This article discusses the benefits of using "Mafia"--a fun, interactive, low-cost, and easy-to-learn role-playing game--to explore organizational behavior (OB) topics. We explain how "Mafia" can be used in the classroom to discuss OB topics, including dynamics of teamwork, disagreement and conflict, decision-making, trust,…

Courses: Introduction to Corporate Communication, Introduction to Organizational Communication, Topics in Organizational Communication. Objectives: This activity aims to give students an opportunity and space to critique and examine organizational activities and business practices, and how this may impact students' future employment or consumer…

Few academic disciplines have undergone the academic scrutiny that history has since the end of the Second World War. A growing consensus among historians has emerged to the effect that, if history is to be revitalized, it will require recognition of the disconnect between popular and professional, as well as an embracing of innovative methods of…

The economic theory of natural resource exploitation predicts that scarcity crises will not arise because forward-looking resource owners will smooth their extraction over time to maximize their profits. The model providing this result can seem opaque and technical to students, but its intuition can be learned from experience. The author shares a…

Performance conversations are a critical and necessary part of performance management. Feedback is most effective when it is constructive and when it involves a dialogue rather than a monologue, but people often struggle with this skill. This activity includes an experiential exercise that applies a five-part process for performance feedback,…

An active learning approach to the study of US national security decision making decision making can be achieved through the use of an in-class role-playing simulation. This article considers the importance of solid foundations for simulation design: (1) simulation preparation should be linked to class materials and learning outcomes, but also…

We present a case-based role-play exercise that effectively simulates a crisis students must manage. In the exercise, a farm equipment manufacturing company has decided to redirect its product line, and this change requires laying off a significant portion of its workforce. Students must grapple with the fact that a local news report will be…

The traditional treatment of the electric circuit in textbooks can be criticized in at least three respects: A) Knowledge of the global aspects of the electric circuit as a system is essential for a deeper understanding. However, this is not sufficiently emphasized. B) The presentation of the term "potential difference" or…

Employee selection and group decision-making skills are critical for ensuring hiring is valid, meets organizational goals, and considers ethical and legal limitations. This exercise has participants role-play members of a search committee reviewing job finalists using shared and unique information. A novel twist to traditional hidden-profile…

A key concept and problem in international relations, the security dilemma obtains when one state's attempts to increase its security decreases the security of other states. The security dilemma's consequences are said to include unnecessary armament and conflict spirals. Described herein is an in-class exercise that challenges students to…

Successful mastery of multistep synthesis is an essential learning objective in the completion of the organic chemistry sequence. This entrepreneurial class project was designed to incentivize students to master multistep synthesis through role-playing as an entrepreneur. In short, students play the role of a group member in a startup whereby they…

A practical for students to experience a process plant is presented, based on operating a solvent absorption plant for carbon dioxide capture. The student must operate the plant in assigned roles that closely identify with a chemical plant environment, to achieve specific performance targets. Students must overcome technical challenges that…

This article explains an activity that can be conducted to form teams in university business classes. It allows students to actively participate in the team selection process and learn valuable human resource management skills. Students are placed in the role of hiring managers. They have to identify the skills and characteristics needed to…

The authors propose a classroom experiment implementing a simple version of a New Keynesian model suitable for courses in intermediate macroeconomics and money and banking. Students play as either the central bank or members of the private sector. The central banker sets interest rates to meet twin objectives for inflation and the output gap or to…

The concept of negative externality is central to the teaching of environmental economics, but corrective taxes are almost always regressive. How exactly might governments return externality-correcting tax revenue to overcome regressivity and not alter marginal incentives? In addition, there is a desire to achieve a double dividend in the use of…