The Use of Process Analysis in Business Decision Games

Abstract

This paper describes an executive development conference wherein a four-day sensitivity training laboratory was followed by the UCLA Executive Decision Game No. 2. After each quarter-year decision period for the game there was a session devoted to analysis of the process by which the group made decisions. Emphasis of this "process analysis" was upon interpersonal relations and group behavior as it affected the business game tasks. The results of the case presented here clearly define three stages of group behavior existing during the decision making process. The first is entitled Regression, which is characterized by a return to competitive interpersonal patterns of behavior similar to the early phase of sensitivity development; the second has been called Overcompensation, where there is a heavy investment of individual energy aimed at maintaining group harmony at all cost; and the third stage is Realistic Problem Solving, in which a "team effort" is developed. This study has particular significance to the fields of sensitivity training and business gaming, and to their effective integration.