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"Playing the Future: The Role of
Serious Games in Managing Change"
Every large organizational
change is accompanied by an initial drop-off in performance
- not often catastrophic, but always noticeable. The main
reason is that change, although natural, is not easy and
presents a number of serious challenges inherent in its very
nature. Different layers within an organization always
change at different speeds, accompanied by conflicting
interests and competing models of how to change and how to
make it sustainable. Our initial and natural (Darwinian)
response to change is resistance, and communication - the
main channel for introducing and managing change - is often
unreliable. In addition to that, organizations often
perceive change as an event and not as a process, where
"everything will go according to plan" which of course it
never does. To minimize the initial drop-off in performance
and achieve performance improvements which are driving the
need for change, an organization must proactively address
these challenges.
Simulations and serious games are an effective and efficient
approach to do this, and in our view should be an essential
element of any change management program. They help us in
getting a holistic view of the required change and the
reasons behind it; exploring alternative scenarios within a
safe setting; enhancing and facilitating communication; and
experiencing the new ways of working and benefits from
change.
In the proposed presentation I would discuss in detail what
are the main challenges for successful organizational change
and draw from our extensive work to describe how we have
used different simulations and serious games to address
these challenges.
Key Takeaways:
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What are the fundamental
reasons why change is difficult
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What are the challenges
in dealing with these difficulties
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How can simulations and
serious games be used to address these challenges
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Why are simulations and
serious games effective in enabling change
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