Playing the Paper Folding SOP game in class ..

Playing games influence learning in the management business school ..

On Monday 20th of March 2023, I engaged the topic of Standard Operating Procedure with the fourth sem MBA operations students of Alliance School of Business  Bangalore through a game. Playing games can have several positive effects on learning in management business schools. Few ways in which games can influence learning are given below :

1. Increased engagement: Games can increase student engagement and motivation by making learning more fun and interactive. When students are engaged in a game, they are more likely to remember the information they are learning and apply it to real-world scenarios.

2. Active learning: Games can also promote active learning, where students are actively participating in the learning process instead of passively listening to lectures or reading textbooks. This can help students better understand complex concepts and retain information.

3. Decision-making skills: Many games require players to make decisions based on limited information and in a limited amount of time. This can help students develop critical thinking and decision-making skills, which are essential for success in business and management.

4. Collaboration: Some games require players to work together to solve problems or achieve a common goal. This can help students develop teamwork and collaboration skills, which are important in business settings.

5. Simulation of real-world scenarios: Games can simulate real-world scenarios, allowing students to practice and apply their knowledge in a safe and controlled environment. This can help students prepare for future management roles and develop skills that will be useful in their careers.

Overall, incorporating games into management business school curriculums can be an effective way to enhance learning and develop important skills for success in the business world - OpenAI.

As usual this time in the Lean Operations class we brought in the activity style of pedagogy to teach an important concept in lean operations - Standard Operating Procedure.

Standard Operating Procedure - A standard operating procedure is a set of step-by-step instructions compiled by an organization to help workers carry out routine operations. SOPs aim to achieve efficiency, quality output, and uniformity of performance, while reducing miscommunication and failure to comply with industry regulations. Wikipedia

On Monday 20th of March 2023, we introduced the topic of Standard Operating Procedure with the fourth sem MBA operations students through a game. Earlier I had introduced the topic of Kaizen and continuous Improvement with the straw game.

Since the class strength was about thirty I asked for ten volunteers who were asked to stand with A5 paper in the different corners of the large classroom. It was the paper folding game. 

• Initially the students were intentionally given vague instruction on folding the sheets of paper and tearing off the corners. 
• The results were highly variable, we got as many as 5 separate designs with each design taking not more than a frequency of 3. 
• The high variability in designs progressively got reduced from 5 to 4 to 3 as I gave more detailed instructions to the volunteers in different stages of the game. The students and volunteers were eagerly waiting to see what would happen next
• Finally in the last and fifth stage the volunteers were clearly explained the terminology, what was meant by corners, edges, long edge, short edge etc and when the instructions were properly given, all the 8 volunteers gave an identical uniform design, ie. zero variability.
• This led to high uniformly consistent quality of output

The learning from the game was that if proper Standard Operating Procedure is given and followed by the workers  (if all the terminology in the SOP is properly understood by the workers), 

• there is very less probability of workers committing mistakes errors or defects
• all the output will be similar with zero variability, leading to high quality uniform output 
• zero costs are incurred for rectifying defects, leading to high profitability
• uniformity in output leads to great customer acceptance and satisfaction
• high customer satisfaction leads to repeat orders and business growth 

There was no other way to practically demonstrate to the students other than through this practical insightful simple game on how SOPs can bring quality to the process and enhance customer satisfaction.

George..