THE USE OF A BUSINESS GAME TO IMPROVE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS IN MANAGEMENT

In competitive business environments as the ones we live today, it is even more important for a manager to make better decisions. The classical model of decision making assumes managers have access to all the information needed to reach a decision. So, managers can make their decisions by ranking their preferences among existing alternatives. Unfortunately, it is very common that managers do not have access to all needed information to decide. Incomplete information leads to a high risk in the decision-making process. However, worse than that is not knowing what to do even having the information needed to decide. In this paper we present some lessons learned from the experience of the utilization of a Business Game at ISCAP/IPP, as a result of a partnership with UNIS-MG, a Brazilian University from Minas Gerais. For this study, a qualitative research approach was in place, since we used qualitative methods, mainly observation and semi-structured interviews. ISCAP/IPP is a business school of higher education that provides diverse programmes of studies in business areas: accounting and management, marketing, international commerce, business communication, secretary management, etc. Nevertheless, students miss some skills related with the decision-making process in management.

In this learning experience students from different backgrounds improve their decision-making process in several ways:
i) improve their knowledge about the organization;
ii) understand the mind frame (from the background) used by colleagues to make their decisions;
iii) interpret formal and informal documents available not only internally (such as financial statements), but also externally (such as macroeconomic projections and market reports);
iv) realize that a manager needs to be more that an accountant or marketer, but most of times a mix of different backgrounds at the same time.