HR, ROI, and Parking Lot: Using a Simulated Business Meeting to Explore Organizational Culture and Norms

Instructor may discuss and provide examples of business organizational structure and various company cultures, but how do you provide hands-on experience of what a business meeting can look like and how power dynamics in a company might play out? In this article, the authors describe their interactive class activity for undergraduates for a Management and Organizational Behavior course to answer this question. Designed for high student engagement, the simulated business meeting reinforced course learning objectives and demonstrated how corporate norms emerge. Post-activity survey results and in-class debrief demonstrated a positive response. The highest ratings indicated the simulation was effective at helping students understand organizational charts, business meeting behavior, and the impact of individual differences.