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The paper aims to explore staff's experience with role‐plays using the example of training bank employees in Six Sigma as a major methodology for business process improvement.

The research is based on a case study. A role‐play, KreditSim, is used to simulate a loan approval process that has to be improved by the participants. KreditSim has been conducted many times with various groups in both academic and professional environments. The authors used five role‐play sessions to conduct a survey among the participants and questioned seven facilitators experienced in KreditSim to generate empirical evidence for the effectiveness of such role‐plays.

Role‐play based simulations complement training programs in terms of active participation and first‐hand experience. Not only methodological learning is achieved but social and communicative as well as affective learning are supported, too. The employed role‐play highlights the relevance and applicability of the Six Sigma methodology to staff's day‐to‐day responsibilities. Besides boosting awareness for process thinking, the role‐play also helps to engage staff members in process improvement efforts.

A limitation to the results might be the small number of facilitators that supervised the role‐play sessions so far. Thus, results may not be representative in a statistical sense. Moreover, the design of KreditSim could be modified in different ways for future seminars. Using software to automate certain activities is one possible modification. Ongoing research investigates in how far such modifications influence the effectiveness and the participant's perception of the role‐play.

The present study reveals that role‐plays can be effectively used for staff training. The results show that staff are strongly receptive to role‐plays in the context of business process improvement. Furthermore, several objectives such as methodological or social learning can be pursued and combined by this type of training instrument.

This article contributes to existing research in analyzing the effectiveness of role‐plays in a workplace setting. The paper is based on a number of professional role‐play sessions within the financial services sector. The survey comprises multiple dimensions of learning and supports that staff appreciate the usage of role‐play based simulation in a workplace environment.

The purpose of this study is to determine how closely an in-class role-play can mirror and capture the features and characteristics of work-based learning with real-life working experiences. The aim is also to discuss the potential and drawbacks of using role-play as a form of work-related learning.

This case study relies on qualitative data obtained from learning journals covering learning experiences on a role-play exercise. In total, 16 undergraduate students participated in a course in business-to-business marketing and took part in a series of face-to-face simulations.

Compared to the characteristics, features and potential outcomes of work-based learning, role-play can entail several similar learning outcomes. The strengths of a role-play are many. Participants can practise real-life situations in a safe environment; their learning is not restricted to a particular work setting; they are able to learn through reflection, and conflicts between stakeholders can be avoided. The comparative weaknesses include a lack of support from senior colleagues and an unclear contribution to the real world. Furthermore, the method may produce stereotypes or anxiety in the participants.

Due to the small target group, reliance on one source of data, and the phenomenological nature of findings, further studies are needed with larger target groups and different research approaches.

The findings reveal that role-play can offer higher education a supplementary tool for work-based learning.

In higher education, role-play may serve as a tool to reach many of the learning objectives of work-based learning, especially if real workplace experiences cannot be arranged.

The study's main goal is to investigate different leadership styles that characterize middle-level leaders, the intermediate leadership tier of role holders in school, as they practice leadership scenarios through active participation in a professional learning process of role-play simulation, using a social-ecological approach.

Thirty middle-level leaders from different Israeli high schools and districts participated in the study during an M.A. course in an educational leadership program. The authors used qualitative analysis to examine role-play simulations of leadership scenarios based on group debriefings. This content analysis was conducted within a two-dimensional theoretical framework composed of leadership style theory and a social-ecological model.

The study findings address four main leadership styles: authentic, transformational, participative and transactional. Regarding their appearance within different social-ecological layers, the interpersonal layer was the most salient one with a prominent appearance of transformational and authentic leadership styles. On the organizational and communal layers, authentic leadership was more prominent. The study findings demonstrate multidimensionality in both the leadership styles and social-ecological layers, as different styles appeared in different layers concurrently.

The findings may help articulate the nature and characteristics of middle-level school leadership. They may also provide relevant theoretical content and instructional strategy to develop simulation-based preparation programs for middle-level leaders.

The study findings highlight unique leadership characteristics of middle-level school leaders and suggest a contextual perception of their leadership styles within a social-ecological framework.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute learning, knowledge creation and knowledge transfer obtained through a web-based role-play simulation environment as an intelligent approach towards organisational change. Such change occurs in the organisation during its transition to a new version of the ISO 9001:2015.

This paper is based on a literature review and the experience of the authors and a team of international teaching and research staff, as well as on information obtained from satisfaction surveys.

The actual version of the web-based Management System Role-Play Simulation (MS-RPS©) considers the changes in structure and terminology of the ISO management system standards, enables the creation of a predictive strategy regarding organisational culture, minimises the negative impact of the change and helps people adapt more quickly to it.

The study is limited to the complexity of an actual system and the possible verification of empirical results. Another limitation is the measurability of any real enhancement achieved in the quality, safety and sustainability of production, as well as the business continuity and social responsibility of an organisation.

One benefit of the training is the thorough knowledge that players within organisational management can gain in a short period. Reduced resistance to change is also stressed and the complexity and dynamism of the internal environment considered.

MS-RPS© is based on original web-based software. The primary model has been developed at the Technical University of Košice. It was tested by students, but also by managers and other employees in several industrial organisations, as well as services, over 20 years.

The development of communication skills is increasingly a key element in the training of staff who have a regular contact with the public. The Glasgow Garden Festival took place over the summer of 1988. For the purposes of staffing the information centre, the Inverclyde Initiative chose to recruit 12 people who were registered unemployed. Training was provided for these individuals in order to prepare them for the job by improving their skills and thus their ability to perform a successful role in the Festival. Details of the design of the communication skills programme using simulations and role plays as general features are considered in the article.

Conventional lecture-based educational approaches alone might not be able to portray the complexity of disaster risk management practice and its real-life dynamics. One work-integrated learning practice that can give students practical work-related experiences is simulation-based learning. However, there is a limited discourse on simulation-based learning in disaster risk management education at the tertiary level. As tertiary education plays a crucial role in developing capabilities within the workforce, simulation-based learning can evoke or replicate substantial aspects of the real world in a fully interactive fashion. This paper aims to present outcomes of simulation-based learning sessions the authors designed and delivered in a disaster risk management course.

The authors developed a framework to illustrate simulation-based learning in a disaster risk management programme. It was then used as a guide to design and execute simulation-based learning sessions. An autoethnographic methodology was then applied to reflectively narrate the experiences and feelings during the design and execution of the simulations.

The evaluation of the simulation sessions showed that participants were able to apply their knowledge and demonstrate the skills required to make critical decisions in disaster risk reduction. The conclusion from the simulation-based learning sessions is that making simulation-based learning a part of the pedagogy of disaster risk management education enables students to gain practical experience, deliberate ethical tensions and practical dilemmas and develop the ability to work with multiple perspectives.

The simulated workplace experience allowed students to experience decision-making as disaster risk management professionals, allowing them to integrate theory with practice.

Using student-centered teaching methods presents a great challenge to many new middle and high school history teachers. Having experienced mostly teacher-centered instructional approaches (such as lectures and teacher-led discussions) in secondary school and college classes, they begin student teaching with few models for how to teach using less traditional forms of instruction. This paper discusses “Ideas, Issues, and Insights,” a strategy for prospective history teachers, as they explore the use of student-centered teaching methods with middle and high school students. It analyzes written reflection papers where history teacher candidates identify their ideas for three student-centered instructional methods — small group work, primary source analysis, and historical role-plays and simulations — as well as issues that arise when these student-centered methods are implemented in the classroom. As history teacher candidates respond to their ideas and issues, they generate insights about how they can best use student-centered teaching methods in their future classrooms. The first-person perspectives of history teacher candidates are highlighted to show how college students in one university-based teacher preparation program think about their student teaching experiences and their choice of instructional methods to use with students.

This paper describes the implementation of a role-play exercise to illustrate the influence of followership styles and effective communication on leader-follower relationship formation and development. We provide the pedagogical theory and evidence behind using role-plays in classroom settings, followed by a literature review pertaining to leader-member relations and followership on which this role-play is based. The activity aims to fulfill multiple objectives: (a) to explain the importance of effectively managing-up the hierarchy, (b) to use effective communication skills in challenging and conflict laden situations, and (c) to expand self- awareness and explore own implicit assumptions. We further provide the session plan for using the role-play including the instructions, timing, and role handouts, and discuss potential outcomes.

The Economic and Social Science Research Council’s Innovation Agenda singled out “more innovation” as a key weapon for UK companies to outperform world competitors. This research explores this Innovation Agenda from an HE perspective, and reports on a study of a final year undergraduate course in Creative Management. Students, in syndicate groups, were asked to invent their own business idea. By simulating make‐believe situations in the classroom, we aimed to approximate feelings purportedly experienced by business managers as they innovate, such as “creative tension” and “strategic discomfort”. This article argues that preparedness for creative tension is now a necessity for business graduates. Additionally, it proposes that an awareness of discomfiting strategic effects of renewal is worthwhile. For example, how might students have coped with the shock to IBM during the demise of the computer mainframe market?