ERIC Number: EJ1470119
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Mar
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2379-2981
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: 0000-00-00
"Mafia": An Experiential Learning Game for OB Topics
Mortaza Zare1; Joseph Stauffer1; Mina Alinejadfarshi2
Management Teaching Review, v10 n1 p35-42 2025
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, roles, and communication. We share our experience playing "Mafia" in three undergraduate-level class sessions and provide recommendations, based on experiential learning and critical thinking principles, for instructors interested in playing this game. Overall, students enjoyed the sessions and provided some interesting insight in the debriefing, demonstrating the suitability of this game to discuss OB concepts.
Descriptors: Experiential Learning, Educational Games, Role Playing, Administrator Education, Undergraduate Students, Class Activities, Behavior, Critical Thinking
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1The University of Texas Permian Basin, Odessa, TX, USA; 2University of Scranton, Scranton, PA, USA