How to Prevent Slacking on Simulation Group Projects
Most students know the frustration of a classmate who won’t carry their weight in a group project. Unfortunately, business simulations aren’t immune from this issue.
Students become demotivated when their team doesn’t work cohesively. When this happens, students stop learning and focus more on the distractions and drama caused by interpersonal issues.
As an instructor, you will want to identify team dynamics issues as early as possible so you can help solve them. How can you tell when a student does not carry their weight in the business simulation? One of three things will occur:
- Members of the team will let you know about it via complaints and grievances.
- You will figure it out yourself as you meet with student teams or read peer evaluations.
- You will look at students’ activity logs within the simulation and see that one is spending less time in the game.
Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to prevent and remediate non-participation.
1. Explain Expectations and Consequences Early
Include a statement in your syllabus explaining that slacking will result in serious consequences.
You will want to authorize the dismissal of a group member who is not making a substantial contribution to the team. Lay out a clear protocol teams should follow before firing a team member. This should include alerting the student of the grievances in writing and providing an opportunity for remediation within a reasonable timeframe.
Ignoring the warnings and foregoing any remediation attempts should result in serious penalties for the non-participative student. For example, a fired individual may have to play the simulation alone, complete all planned team assignments alone, and see a substantial number of points deducted from their final grade.
You should request a copy of all communications during the process. This will help you ensure that students are following the protocol fairly and as reported. Communicate that the team or targeted player may request your intervention at any time.
2. Include game references in classroom discussions
While teaching the course, discuss how real-world managerial issues relate to decisions in the simulation. This will catch students’ attention because these topics strongly relate to their success in the game. The instructor can even ask students to share their gameplay experience to the conversation in the classroom.
Some students may not participate because they don’t see the relevance to their future career. Show them how your lectures, their gameplay, and their career readiness are all connected. You may just change their perspective and encourage them to work effectively toward their future success.
3. Encourage Each Student to Log Solo Time in the Simulation
Encourage every team member to log into the simulation and make decisions. Having everyone stand behind one person who is actively entering decisions is not conducive to learning. Instead, assign responsibilities to individual players and check their work. This will force each student to carefully read the simulation scenario, analyze the situation and make decisions that are mindful of other teammates’ needs and requirements.
Marketplace simulations include an activity log for each student, with the log-in times, information consulted, decisions made, time spent, and more. At a glance, this log will tell you if there are significant discrepancies in participation. Check if your business simulation offers an activities’ log. If they do, be sure to actively follow each student’s level of engagement over the course of the exercise.
4. Hold Executive Briefings with Student Group
Consider meeting with teams after each business quarter or at significant checkpoints of your own choosing. During these briefings, ask each team to present their decisions with their rationales for a particular decision round.
You should require the equal participation of everyone on the team during the allotted briefing time. Have them answer questions about each other’s areas to determine how holistically they understand the business. If a student holds back during the discussion, ask them questions directly to gauge their understanding. This will identify anyone who is not actively participating in the business simulation.
Students will quickly learn that it is better to prepare than to be put on the spot and struggle. Poor grades may also be a good motivator to turn things around.
5. Get Students’ Insights Through Peer Assessments
One of the best ways to understand team dynamics is to ask students directly. Consider administering multiple peer evaluations during the exercise. You may have one early on, another mid-way, and one at the end.
Marketplace simulations provide peer evaluation templates (condensed, long form, and leadership focused) for students to fill out. Because these peer evaluations are anonymous, any underperforming student should easily stand out. Check with your simulation provider to see if they offer such a feature and be sure to take advantage of it if they do.
6. Test Each Student’s Knowledge
Administer quizzes to ensure students are paying attention to important details introduced in the early quarters of the simulation. Marketplace Simulations offers open book Simulation Knowledge Checks that encourage students to review important details they may have missed.
Assessments are also great tools to test the students’ simulation awareness, comprehension, and business understanding. Marketplace Simulations includes a Customized Objective Learning Assessment. This assessment evaluates each student’s perception; comprehension and prediction of the business conditions they are competing in; their competence in taking an integrative perspective on business, and their ability to use the tools of management to understand the firm’s position in the market. These assignments naturally expose students who significantly underperform relative to their peers.
Don’t Let Slacking Ruin the Learning Experience
Slacking adds unnecessary stress to dedicated students and robs all students of the opportunity to learn healthy team dynamics. Thankfully, with the right tools, you can interrupt slacker tendencies early and replace them with high-quality group work.
If you want to learn how to use these tools in your own class, we’d love to help! Connect with our team for a free consultation about your class and its needs.
Christelle MacGuire
Project Specialist, Marketplace Simulations
Christelle MacGuire is a Project Specialist at Marketplace Simulations where she helps develop new projects, collaborates with global distributors, and trains instructors to use Marketplace to the fullest. She previously worked as a Business Coach at the University of Tennessee for seven years. She holds a BS in Industrial Engineering and an MBA in Finance and Supply Chain Management from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.