Ccls Developing a Roleplaying Case

8/13/2019 Ccls Developing a Roleplaying Case

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1.1. Developing a Role playing Case Study as a Teaching Tool

Role plays and case studies are two increasingly popular tools in teaching, as the paradigm is noticeably changingfrom an instructor center learning environment towards a student centered, problem based approach. Thecombination of these two tools provide us with an easily adaptable, extremely interactive and dynamic approach,which places the students into the midst of the situation and gives them the opportunity to not only to listen andwatch but also to participate.

Role play: The overall aim of role playing assignments is for students to get involved in a much more direct andpractical way than is the case with classic face-to-face teaching. Splitting the word into its two components we canalso get a good impression about the functioning of this technique. It provides the students with personas orcharacters which they can use to portray a role in a fictitious setting ain to theater. It offers the chance to playthese characters in a relaxed and ris-free environment, to test one!s own sill and nowledge without any rissinvolved and additionally - as with any game we play - to have fun in the process. In a role play participants willeither portray someone else or they will play themselves in a specific situation. "any critics have recommendedthat training by doing is the best way of learning for most students and topics. Reading or listening to someonelecturing is inferior to getting involved, to experiment and to tae an active part in the scenario, and this is what roleplaying is all about.#r. $llen %anger said in an interview &'ublic (roadcasting Service &'(S) *++), whats interesting to me is thatwhen people are at play, they are mindfully engaged and thats whats interesting. 'lay isnt play unless the mind isthere. Its not something that you want to run away from and let your muscles /ust do it while youre sleeping0 youwant to be there because its fun to be there 123 so truths are context dependent. 4hen you reali5e that, that thingsloo different from different perspectives, then you stay tuned in because you cant be sure whats going on. 6ndthat staying tuned in is what eeps you involved. Thats the essence of being mindful.7 This is exactly what roleplaying exercises are aiming at, to actively engage people, involve them in the matter and thus eep them alert andawae, or to say it with $llen %angers words mindful7 about what is happening in the training session.6 role playing game is a training session where the facilitator, perhaps with an assistant or two, sets up a scenariowhere the participants are assigned different roles, where those roles identify with those in the situation whereparticipants will find themselves when they undertae their wor in the field. The play gives the training participantsopportunities to act out various roles chosen to represent actual roles that would be in the field situation7 &(artle

899:). In the context of intercultural communication, role playing games allow for the training of interculturalawareness and communication competence by choosing role descriptions which include different cultural heritagesand by including players who come from different countries.

There are three distinctive stages in a role play session; &*) the briefing, &8) the play and &ne good option to prevent the scenario itself from being

culturally biased is asing the prospective participants for their input, especially if they lie the scenario and feelcomfortable taing roles in it. 6lso, the scenario should be somewhat flexible allowing for minor changes in thesetup and adaptations according to wishes of the players involved.Role description should include all information which the player will need to act ?in character! inside the scenariodescribed beforehand but @ especially if the aim of the exercise is to raise cultural awareness or train interactionprocesses @ should leave some room for personal interpretations and ideas of the actor7. Role descriptions whichare too complex force the actors to eep too many details in mind and thus limit their flexibility and creativity. Roledefinitions are often defined and printed in two variants; one variant which is only nown by the actor and thefacilitator and one which is handed to everyone else. This is useful to simulate the fact that in reality we often meetand must cooperate with strangers of whom we now next to nothing.

6fter the scenario is described and the roles are distributed, the participants should be allowed some time forasing questions and chat with each other concerning the scenario and the roles. >ften the participants start to

develop an interest for a specific role or culture during this phase. There are many different approaches in how toassign roles, especially in multicultural scenarios. It is much easier to portray a character of the home-culture thana foreigner, especially if the culture that should be played is unnown to the player. It can be very difficult to tae onsuch a role, but by assigning such an unnown culture to a player you force himAher to rely on pre/udices and


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many forms of case studies which differ hugely in complexity. Case studies range from a simple short scenario andthe question 4hat would you do nowH7, to complex multi-perspective studies. =ow complex a case should bedepends on what you want your students to do with it. Teachers can create their own cases or tae one of thenumerous case studies which are offered as teaching material. Typically case studies are assigned as teamwor sothat participants can brainstorm and develop common solutions, but they can also be used as an individualassignment. Fsually they are presented by a teacher, but it is also possible to transfer the case study method to e-

learning. 4hichever form a case taes, it has three basic components &*) a real world or fictive scenario, &8)documentation and data, &


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If, in a multicultural environment, you are not sure how to address all cross cultural issues correctly, tae

one or more students from those cultures you do not now well as assistants and discuss the role play withthem beforehand. Jou might even consider including them in the playing phase itself as co-moderators.

Controversial topics:The ris of the play taing a bad direction or getting too heated or even aggressive isactually very small, but should still taen into account, especially in a multicultural classroom where the facilitator

himAherself might not always notice the upcoming problems or cross cultural misunderstandings. The aim of roleplaying sessions is to actively involve the students0 this can easily result in heated arguments or inappropriatestatements, especially in a multicultural environment.

'repare the students that they will encounter situations which they might find provocative, aggressive or

pre/udicial and as them to react to the situation according to their role.

=ighlight that one of the aims of the exercise is to raise awareness about pre/udices, cultural differences

and differences in communication patterns, which could lead to statements which are consideredinappropriate.

Set-up a ?safety-line! mechanism, where every player can stop playing at any time, or tae a ?time out! to

explain and discuss the issue if he is feeling too uncomfortable.

#o an extensive debriefing phase, addressing all problems.

Command of your subject:6s the participants are involved in a much more direct and intimate manner than aslisteners in a lecture, they will as questions which may demand much more detail than normal. If you refer to realpeople or real places you should be very well prepared and have a host of bacground information available.'articipants might also question the usefulness of a role play as a teaching method for the topic at hand.

$xplain why a role play is used as a teaching tool and why it is worth the time of the participants to partae.

#efine clear learning goals.

'repare the role play thoroughly and discuss it with colleagues and prospective participants to find any

design flaws before playing it the first time.

Can you help: Some students will be concerned with how their performance in the role play will be relevant for

their grade. They might also turn to the facilitator for help and guidance with how to play their character and to actin role. 'eople will need a while to get into character0 they might even express discomfort at the beginning.

"ae clear that their performance in the role will not be graded.

"ae clear that there is not right or wrong solution.

'repare for a slow start and awward situations &such no one nowing what to say) in the role play.

If someone does not want to participate give the person a tas, lie technical support, co-moderator or

perhaps a recording cler. See that he is still actively involved, but do not force him to act out a role.

Considered reflection:6s reflections and discussion are the most crucial factors in learning from role playing, thedebriefing step is of utmost importance. 'layers should reflect on what they felt, perceived and learned during thesession. Concerning cross cultural issues, it is a very good exercise to go through the ey situations that occurredduring the playing session and consider what other participants would have done differently. 6ssigning the role ofobserver to students that are not actively partaing can be very rewarding and add an additional component ofreflective feedbac in the debriefing phase.

"oderate the discussion, but to not force your opinion upon the participants.

Tae a neutral stance whenever possible and move yourself to the bacground as much as possible.

'repare a good structure for the debriefing phase and allow for ample time.

(e prepared to start with some feedbac of your own, should discussions evolve slowly.

Creating a role playing case study for cross cultural training


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! role playing case is a tool that enables students and teachers to gain awareness and deeper insight into culturaldifferences, and to find ways towards an efficient collaboration. Classrooms worldwide are becoming increasinglymulticultural. 6nd with diverse classrooms also comes diversity in the learning behavior of students, whichsometimes poses serious challenges for students, faculty administrators and instructors in higher education. It istherefore important for all concerned persons to gain a better understanding of cross cultural differences. 6s aninnovative, interactive approach to teach cross cultural differences, role playing cases engage participants by

placing them directly in the story. The story and thus the case develop and come alive as students interact with oneanother. 6 role playing case is an ideal tool to analy5e the role of culture in communicating with people from othercultural bacgrounds. Through play and the following discussion, students gain insight into cultural differences andrecogni5e real life cultural and psychological traits, they learn to identify the ma/or cultural characteristics thatinfluence interactions and decisions. Students benefit by acquiring a deeper understanding of the case, the peopleinvolved, the language used and the cultural perspective. 6 common extension of case studies is to assign roles tostudents from a certain point in the case and let them tae over and develop the story. In a multicultural classroom,students get the opportunity to try out7 interacting with other cultures or even find the opportunity to placethemselves in the position of someone else, without the riss of a real life situation. Role playing case studies aremore focused on the characters and interactions involved in a case than in the actual solution of the case. Thefocus moves from analy5ing and problem solving towards interaction and discussion. The technique can be movedto an online platform, but here it looses much impact as communication is limited to the verbal components andnon-verbal clues are lost. Bor role playing cases it is often necessary to define characters, organi5ations and other

elements of a case which are purely fictional. 'articipants should be able to understand these characters and feel acertain empathy for them to be able to play the role. Role playing case studies offer a multitude of possibilities andcan be adapted for almost any class, field of study and cultures involved.There are :steps in preparing and conducting a role playing case &*) #efinition of the Case and the Roles &8)'reparing the Stage &


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6naly5e the class #efine a central theme

Select a case and modify the story

#efine and describe roles

#escription of roles

'repare additional information

"#ample:

Class analysis; 6 global business training course with 8: participants from ** different countries. The aim of therole playing case is to help the students to overcome initial communication barriers and to raise general culturalawareness. The case itself is of less importance and only considered a tool to reach the aim.

Central theme; 6 multicultural business case0 as all students are comfortable with business cases

The modified story $abbreviated for this e#ample%:Mellopps Global, a cereals retail company from the FS6 runs in 6ustria, among other countries, a local retailsubsidiary. #ue to unforeseen circumstances the subsidiary can not fulfill the requirements foreseen in the annualfinancial planning and has incurred a huge loss in the last financial year. The reasons for the losses are many, asare the assumptions about causes and responsibilities for the severe crisis in which the 6ustrian subsidiary iscurrently seen.

The losses have drawn the attention of the FS6-based headquarters to the 6ustrian subsidiary. 6n urgent meetingis called by the C$> of Mellopps Global in order to resolve the problems of the local subsidiary.Therefore the C$>, CB>, the 'roduct "anager, and =R-"anager are sent to 6ustria to solve the problem andbring the business bac on trac. They meet with the local representatives &country manager, mareting sales

manager) to discuss open issues and next steps.

Roles involved:Since the company is internationally concerned, their representatives all have different nationalities and cultures.This leads to diverse approaches to solve the problem.C$> &FS =eadquarters, "exican nationality, male)CB> &FS =eadquarters, Chinese nationality, male )=R-"anager &FS =eadquarters, FS-6merican nationality, female)Country "anager &6ustrian Subsidiary, 6ustrian nationality, female)"areting Sales "anager &6ustrian subsidiary, Eerman nationality, male)'roduct "anager &6ustrian subsidiary, Eree nationality, female)Kationalities have been chosen according to the students who volunteered to tae an active role in the play.

!dditional information $to be handed out &hen needed%:Melloppshas signed a worldwide merchandising contract with Sky-wards Pictures. >ne of *9 different figures fromtheir new film Galaxy-war 4is added with each pacage of Melloppscereals.

"#ample role definition:

'R-(anager $)S !merican%"ost important for her is that people are feeling well and secure in their wor place. She thins that life-longlearning guarantees the long-term success of a company and the people involved. Biring employees is never agood solution and by discussing open issues problems can be resolved.6ssumption why the local subsidiary is doing so badly; "iscommunication and insufficient continuing educationplanning within the local subsidiary. Galaxy Wars Merchandising&information is only handed out when needed);=er eight year old son is a great fan of the series and lies the figures very much.


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*reparing the stage:In a next step the author defines the role of the facilitator. $ssentially there are two options; 6ctive involvement ofthe facilitator, or the facilitator as a moderator participating from the bacground. (oth options have distinctiveadvantages0 a more active part, including a role in the play allows much better control of the situation, the facilitatorcan intervene without destroying the flow of the play by acting from the outside &the off7). In this case however, theactors will always be aware of the facilitator and especially if they consider him being in a superior position in real

life &lie being a professor), might change their behavior accordingly. 6 moderator, who is not actively taing part inthe play itself has limited steering options, but if he is not forced to intervene might fade into the bacground and bemore or less forgotten by the players.

Kext the seating arrangement and the stage are designed. The seating arrangement has often a big impact onwhich communications happen more frequently and on who is considered the central focus of attention. (ychoosing a rectangle or oval formation, it is possible to accentuate the importance of one or two roles, while around or square formation will provide a more even outloo. Round or oval seating arrangement mae it harder tohave La visible opposing-teams structure, while oval or rectangle arrangements offer two sides of a table.Considering the class, the case and the players and roles involved, a time schedule should be set and openlycommunicated to all participants. Schedules should not be made too stringent0 If a role play is going very well itdoesn!t mae sense to suddenly stop it /ust because the time is over.>bservers often give valuable inputs to the discussion step and should be included. If you did not plan in all the

members of a class or training group, the non-players should be included as observers. This can either be done byfree observation of all participants, or by assigning specific observers for each player. The use of a questionnaire todescribe the character&s) is also a viable option.

'reparing the stage - required steps;

#ecide on the mode of moderation

6rrange seating and the stage

Time schedule

>bservers

"#ample:

"ode of moderation; The facilitator presents the scenario and introduces the roles. Then heAshe fades into thebacground as much as possible, taing notes for debriefing and discussion.

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#iscussion of the findings

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Documents

Ccls Developing a Roleplaying Case