A Successful Business Game - Term Paper Example

Chapter 1: Introduction A successful business is just like a game being played in the right way by the right person at the right time with any rival opponent. On the other hand, businesses nowadays are becoming more war-like in their competition. Therefore, Game is a realization of "Life-and-death" by itself, which leads to an outcome of moves and tactics depending on real-life and real-time situations. However, Game players usually play the game that they feel is related or attached to their own personality. Some of these players like to play mental mathematical games, while others like to play the strategic games. And yet, there are those that like the games that aim at one goal and others still that like to play games that are somehow multi-goal driven. Each game is based on the player’s way of realizing that the game should match their personality. If a business is just like a game, then the person would act in his business just as he would play a game, making decisions that come from his personality, behaviour and needs. As a business is complicated when it comes to making decisions, then it would be much powerful to attach it to the games that have multi-goal driven approaches. This would give the player, or the business person, the ability to make decisions based on a variety of aspects. This study is to examine the assumption that based on an individual person’s psychological behaviour and his specific needs, he plays the game in the exact same way that he would make business decisions. I will then build a modular that will assist the decision maker in learning how to focus on multi-goal tasks where the Game of Go, which is also known as the game of the intellectual elite, will be the tool to be used. Chapter 2: Review of the Literature This chapter is a brief review that will explain the meanings and definitions of the theories and the tools that will be used in this study. Game theory and business strategy definitions are stated in section one, as well as how they are similar with each other (2.1). Section two (2.2) discusses the Maslow Hierarchy. And then the Go-Game will be defined in section three (2.3). 2.1 Game theory and business strategy Smith (1996) stated that "leadership in the late 20th century is all about making right decisions in the midst of complete environment(s) posing a significant challenge to management in future leadership preparation". He went on to further add that "successful management constantly seek having to devise new systems dynamically aware to assist future managers and leaders creation with utmost suitability to then challenging the decision-making process". Smith understood the importance of decision making in the workplace, as well as how those working in the company were the ones to bring about the biggest, and best, changes. Any of such systems as Smith (1996) stated must adhere to the following processes: - A method of analysis for assisting the impact of market factors - Risk production mechanisms cantering absent or unforeseen parameters - Constriction of best cases scenario predictions towards optimized strategic directions in real time formula The best application for such systems as Smith (1996) mentioned would suit real-life cases rather than academia, where life-and-death would explicitly affect the case ending scenario. That is when British navy officers first applied the academic exercise known as game theory in pursuit to outwit German submarine commanders during World War II. Throughout exploring the interdependencies and changes strategies midcourse action verses passive action, a flexible decision-making structure based on real time future actions was established. To work based on real time would bring about the best results in the long run; furthermore, strategy within any given business would improve in performance. On the other hand, in the report It's only a game (1996), it was stated that "for old-fashioned managers, business was a branch of warfare - a way of 'capturing markets' and 'making a killing'". It addition to that statement, it was discussed that the language is all about working with suppliers, building alliances and thriving on trust and loyalty. In addition, from It's only a game (1996) report, it was further stated that "management theorists like to point out that there is such a thing as 'win-win', and that business feuds can end up hurting both parties". Running a business was compared to being in war, and, as in a real time war, there were scenarios in which a winner was evident, as well as scenarios in which both sides were left with less than they had started with. 2.2 Maslow Hierarchy Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a theory in psychology, which had been proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation. Maslow subsequently extended the idea to include his observations of humans' innate curiosity. The lower four layers of the pyramid contain what Maslow called "deficiency needs" or "d-needs": physiological security of position, friendship and love, and esteem in all aspects of life. With the exception of the lowest (physiological) needs, if these "deficiency needs" are not met, the body gives no physical indication of success and esteem, causing the individual to feel anxious and tense. The higher level, self-actualization, pertains to what a person's full potential is, as well as that person realizing that potential. Maslow describes this desire as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming. This is a broad definition of the need for self-actualization, but when applied to individuals the need is specific. Even when an individual cannot put into words what it is, they know it in an almost spiritual sense. For example, one individual may have the strong desire to become an ideal parent, while in another it may be expressed athletically, and in another it may be expressed in painting, pictures, or inventions. Each person is different in regard to what they desire to be. In order to reach a clear understanding of this level of need one must first not only achieve the previous needs, physiological, safety, love, and esteem, but master these needs until they have become an almost unidentifiable part of the person. 2.3 Go Game The Go Game is the world's oldest surviving game of pure mental skill as Shotwell (2002) claimed. Kao (2000) stated that "the Game-of-Go is one of the most popular games in the world. When playing games like Go, players usually consider the following two questions at each position: How many points ahead is BLACK (WHITE)? And how big is the next move?" The Game-Of-Go is a multi-goal-driven approach: Meijer and Kopperlaar (2001) mentioned that a multi-goal is a logical expression of two or more ordinal objectives in two-player games. It may appear in many games, at least in the mind of a strategic player, but also in real world situations. They come in many forms, sometimes expressing when one wants to do two or more things simultaneously, while other times it enumerates different means to achieve the same goal. Regardless of what each individual player has in mind when involving themselves in a multi-goal game, they are still required to make multiple decisions that will help them succeed. The British Go Association (1999) website mentioned that The-Game-of-Go in Chinese classics is similar to the Analects of Confucius and in Mencius. It is also said to have become popular as a simulation game for strategy, politics and life in the period described in the Spring and Autumn annals of the state of Lu (722 to 484 BC.) and the ensuing Period of the Warring States (to 221 BC.).   Chapter 3: Methodology This chapter will discuss the methodology to be used to carry out the research by explaining the aims and adjectives that were mentioned in section one. Section two is about the research approach and the justification of this research. 3.1 Aims and objectives of the research This study’s aim is to develop a methodology that would analyze a generic business case, whereas its parameters and domain would be predefined within problem definition contexts. I will provide a modular simulation software tool to provide a traceable optimal solution route for the given case. The foundations of the aim is derived from a previously conducted research in three research areas: 1. Organizational behavior 2. Game Theory as an integral part of business strategy development 3. Maslow’s Pyramid of Needs Theory An interest was developed to further extend the research academically. This is based on several on-hand experiences, alongside with both formal and non-formal researches. When looking at all of the above, it is clear that there must be solid case of correlation. Special cases are selected, such as the “case of a new business start-up and an existing business reengineering”, to be used as a foundation. A strategy based game has been selected as the game of choice, more specifically the game of Go. The “Business-Go-Maslow-Strategy” conjunctional case shall deliver in its minimal a cognitive definition of similarity between the psychological behaviors of a professional in a strategy based game that would inevitably match the same exact behavior in a real life business case. 3.2 Research methodology and research method This research is about introducing and examining a new theorem by the author's own ideas, which have been derived from numerous resources. Qualitative research methods will be used as an exploratory, being both inductive and descriptive in nature. However, data of this research are almost written from documents, such as newspapers, magazines, books, Websites, memos, transcripts of conversations, annual reports and case studies, as well as any other written method of information made available to the author. Moreover, the core of the research will depend on a purely mathematical model which would lead to excessive reflections in mathematical modeling along side with algorithmic designs leading to fully fledged computer simulations and models. The Grounded-Theory is used as a Qualitative approach for this research, although the research will begin with the rising of generative questions that will help to guide the research, though it is not intended to be either static or confining. As the research began with gathering data, core theoretical conceptual modeling will be identified as strategy. The Maslow hierarchy and game theory will also be used, and the rules of The-Game-of-Go will be predefined as guiding lines. Tentative linkages in this study will be developed between the theoretical core concepts and the relevant data to be collected. The research will engage in verification of the use of the rules of The-Game-of-Go within business strategy, Maslow’s hierarchy and a summary that will contain the results of the study. Finding the results tends to revolve gradually into the core category, which is central. Chapter 4: Conclusion Game theory is a strategy which has long since been identified as a purely mathematical problem solving technique for mathematicians. Scores of scientists and gaming gurus were heavily involved in developing the best tactics, styles, plans and several other techniques to assure their supremacy in their selected games of choice. The Go-Game was found to be one of the oldest games, much older than the game of chess. Choosing to use it in this study as a tool to apply the game theory is due to its’ similarities to the complexity of real-life business cases. In addition, businesses are focusing on more than one approach, which is similar to game approaches with multi-goal driven tactics, which challenges the players’ analytically. Their psychological mental skills and abilities where then able to be linked to Maslow’s hierarchy. The Grounded-theory approach is the qualitative method to be used to compile the results of this study to generate a new concept through using Go-Game strategies and rules combined with the Maslow hierarchy as the business strategy decision making support tool. Read More