Recently there has been a growth of interest in developing more sophisticated and complex training techniques for crisis management. The aim is to improve the effectiveness of those responsible for crisis management. The objective of this article is to outline and explain one of these new techniques, the interactive simulation, and to discuss some of the problems and possibilities of this approach.
Interactive simulation
Simulations have been used for a long time and have proved their worth in a variety of situations. In private sector crisis management there has been a strong tendency to use computer-based simulations which emphasize the importance of critical financial and economic indicators. The task of management is to make the appropriate changes to produce more healthy figures. But this shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of crisis management. The economic indicators are no more than symptoms and no focus on them alone is to mistake the symptoms for the cause.
Simulation techniques have developed based on the belief that:
- People are the most important resource in a crisis
- Individuals can be trained to successfully recognise and cope with crisis.
- The most effective ways of dealing with crises can be refined through simulation (Pijnenburg and Rosenthal, 1991).
Two new elements can be introduced into simulation exercises which are used to help train individuals in crisis management.
The first is an interactive element, which allows the directing staff to make exercise more realistic. Decisions made by the participants become part of the exercise which all parties have to live with.
The second element is the introduction of stress to exercise. This is an essential aspect of interactive simulations, reproducing to a degree something of the pressures and strains felt in real crises.
Managers use strategic, tactical and operational goals to direct employees and resources toward achieving specific outcomes that enable the organization to perform efficiently and effectively. They take a number of planning approaches, among the most popular of which are management by objectives, single-use plans, standing plans, and contingency plans.
Management’s function in strategic planning
Strategic planning is in an inextricable manner linked or locked closely together into the complete system of management. Planning cannot be disentangled from such management functions as organizing, directing, motivating, and controlling. Strategic planning is a back-bone support to strategic management. It is not the entirety of strategic management but a major process in the conduct of strategic management. Strategic and operational management are tightly linked. Strategic management presents leadership, general course along which it has a tendency of developing, and limitations for operational management.
View of strategic planning after completion of simulation.
Using information from managerial participants, I identified components of strategic planning. Each of the simulations has been designed to correspond to complexities in the managerial positions and the organizational environment.
Furthermore, my view is that the more points in common between the simulation and criterion, the higher the validity coefficient. Simulations have predictive validity. Hundreds of organizations use assessment centres to provide information for selection, promotion, and developmental purposes.
Application of simulation at work place
Simulation component is the practice environment, which executes the defined scenario in the synthetic workplace interactively. The practice environment consists of two components, a problem environment and a synthetic workplace. The environment simulation models relevant relationships and casual dynamics in the domain where the work occurs. Whereas the synthetic workplace emulates the setting in which the job is performed at a level of fidelity appropriate for the specific training need.
Reference
Pijnenburg. B., & Rosenthal. U. (1991). Crisis management and decision making: simulation oriented scenarios. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.