Experiential Learning - Disparate Corporate Structures
A favourite application for Edit 515 business simulations is to introduce graduate recruits and students to the idea of what business is all about, and how a company is structured.What is the relationship between Marketing and Production? Why are forecasts of demand essential for an efficient business? Why is local Human Resource Management interested in what Marketing is doing? What is the role of the Finance Department in relation to the rest of the company?
Participants realise that while a company is made up of many parts and activities, decisions taken that are optimal in one area can seriously affect others areas, and may even be detremental. Simulations demonstrate the essential role of effective communication between disparate management functions and the need, in some instances, for compromise. To achieve corporate optimality often requires component parts of the enterprise to function sub-optimally.