Bidding-Work Loading Game

Simulation exercises permit participants to make sequences of decisions and observe their effects in a dynamic and competitive setting. An exercise (management game) has been developed which will permit participants to schedule and load work under the constraint of a fixed work load capacity. The decisions must be made in a probabilistic environment, both in regard to the likelihood of securing a job, and the likelihood that subsequent work opportunities may permit greater or lesser earning opportunities. Through the game mechanism, the participant is introduced to the requirement of making decisions under conditions of uncertainty and he is able to develop and test both intuitive and quantitative decision models. This particular exercise requires a trade-off between the security of a commitment to a relatively full work load against the potential for more lucrative work opportunities that would otherwise have to be ignored.