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In Spring 2022, the MS Leadership Program redesigned its Change Management course to include Open Educational Resources and the simulation: Change Management Simulation Power and Influence V.3 by Harvard Business Publishing. The cost of the simulation is free to the college and $15 for students. In the simulation, students develop skills for today’s rapidly changing global economy (HBP, No. 7614, p.1). The audiences range from undergrad to executives, and professors can download detailed class reports. The professor has the option of choosing four scenarios for the students to play.
In the class, the simulation ran twice, and students were able to adjust their approach to change based on their role and what they had previously learned. Discussion forums captured the learning. Students stated that they enjoyed playing the simulation as it allowed them to apply what they learned throughout the course and put it into practice. They enjoyed playing simulation over reading a chapter in a book. One student has a new job and this simulation taught them that patience is often the best approach to change when they are “the low man.”
Another said, “I liked being the lower-level director better because it is more relatable to my current role and future roles I am sure I will have.”
One student wrote, “this week I learned a lot and confirmed suspicions I had last week. A common theme that came up both weeks was that friends are your ticket to success. If you convince a person’s friends, they will likely follow. It was also confirmed, that if you please the higher-ups then the crowd is likely to follow.”
“I learned in this week’s simulation that preparation and planning pays-off. Before I played the simulation, I reread the company’s background, reviewed the levers, and the organization chart, and reviewed chapters from our textbook. I thought about some of the lessons I learned from the previous simulations and developed a brief communication plan. I also learned timing is important and to be flexible with my plan and listen to feedback from stakeholders. I successfully completed this week’s simulation in 57 weeks, well under the 96-week time frame given.”
Students expressed the ways in which their credibility was impacted, positively and negatively as well as how to work with resistors.
“I experienced some resistance which was 2 people. I got one of them to be in adoption. But the other one that was a resistor was in trial by the end. I got 18 people to adapt to the change and the other 2 were both in the trial so that is a win in my book!”
Leadership is considering implementing other simulations in another course as feedback from students was very positive and sets the program apart from other online schools.
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