agreed to assign
3% of EU gross profit for further investments in research and development before the year 2010.
Yet knowledge is, above all, a factor connected directly with people. Therefore, the European
Union through its goals, has placed great emphasis on the competence development of its own citizens,
and especially – on continuous growth of investments in human capital through increasing
expenditures for education, decreasing the number of young people without higher education by 50%
before 2010, and on special skills development concerning information technologies, foreign language
learning, enterprise and the like.
For people already present at labour market it is necessary to give access to knowledge that can
enable them constant development, and what is more, disseminate the idea of “e-inclusion”, known as
counteracting measure against citizen alienation caused by a lack of access to modern information
technologies.

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 Among other initiatives worth considering is “eGovernment”. It concerns electronic access to
public services with very convincing motto: “better on-line than in line”. Next, “eHealth” initiative
was designed to give access to health service through new technologies where it is possible. A part of
this initiative is “e-Accessibility” – a program to support handicapped people.
The processes mentioned above triggered off the situation, where along with the achievement of
individual goals and changes in society needs it is absolutely necessary to monitor strategy verification
all the time. The initiatives plan for the year 2005 focuses on improvement of broadband access to the
Internet and development of on-line services in all aspects of our life.
All those services are essential to give access to multimedia services and to transmit more data in
a form of images, sounds or movie clips.
To achieve this, it is crucial to remove any infrastructural or legal barriers encountered and appoint
some institutions that could prevent any abuse of the infrastructure, which is more and more visible
nowadays.
The scheme also describes the stimuli that enable the knowledge development in a society, that is
the “e-learning” idea. This strategy is to guarantee the European Union in 2010 the status of the most
competitive, knowledge-based economy in the world, and the means of achieving this are the
following:
1. continuous development of citizen skills by providing them with education through all their
life,
2. promotion of new learning technologies,
3. giving broadband Internet access to education institutions,
4. carrying out the training courses for adults in order to improve their skills needed for
trouble-free functioning in the information society.
The schemes of European institutions are being continuously verified, taking into account even
such events as joining 10 new candidate-countries to the European Union.

ORGANISATIONAL MODEL OF KNOWLEDGE PORTAL

In the previous chapter the author described the role of knowledge resources in terms of society
creation on the basis of knowledge. Apart from fulfilling necessary organizational conditions to
manage the knowledge, it can be assumed that proper information systems may support the knowledge
combination and internalization. The example of such a model system could be the organizational
knowledge portal.

Knowledge definition
For the purpose of research we can define knowledge as “the totality of thoughts in human mind
gained in the form of experience or learning. That includes all forms of social awareness: science,
ideology, religion, magic. In this respect, the knowledge consists of all types of thinking: from
informal ideas to science theorems. It could be true or false, rational or irrational. In a much narrower
sense, it is known as a personal cognition state of a man as a result of objective reality influence”
(source: http://wiem.onet.pl).
Another definition of knowledge, mainly used in the artificial intelligence research, can be
described as “the totality of data structures and procedures of their interpretation related to a domain,
and able to generate a decision and action in that domain”. Moreover, it is essential to introduce a
definition of knowledge basis that is “a set of definitions, facts, concepts and relations occurring
between them and other means of knowledge representation”. The aforementioned knowledge basis
will be one of the main modules of the knowledge portal being described.

Knowledge representation
In the field of scientific research dedicated to management aspects and knowledge engineering, one
of the main research concepts is knowledge formalisation that is, the creation of rules, norms and
procedures that enable knowledge sharing. Another aspect is to prepare adequate knowledge storage,
methods of its propagation, and continuous verification of its state and utilisation.

152
 Among different existing knowledge representation methods we deal with logical representation of
knowledge, the part of which is formal logic that is, the logic where it is possible to generate new facts
on the basis of true, already existing ones. Another way of doing it is to record our knowledge in a
form of procedures, e.g. computer program algorithms where we can store the sequence of our actions
in order to achieve certain results.
In the past many studies were devoted to semantic networks where there was possible to store
individual symbols and relations between them using graphs.

Frames
As a method of knowledge representation in organisational knowledge portal a certain variation of
the frames system will be used. In this kind of a system very important role play object properties, that
is properties and procedures (methods). In organisational knowledge portal all respective elements will
be stored in a form of a quasi-object structure, which gives the appropriate hierarchy and connections
between objects.
The author of the frames theory, Marvin Minsky claims that in the process of getting to know new
or existing objects, that are seen from other perspective, the so-called frame with slots is used. These
slots act as containers for information about an object or situation. Some slots contains e.g. procedural
knowledge concerning the use of the frame, some other slots just store values of individual attributes.
Frames are connected to other frames and in that way they form the frame system. Connections define
their function in the system: a class-defining frame, a class element (object) or a subclass of an existing
class (analogy to the object approach).Thanks to hierarchical structure there is a possibility to inherit
distinctive features through frames, frame subclasses or particular specimens.
The knowledge in the formal form can be delivered to the knowledge base in many different ways.
The detailed description of all available means of delivering knowledge to the knowledge base will be
included in a doctoral dissertation. Here, in this paper only one way of acquiring knowledge in
organization without the need of using knowledge employees will be presented.

Organisational knowledge portal

Because of the difficulties one can meet in the process of the knowledge management such as no
standards for systems processing knowledge resources, it seems essential to prepare a system solution
through presentation of a model of an organisational knowledge portal that will support knowledge
propagation in organization through facilitation of knowledge distribution and updating and prepares
adequate mechanisms for its formalisation. The aim of the studies is to design a model of the
organizational knowledge portal as an information system based on the Internet technologies
supporting the knowledge resources processing. Within the confines of the research a model of
organisational knowledge portal is to be created along with a proposal of new approach to the problem
of codification and systematisation of knowledge elements by means of the knowledge class and the
object hierarchy application and the knowledge frame mechanism. Originally, the organizational
knowledge portal will be the system that eventually improve the knowledge management in
organization. The main functions of the portal are:
1) making possible to enter the knowledge to the system
a) loading the knowledge from the organization internal sources
b) loading the knowledge from the external sources
c) loading the knowledge from the management-aided systems
d) loading the knowledge from documents circulation management-aided system
e) entering the knowledge directly into the system, through the knowledge employees
f) entering the knowledge into the system through the organisational experts (Questions &
Answers method)
2) standardisation of knowledge object storing
a) the assurance of clear standards for knowledge representation in the knowledge base
b) the assurance of stored knowledge integrity
c) the assurance of knowledge up-to-date control mechanisms
3) knowledge distribution
a) a possibility of searching the gathered knowledge
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 b) a possibility of categorised browsing of the gathered knowledge
c) a possibility of exporting the knowledge according to certain standards
d) a possibility of creating ready-to-use education modules with the option of knowledge
personalisation for specific organization members
The organisational knowledge portal should be positioned in the organisation structure in such a
way as to give all the organisation members the general access. Only such position gives the chance
for horizontal knowledge flow, and, what is equally important, effective knowledge distribution among
the members of the portal.
The knowledge classes that is, standards according to which new knowledge objects can be created,
should be continuously updated and, moreover, there must be a possibility to create new knowledge
class standards. The example knowledge classes were shown in the figure, however in case of
a medium-sized organisation the number can reach even several thousands while each of these classes
can create practically unlimited number of knowledge objects. Such standardisation is to assure the
clarification of rules used for creating and storing the organisational knowledge.

Example mechanism of knowledge acquisition

The example mechanism of knowledge acquisition is an expert platform. Each member of
organization have the knowledge, no-one else has. It could be the information about specific
conditions to meet in experimental technological process or vital information about one of the resent
clients. In smaller organisations the flow of such information is much easier. Moreover, every single
member knows exactly who is an expert in a specific matter. In organisations with complex structure
such information is not obvious.
The utilisation of the expert platform allows to associate a member carrying information with a
person, how seeks it. The process of knowledge acquisition in information system can be traced back
thanks to the control mechanism of information flow and, what is equally important, can be stored for
further reference. The next person in need of the information from the particular expert about
a particular topic will find it in the knowledge base. What is more, it can become a part of a course that
is higher in the hierarchical tree of the knowledge structure.

Knowledge propagation in organisation

The knowledge stored in the portal will be available for users in two different versions:
1) Directly from the portal interface
2) Through the remote education system in the form of a training module
In the first case, the portal interface will act as a resource search engine and as a hierarchy browser
of particular knowledge structures.
In the second case, the e-learning system will be used for the knowledge distribution, which gives
better control over the process of knowledge acquisition. Primary of the remote education system in

• propagation of newly-created knowledge (faster and more effective than the traditional
terms of knowledge management utilisation are:

• automatic or semi-automatic data loading concerning new knowledge objects from the
approach),

• supervision over the process of knowledge internalisation through creation of statistics and
organisational knowledge portal and resources update,

• giving information about new knowledge objects, consistent with the standards of transferring
memorandums connected with the process of knowledge acquisition,

the training content.

Combining the knowledge management system with the remote education system we produce the
synergy effect of both systems. The organisational knowledge portal is used for the knowledge
resources management and resources search – not for the creation of courses or internal trainings. The
remote education system is a highly specialised system for knowledge acquisition in the education
system that uses the Internet technology. Using the module that combines these two systems allows to
codify the knowledge about objects or groups of objects and the processes taking place in a form of
standardised training modules. Apart from that, the utilisation of existing standards (e.g. AICC,
SCORM) grants an independence of a specific solution and portability of training modules.
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Knowledge personalisation in organization
One of new solutions mentioned earlier by the author is the so-called knowledge personalisation.
The process works in the following way. A member of the organisation seeks knowledge about a
specific topic. If the topic is very extensive, giving the information about all objects or the whole
training module could be ineffective and browsing of the knowledge base – time-consuming. Based on
the questions technique, the system should recognize the knowledge state of a user and match the most
optimal level for this user to this state. Of course, this mechanism needs appropriate preparation of the
knowledge base in terms of user knowledge verification.

REMOTE EDUCATION SYSTEMS AND THEIR ROLE IN THE KNOWLEDGE PROPAGATION

In the previous considerations the author put stress on the substantial role of remote education
system in the process of knowledge distribution, which means there should be basic concepts
presented here.

Electronic distance education

Along with the technological progress and desktop PC’s dissemination, more and more information
technologies are used for the support of education processes. Easier operation, cheaper hardware and
software and greater possibilities have provided an average user with education supported not only by
texts and simple drawings displayed on the monitor screen.
A student who wants to deepen their biological science can receive not only the description, picture
or drawing of an animal, but also, after choosing an appropriate option, can hear the animal sounds and
watch the video clip showing the animal fighting for food. The process of acquiring the knowledge can
be assessed through tests, games or quizzes, all presented with interesting graphic design. In the course
of learning processes the advantages of all those technologies were quickly appreciated. They proved
particularly useful for people who want to learn at different time of day, and without leaving their
residence. Distance learning is a method known for a long time. Now it can be supported with new
technologies.

Distance learning
Distance learning (remote learning, correspondence learning, etc.) has a long history. This form of
education has been created to fulfil the need of people who wanted to learn but haven’t met the
appropriate condition for learning process. The main cause for distance learning is inability to leave
the place of residence (the handicapped, seriously ill or parents looking after children), or lack of funds
for traditional education. The basic advantage of distance learning is the fact that there is no need to
gather students and teachers in the same place, at the same time.
The first generation of remote learning was the correspondence education. It was based on a postal
correspondence. In this way the students received all required materials and sent their homework,
essays, or reports to their teacher for assessment. Distance learning quickly adapted new technologies
and inventions in order to make the knowledge more attractive and easier to acquisition.
First radio, then television became crucial inventions for distance learning. Not to mention such
inventions as telephone, tape or video recorder, compact discs and players and many more. However,
the most revolutionary inventions turned out to be the telecommunication, data communication and
information technologies that have changed the way of conducting lessons in distance learning. The
future begins to reveal the technologies allowing to educate students in every place in the world and at
any time, so the solutions that can be called “m-learning”.

E-learning
E-learning – this expression has many meanings, but the most appropriate one is associated with
electronic-aided education (with the help of computers and audiovisual aids) and with the Internet-
aided education. This kind of learning is the next step in the evolution of distance learning. The
concept appears not only in the interviews or articles for experts, but also more and more frequently in
everyday newspapers, and other magazines not associated with this branch. It is caused by the fact that
155
the application of modern technologies has helped to revolutionise and completely change the attitude
to remote learning. The following is an example definition from the Internet portal
http://elearners.com:
„E-learning is any form of learning that utilizes a network for delivery, interaction, or facilitation
(in a few years you might not even use the computer). The network could be the Internet, a school or
college LAN or even a corporate WAN. The learning could take place individually (guided or
instructed by a computer) or as part of a class. Online classes meet either synchronously (at the same
time) or asynchronously (at different times), or some combination of the two”.
Taking into account what was said before, this definition limits the concept of e-learning
exclusively to the education with the help of a computer network. In real life, this concept can be used
also in cases of Computer Based Training (CBT), because both methods are being linked together.
Supporting the learning process through e-learning technique or learning exclusively through
e-learning also requires, apart from knowing and applying the information technologies (the Internet
technologies to be precise), specific systems and techniques that were created and systematised.

Learning process management systems

The learning process depends on many factors, especially on students and teachers. Because one of
the aims of remote learning implementation is to increase the number of students (without increasing
the expenses), we need the information system that can supervise the whole process.
Learning Management System (LMS) – “the information system playing a primary role in the
distance learning process. It features storing, managing and publishing the teaching material in form of
multimedia courses, organisation of the teaching process, assessment of a student progress, saving and
controlling the courses access and reporting. Moreover, it is possible to execute on-line trainings either
synchronously or asynchronously, or even in the form of self-education”. This definition presented on
page http://www.edustarda.pl describes most of the functions a system of learning process
management should have. It is important for a system to be compatible with existing standards (AICC,
ISO, IEEE, SCORM, IMS).
Management and publication of teaching material in the form of multimedia courses is one of the
functions of the LMS system. Courses can be created using many technologies available. In case of the
Internet courses, the main stress is put on the well-known and well-prepared courses, among other
things the courses used in e-business applications (e.g. e-commerce, B2B, WWW corporate services),
intranets, extranets, on-line multimedia presentations. The process of producing such a course is very
complex and that is why there are attempts to create an application that could allow creating such
applications independently, without the need to employ additionally employees or companies that are
familiar with those advanced technologies. Systems of this kind are called:
Learning Content Management Systems (LMCS) as the name suggests are designed to help in
creating and delivering the learning content. The systems should generate content (of courses)
compatible with existing standards, because that is the only way to make sure a course will be
compatible with different LMS systems.
To show the relationship between described groups of systems, the LMS systems could be
compared to a video recorder where we can play-back tapes in PAL, SECAM, or NTSC systems, and
LCMS systems could be compared to a video camera that can record our own movie and then (if it was
recorded in one of the given standards) play it back in a video recorder.
More and more companies and institutions introduce solution standardisations from the e-learning
branch. At present, the most popular standards are the following:
Aviation Industry Computer-Based Training Committee (AICC) – created to standardise the
solutions and tools used in CBT-based systems (additional information can be found at
http://www.aicc.org), and
Shareable Courseware Object Reference Model (SCORM) that presents the model for creation of
electronic courses and requirements the course should meet to be universal and compatible with
existing e-learning systems. The standard was designed by Advanced Distributed Learning Network
(additional information can be found at http://www.adlnet.org).

156
E-learning and problems of the knowledge engineering
As it can be seen, the available tools allow e-learning technique to support the process of
knowledge management. Some experts say that an electronic course is not a simple presentation or
animation but rather a complete system that requires adequate commitment from the learner.
Therefore, thanks to the mechanism of automatic course creation based on knowledge structures
mentioned earlier and with the aid of mechanisms of knowledge personalisation the system will be
capable of delivering the most optimum knowledge at a given time.

SUMMARY
Summing up, the author wants to draw the reader’s attention to the knowledge management and
knowledge engineering and the role they will play in a near future and how important and needed is to
set an example model of a system that will be successfully processing knowledge at all stages and,
what is more, will be using the state-of-the-art technologies. Introduction of awareness in resource
management will be a key-factor leading to the development of a society based on knowledge and
economy in a near future.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
European Commission (1999), eEurope - An Information Society for All, COM(99)687
European Commission (2000), eEurope – eEurope 2002 - An Information Society for All - Draft
Action Plan, COM(2000)0330, Feira
European Commission (2003) Towards a knowledge-based Europe, Directorate General for Press and
Communication, Brussels
The Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2nd April, 1997
Krupa, T. (2000), Przedsiębiorstwo w procesie globalizacji, WNT, Warsaw
Krupa, T. & Wójtowicz, A. (2002), Aktualne problemy w zarządzaniu projektami informatycznymi,

Zarządzanie Przedsiębiorstwem, Nr 1, Opole

Materials from http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/

Materials from http://www.kmmagazine.com
Materials from http://www.kmportal.pl
Materials from http://www.kongwistyka.net
Materials from http://www.phys.uni.torun.pl/~duch/indexpl.html
Ministerstwo Gospodarki, ePolska - Plan działań na rzecz społeczeństwa informacyjnego w Polsce na
lata 2001-2006, http://www.mg.gov.pl
Nonaka, I. & Takeuchi, H. (2002), Kreowanie wiedzy w organizacji, POLTEXT, Warsaw
Sitarski, K. (2001), New Teaching Methods: E-learning and Knowledge Factories, conference
materials, Madrid
Sitarski, K. (2002), Przykład e-kursu i jego wdrożenie w Internecie, Zarządzanie Przedsiębiorstwem,
Nr 1, Opole
Syska, E., Koncepcje zarządzanie wiedzą, http://www.egov.pl
Tatarkiewicz, W. (2001), Historia filozofii, PWN, Warsaw

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Helsinki University of Technology SimLab
Publications

Editor-in Chief
Riitta Smeds, D.Sc. (Tech.)
Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
SimLab
P.O. Box 9220
FIN-02015 HUT
Finland
riitta.smeds@hut.fi

Dissertation Series
ISSN 1458-8226

Doctoral and Licentiate’s Theses from the SimLab research unit. The quality of the Dissertation Series publications in
ensured by the formal review process of the Theses.

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ISSN 1458-8234

Reports from SimLab research projects, as well as proceedings of scientific workshops and conferences organized by
SimLab. The submitted Report manuscripts are reviewed by experts.

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ISSN 1458-8242

Teaching Materials include lecture material, as well as editions of selected seminar papers and project assignment
reports of students. The submitted Teaching Material manuscripts are reviewed by experts.

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Working Papers can introduce new research projects and research ideas, and discuss current phenomena. They can also
include manuscripts that are ultimately intended for publication in high-quality academic journals. The Working Papers
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Publications

Dissertation Series
ISSN 1458-8226

1. Haho, Päivi (2002): Simulointipeleihin perustuvan kehittämismenetelmän hyötyjä liiketoimintaprosessien

kehittämishankkeissa. Hyvän kehittämismenetelmän menestystekijöitä (Benefits of the Simulation Game Based
Development Method in Business Process Development Projects. Success Factors of a Good Development Method).
Licentiate’s Thesis, Helsinki University of Technology, Department of Industrial Management and Department of
Computer Science and Engineering, Espoo 2002, (in Finnish). SimLab Dissertation Series no.1, ISSN 1458-
8226, ISBN 951-22-6286-X, pp 125+3.

158
Report Series
ISSN 1458-8234

1. Kilpiö, Anna (2003): Opettajuus ja verkko-opetus (Teaching and e-learning). Master’s Thesis, University of
Helsinki, Department of Social Psychology, Helsinki 2002. Report of the SimLab Helmi-project, Espoo 2003, (in
Finnish). SimLab Report Series , no.1, ISSN 1458-8234, ISBN 951-22-6371-8. pp 131+3.

2. Hirvensalo Antero, Evokari Juha, Feller Jan, Pekkola Kimmo, Turunen Pekka and Smeds Riitta (2003): R&DNet
Final Report. Process Innovation in Collaborative R&D. Lessons Learnt from the Telecommunication Industry,
Espoo 2003. SimLab Report Series no.2, ISSN 1458-8234, ISBN 951-22-6494-3, pp 110+8.

3. Kytösalmi, Marjut (2004): Organisaatiomuutoksen ja tietojärjestelmähankinnan yhteensovittaminen prosessin

kehittämisen menetelmiä soveltaen (Integration of organizational change and information system acquisition
applying process development methods). Master’s Thesis, Helsinki University of Technology, Department of
Computer Science and Engineering, Information Networks Degree Program, Espoo 2004, (in Finnish). SimLab
Report Series no.3, ISSN 1458-8234, ISBN 951-22-6997-X, pp 92+20.

4. Syväoja, Heli (2004): Customers’ and service providers’ organizational capabilities in succesful IT outsourcing: a
case study (Asiakkaan ja IT-palveluiden tarjoajan kyvykkyydet menestyksekkäässä IT-ulkoistuksessa:
tapaustutkimus). Master’s Thesis, Helsinki University of Technology, Department of Computer Science and
Engineering, Information Networks Degree Program, Espoo 2004. SimLab Report Series no.4, ISSN 1458-8234.
ISBN 951-22-7436-1, pp 72.

5. Lignell, Laura (2004): Malli tietojärjestelmävaatimusten tunnistamiseksi liiketoimintaprosessia kehittäessä (A

model for requirements elicitation during business process development). Master’s Thesis, Helsinki University of
Technology, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Information Networks Degree Program, Espoo
2004, (in Finnish). SimLab Report Series no.5, ISSN 1458-8234, ISBN 951-22-7434-5, pp 109.

6. Pietilä, Astrid (2004): Asiakkuusprosessin systeeminen mallintaminen sen kehityskohtien tunnistamiseksi

(Applying a systemic modeling method to a customer process in order to recognize its development points).
Master’s Thesis, Helsinki University of Technology, Department of Computer Science and Engineering,
Information Networks Degree Program, Espoo 2004, (in Finnish). SimLab Report Series no.6, ISSN 1458-8234
ISBN 951-22-7447-7, pp 100

7. Lemmetty, Mirja (2005): Verkostoituva kaupunkisuunnittelu: prosessin kehittämisen näkökulma (Development of

networked urban planning process). Master’s Thesis, Helsinki University of Technology, Department of Computer
Science and Engineering, Information Networks Degree Program, Espoo 2005, (in Finnish). SimLab Report
Series no.7, ISSN 1458-8234, ISBN 951-22-7629-1, pp 105

8. Leinikka, Laura (2005): Prosessitieto verkottuneissa projekteissa --- tapaustutkimus rakennusteollisuudesta.

(Process knowledge in networked projects --- a case study from the construction industry). Master’s Thesis, Helsinki
University of Technology, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Information Networks Degree
Program, Espoo 2005, (in Finnish). SimLab Report Series no.8, ISSN 1458-8234,ISBN 951-22-7631-3, pp
93+2.

9. Markkula Marja-Leena, Kilpiö Anna, Smeds Riitta (eds.): Helmiä Verkossa: Katsaus Helmi-hankeeseen 2001-
2005 (Helmi-project review 2001-2005). Espoo 2005, (in Finnish). SimLab Report Series no.9, ISSN 1458-
82346, ISBN 951-22-7676-3, pp 59.

10. Smeds Riitta, Riis Jens, Haho Päivi, Jaatinen Miia (eds.) (2005): New approaches to Learning, Studying and
th
Teaching. Proceedings of the 9 International Workshop of the IFIP WG 5,7 Special Interest Group on
Experimental Interactive Learning in Industrial Management, SimLab,Espoo June 5.-7.2005. SimLab Report
Series no.10, ISSN 1458-8234, ISBN 951-22-7724-7, pp 157.

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