Bibliography: p. 297-302. / The concept of Business Simulation Gaming is a relatively new term in the vocabulary of Business educators. This study adopts a Systems Approach to Business Simulation Gaming for the purpose of : (i) creating an overall awareness of the Enlarged Gaming System beyond the mere Implementation phase; and (ii) demonstrating its role as a valuable tool of learning. The four major components of this thesis, namely, the Rationale of Gaming, the Design Process, the Implementation Process and the Evaluation Process, combine to form an integrative whole - the Enlarged Gaming System - in contributing to the stated objectives.

Die veränderten Bedingungen der heutigen Wirtschaftswelt erfordern nicht mehr nur grundlegendes Faktenwissen . Da Faktenwissen im Internetzeitalter kein knappes Gut mehr ist, zählen in der Praxis immer mehr die einzelnen Fähigkeiten des Menschen, also mit Wissen umzugehen und es zur Gestaltung zu nutzen. So stehen bei den Arbeitgebern heutzutage weniger die Abschlussnoten als die praktischen Fähigkeiten im Vordergrund. Wie ist es nun möglich, diese Fähigkeiten bereits während des Studiums zu erlernen bzw. diese zu trainieren? Dazu soll als erstes einmal auf die einzelnen Komponenten eingegangen werden, die zur Entstehung von praktischen Fähigkeiten bzw. Können erforderlich sind. Fähigkeiten bestehen aus einer Lern- und einer praktischen Komponente. Sie können somit als Stimme von Wissen und Erfahrungen interpretiert werden. Erfahrungen erlangt man durch die Anwendung und Reflexion von Wissen, also von erlernten Methoden und relevanten Informationen.

Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP) are very large and complex software packages that run every aspect of an organization. Increasingly, ERP systems are used in higher education to teach business processes, essential knowledge for students competing in today’s business environment. Past research attempting to measure learning business processes with ERP has been inconclusive and lacking in rigor. This dissertation contains a comprehensive research study that uses a critical realist approach to measure business process learning from experiential ERP. Using a business simulation game as a proxy for understanding business processes, students from (1) a US undergraduate program in three separate classes, one using ERP experientially, and (2) two UK postgraduate programs, one experiencing ERP and one not, are assessed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The data analysis results in a causal mechanism for learning, complemented by a list that trigger or suppress that mechanism in particular cases. The results validate the efforts of those using ERP in the classroom, and reaffirm other educational business school endeavors, with educational implications as follows. First, before attempting to learn business processes, students must know about business in order to enable them to learn this complex topic. Second, experiencing ERP systems indeed helps students understand business processes, with a cohesive curriculum integrating ERP benefitting students the most and students at the postgraduate level learning more deeply. Third, students are using the knowledge gained in university classes to make business decisions. Fourth, students should be encouraged to use all information possible for making business decisions instead of relying on their personal understanding of today’s current market, relying on their own business intuition or work experience. Last, teaching methods may need to be adjusted for postgraduates, especially those coming into programs with significant work experience.

A maioria das metodologias educacionais utilizadas em sala de aula é limitada em relação às experiências de aprendizado relativas ao mundo real. As pesquisas evidenciam que os Jogos de Simulação de Empresa (JSEs), que oferecem experiências reais, têm mostrado potencial para contribuir com o aprendizado e motivação do aprendiz. Consonante com esse potencial, observa-se crescimento na produção e na utilização de jogos de simulação na última década. Apesar do crescimento, há preocupação com a qualidade desse tipo de aprendizagem, fator crítico de sucesso. Estudos indicam que a avaliação formativa e o ensino personalizado podem ajudar na melhoria da qualidade do aprendizado de todos os aprendizes. Apesar de existirem pesquisas acerca do debriefing em JSEs, não foram encontradas pesquisas, acerca do impacto do debriefing formativo e personalizado em JSEs no ensino superior, no Brasil. Assim, neste trabalho objetivou-se implementar e avaliar um modelo de debriefing formativo e personalizado para JSEs no ensino superior que incremente as oportunidades de aprendizagem. O modelo de debriefing plus é dividido em quatro etapas e contempla desde o treinamento até à avaliação. Foi realizado um experimento, com duração de dois meses. A amostra da pesquisa compreendeu 20 alunos, distribuídos nos cursos de Graduação em Administração de Empresas, Ciências Contábeis, Economia e Relações Internacionais de um renomado Centro Universitário, localizado em São Paulo. O debriefing plus foi avaliado em três dimensões: desempenho financeiro dos alunos no ambiente simulado, eficiência do facilitador usando o DASH e indícios motivacionais do aluno, por meio da entrevista. Os resultados indicam que o debriefing plus teve impacto direto na avaliação do facilitador e no desempenho financeiro. No experimento, 100% dos que concluíram o curso tiveram melhora no seu desempenho financeiro, e em média, mais de 95% dos respondentes considerarem como bom, muito bom, ou excelente a avaliação do facilitador. Esse modelo proposto pode melhorar a experiência de aprendizagem de todos os alunos, se comparado com o modelo tradicional de debriefing, cujo maior foco está nos resultados financeiros da equipe e não no aprendizado individual. O modelo de debriefing plus demonstrou potencial de incrementar o processo de aprendizagem mais personalizado por meio da melhoria do desempenho financeiro de todos os alunos. Ressalta-se que o treinamento do facilitador é fundamental para o sucesso desse modelo. / Most educational methodologies used in classrooms are limited concerning learning experiences related to the real world. Researchers have shown that business gaming simulations (BSG) which offer real experiments can potentially contribute to the learning process as well as learners´ motivation. An increase in the production and use of BSG has been observed over the last decade. Despite this growth, there has been concern about the quality of this type of learning, which is a critical success factor. Studies have shown that formative assessment and personalized learning can help to improve the learning quality of all learners. Although research on debriefing has been conducted, we have not found any study that focuses on the impact of formative and personalized debriefing on the higher education in Brazil. This research deals with the implement of a debriefing formative and personalized model for BSG in higher education that enhances the learning opportunities. The Debriefing Plus model is divided into four stages and covers from training to evaluation. One experiment was conducted in a two-month period and the study sample comprised 20 undergraduates of Business Administration, Accountancy, Economy and International Relationship of a well known university in São Paulo city. The debriefing Plus has three dimensions: financial performance of the team, efficiency of the facilitator, and evidence of student motivation, which were measured by the DASH model, the simulated environment, and interview respectively. The results show that Debriefing Plus exerted a direct impact on the evaluation of the facilitator and financial performance. In the experiment, 100% of those who finished the course had improved their financial performance, and on average over 95% of the respondents considered the facilitator´s evaluation good, very good, or excellent. The debriefing model proposed can improve the learning experience of all students, in comparison with the traditional model of debriefing, whose major focus is on the financial results of the team and not on individual learning. The model can potentially enhance the more personalized learning process by improving the financial performance of all students. It should be highlighted that the facilitators training is the key to the success of this model.

A maioria das metodologias educacionais utilizadas em sala de aula é limitada em relação às experiências de aprendizado relativas ao mundo real. As pesquisas evidenciam que os Jogos de Simulação de Empresa (JSEs), que oferecem experiências reais, têm mostrado potencial para contribuir com o aprendizado e motivação do aprendiz. Consonante com esse potencial, observa-se crescimento na produção e na utilização de jogos de simulação na última década. Apesar do crescimento, há preocupação com a qualidade desse tipo de aprendizagem, fator crítico de sucesso. Estudos indicam que a avaliação formativa e o ensino personalizado podem ajudar na melhoria da qualidade do aprendizado de todos os aprendizes. Apesar de existirem pesquisas acerca do debriefing em JSEs, não foram encontradas pesquisas, acerca do impacto do debriefing formativo e personalizado em JSEs no ensino superior, no Brasil. Assim, neste trabalho objetivou-se implementar e avaliar um modelo de debriefing formativo e personalizado para JSEs no ensino superior que incremente as oportunidades de aprendizagem. O modelo de debriefing plus é dividido em quatro etapas e contempla desde o treinamento até à avaliação. Foi realizado um experimento, com duração de dois meses. A amostra da pesquisa compreendeu 20 alunos, distribuídos nos cursos de Graduação em Administração de Empresas, Ciências Contábeis, Economia e Relações Internacionais de um renomado Centro Universitário, localizado em São Paulo. O debriefing plus foi avaliado em três dimensões: desempenho financeiro dos alunos no ambiente simulado, eficiência do facilitador usando o DASH e indícios motivacionais do aluno, por meio da entrevista. Os resultados indicam que o debriefing plus teve impacto direto na avaliação do facilitador e no desempenho financeiro. No experimento, 100% dos que concluíram o curso tiveram melhora no seu desempenho financeiro, e em média, mais de 95% dos respondentes considerarem como bom, muito bom, ou excelente a avaliação do facilitador. Esse modelo proposto pode melhorar a experiência de aprendizagem de todos os alunos, se comparado com o modelo tradicional de debriefing, cujo maior foco está nos resultados financeiros da equipe e não no aprendizado individual. O modelo de debriefing plus demonstrou potencial de incrementar o processo de aprendizagem mais personalizado por meio da melhoria do desempenho financeiro de todos os alunos. Ressalta-se que o treinamento do facilitador é fundamental para o sucesso desse modelo. / Most educational methodologies used in classrooms are limited concerning learning experiences related to the real world. Researchers have shown that business gaming simulations (BSG) which offer real experiments can potentially contribute to the learning process as well as learners´ motivation. An increase in the production and use of BSG has been observed over the last decade. Despite this growth, there has been concern about the quality of this type of learning, which is a critical success factor. Studies have shown that formative assessment and personalized learning can help to improve the learning quality of all learners. Although research on debriefing has been conducted, we have not found any study that focuses on the impact of formative and personalized debriefing on the higher education in Brazil. This research deals with the implement of a debriefing formative and personalized model for BSG in higher education that enhances the learning opportunities. The Debriefing Plus model is divided into four stages and covers from training to evaluation. One experiment was conducted in a two-month period and the study sample comprised 20 undergraduates of Business Administration, Accountancy, Economy and International Relationship of a well known university in São Paulo city. The debriefing Plus has three dimensions: financial performance of the team, efficiency of the facilitator, and evidence of student motivation, which were measured by the DASH model, the simulated environment, and interview respectively. The results show that Debriefing Plus exerted a direct impact on the evaluation of the facilitator and financial performance. In the experiment, 100% of those who finished the course had improved their financial performance, and on average over 95% of the respondents considered the facilitator´s evaluation good, very good, or excellent. The debriefing model proposed can improve the learning experience of all students, in comparison with the traditional model of debriefing, whose major focus is on the financial results of the team and not on individual learning. The model can potentially enhance the more personalized learning process by improving the financial performance of all students. It should be highlighted that the facilitators training is the key to the success of this model.

Die veränderten Bedingungen der heutigen Wirtschaftswelt erfordern nicht mehr nur grundlegendes Faktenwissen . Da Faktenwissen im Internetzeitalter kein knappes Gut mehr ist, zählen in der Praxis immer mehr die einzelnen Fähigkeiten des Menschen, also mit Wissen umzugehen und es zur Gestaltung zu nutzen. So stehen bei den Arbeitgebern heutzutage weniger die Abschlussnoten als die praktischen Fähigkeiten im Vordergrund. Wie ist es nun möglich, diese Fähigkeiten bereits während des Studiums zu erlernen bzw. diese zu trainieren? Dazu soll als erstes einmal auf die einzelnen Komponenten eingegangen werden, die zur Entstehung von praktischen Fähigkeiten bzw. Können erforderlich sind. Fähigkeiten bestehen aus einer Lern- und einer praktischen Komponente. Sie können somit als Stimme von Wissen und Erfahrungen interpretiert werden. Erfahrungen erlangt man durch die Anwendung und Reflexion von Wissen, also von erlernten Methoden und relevanten Informationen.

Os jogos criados para treinamento militar no passado foram evoluindo ao longo do tempo e passaram a ser mais presentes no contexto das empresas e também como forma de treinamento para prever possíveis crises e antecipar as possíveis soluções. Os jogos de empresas foram se atualizando e, hoje, podem-se encontrar softwares desenvolvidos especialmente para a criação de um ambiente virtual, nos quais simulações são feitas de modo a melhorar o aprendizado dos alunos e treinar gestores de uma empresa. Graças a vários recursos que essa técnica de aprendizagem oferece, há um importante papel a ser desempenhado pelo gestor que a utiliza. Sendo assim, este trabalho teve por objetivo desenvolver a tomada de decisão estratégica, utilizando a simulação empresarial como técnica de aprendizagem em uma empresa do setor de transportes e verificar sua utilização, propondo a simulação empresarial como um treinamento de gestores. Apresentam-se revisão bibliográfica sobre visão sistêmica, estratégia, tomada de decisão, simulação e os jogos de empresas, para compor uma pesquisa de avaliação. O método de pesquisa consistiu na observação das seguintes variáveis: estratégia, trabalho em equipe, cooperação, envolvimento, tempo, discussão e liderança, com escala nominal de frequência de cada uma delas. O estudo de caso em uma empresa do setor transportes buscou capacitar os gestores, desenvolvendo as competências individuais com base na tomada de decisão estratégica, utilizando-se o simulador Shadow Manager, de modo a propor a adoção do treinamento monitorado pelos dirigentes da empresa ao longo do tempo. Aplicada a simulação, os resultados mostraram que os gestores daquela empresa tomam decisões com base em sua experiência profissional e intuição dando pouca ênfase à estratégia e sem se utilizar a tomada de decisão como um processo decisório. / The games created for military training in the past have evolved over time and became more present in the context of companies and also as a way to provide training for potential crises and to anticipate possible solutions. The games companies were catching up, and today one can find software designed especially for the creation of a virtual environment, in which simulations are done to improve student learning and to train managers of a company. Thanks to many features that this learning technique offers, there is an important role to be played by the manager that uses it. Therefore, this study aimed to develop the strategic decision making using business simulation as a learning technique in a transport sector company in and to assess its use, proposing the business simulation as a manager training. This study presents a literature review on systems, decision making, strategy, business games and business simulation to compose an evaluation research. The research method consisted in the observation of the following variables: strategy, teamwork, cooperation, commitment, time, discussion and leadership, with nominal frequency range of each one. The case study of a transport company sought to empower managers, developing individual skills based on strategic decision making, using the simulator Shadow Manager in order to propose the adoption of training monitored by company directors over time. After the simulation was applied, the results showed that the managers of the enterprise take decisions based in their profissional experience and intuiton with few utilization of strategy and without decision as a decision process.

Os jogos criados para treinamento militar no passado foram evoluindo ao longo do tempo e passaram a ser mais presentes no contexto das empresas e também como forma de treinamento para prever possíveis crises e antecipar as possíveis soluções. Os jogos de empresas foram se atualizando e, hoje, podem-se encontrar softwares desenvolvidos especialmente para a criação de um ambiente virtual, nos quais simulações são feitas de modo a melhorar o aprendizado dos alunos e treinar gestores de uma empresa. Graças a vários recursos que essa técnica de aprendizagem oferece, há um importante papel a ser desempenhado pelo gestor que a utiliza. Sendo assim, este trabalho teve por objetivo desenvolver a tomada de decisão estratégica, utilizando a simulação empresarial como técnica de aprendizagem em uma empresa do setor de transportes e verificar sua utilização, propondo a simulação empresarial como um treinamento de gestores. Apresentam-se revisão bibliográfica sobre visão sistêmica, estratégia, tomada de decisão, simulação e os jogos de empresas, para compor uma pesquisa de avaliação. O método de pesquisa consistiu na observação das seguintes variáveis: estratégia, trabalho em equipe, cooperação, envolvimento, tempo, discussão e liderança, com escala nominal de frequência de cada uma delas. O estudo de caso em uma empresa do setor transportes buscou capacitar os gestores, desenvolvendo as competências individuais com base na tomada de decisão estratégica, utilizando-se o simulador Shadow Manager, de modo a propor a adoção do treinamento monitorado pelos dirigentes da empresa ao longo do tempo. Aplicada a simulação, os resultados mostraram que os gestores daquela empresa tomam decisões com base em sua experiência profissional e intuição dando pouca ênfase à estratégia e sem se utilizar a tomada de decisão como um processo decisório. / The games created for military training in the past have evolved over time and became more present in the context of companies and also as a way to provide training for potential crises and to anticipate possible solutions. The games companies were catching up, and today one can find software designed especially for the creation of a virtual environment, in which simulations are done to improve student learning and to train managers of a company. Thanks to many features that this learning technique offers, there is an important role to be played by the manager that uses it. Therefore, this study aimed to develop the strategic decision making using business simulation as a learning technique in a transport sector company in and to assess its use, proposing the business simulation as a manager training. This study presents a literature review on systems, decision making, strategy, business games and business simulation to compose an evaluation research. The research method consisted in the observation of the following variables: strategy, teamwork, cooperation, commitment, time, discussion and leadership, with nominal frequency range of each one. The case study of a transport company sought to empower managers, developing individual skills based on strategic decision making, using the simulator Shadow Manager in order to propose the adoption of training monitored by company directors over time. After the simulation was applied, the results showed that the managers of the enterprise take decisions based in their profissional experience and intuiton with few utilization of strategy and without decision as a decision process.

Agent-based simulations are an effective simulation technique that can flexibly be applied to real-world business problems. By integrating such simulations into business games, they become a widely accepted educational instrument in the context of business training. Not only can they be used to train standard behaviour in training scenarios but they can also be used for open experimentation to discover structure in complex contexts (e.g. complex adaptive systems) and to verify behaviours that have been predicted on the basis of theoretical considerations. Traditional modelling techniques are built on mathematical models consisting of differential or difference equations (e.g. the well-known system dynamics approach). However, individual behaviour is not visible in these equations. This problem is addressed by using software agents to simulate individuals and to model their actions in response to external stimuli. To be effective, business training tools have to provide sufficiently realistic models of real-world aspects. Ideally, system effects on a macroscopic level are caused by behaviour of system components on a more microscopic level. For instance, in modelling market mechanisms market participants can explicitly be modelled as agents with individual behaviour and personal goals. Agents can communicate and act on the basis of what they know and which communication acts they perform. The evolution of the market then depends on the actions of the participants directly and not on abstract mathematical expressions. Generally, agent-based modelling is a challenging task, when modelling knowledge and behaviour. With the rise of the so-called semantic web ontologies have become popular, allowing the representation of knowledge using standardised formal languages which can be made available to agents acting in a simulation. However, the combination of agent-based systems with ontologies has not yet been researched sufficiently, because both concepts (web ontology languages and agent oriented programming languages) have been developed independently and the link has not yet been built adequately. Using ontologies as a knowledge base allows access to powerful standardised inference engines that offer leverage for the decision process of the agent. Agents can then determine their actions in accordance with this knowledge. To model agents using ontologies creates a new perspective for multi-agent simulation scenarios as programming details are reduced and a separation of modelling aspects from coding details is promising as business simulation scenarios can be set up with a reduced development effort. This thesis focuses on how ontologies can be integrated utilising the agent framework Jadex. A basic architecture with layered ontologies and its integration into the belief-desire-intention (BDI) agent model is presented. The abstract level of the approach guarantees applicability to different simulation scenarios which can be modelled by creating appropriate ontologies. Examples are based upon the simulation of market mechanisms within the context of different industries. The approach is implemented in the integrated simulation environment AGADE which incorporates agent-based and semantic technologies. Simulations for different scenarios that model typical market scenarios are presented.

This master's thesis deals with business simulation games. The first part introduces us to the field of business management, analysis of available business simulations and situation of this market. Further in the text we will find design of new business simulation game. In the last part there is a complete description of project realization. The main contribution is an unusual theme (software selling companies), availability and modern solution.