Dive into Organizations, an introductory serious game to understand how companies work, at IMT Mines Albi

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The first-year students in the “Information System” unit at IMT Mines Albi acquire a concrete but formalized vision of how companies and organizations work thanks to the introductory exercise Dive into Organizations.

The pedagogical exercise iMAC-DO (for IMT Mines Albi-Carmaux Dive into Organizations) was created in 2009 by Frédérick Benaben and Aurélie Montarnal. Intended for first-year students, this three to six-hour exercise allows them to acquire a concrete but formalized vision of how companies and organizations work.

The iMAC-DO exercise is based on a collaborative ecosystem scheme between three companies: a fast-food restaurant, a butcher shop and a bakery. These companies interact first with each other, then with the outside world (customers, suppliers). The session facilitators primarily play two roles: as organizations outside the iMAC-DO ecosystem (customers, suppliers) and the means of communication between organizations (end-customer requests, inter-organizational order placement, product deliveries, etc.). Students can play two types of roles: a human participant (baker, inventory manager, salesperson, etc.) or an information system role (accounting software, inventory management utility, e-mail, etc.).

The iMAC-DO exercise is systematically appreciated by IMT Mines Albi students for its pedagogical efficiency (quality of knowledge transmission), its relevance for engineering training (offering students, mostly from preparatory classes, a practical vision of the company) and the intensity of the sessions (based on the fun and concrete nature of the exercise while strengthening theoretical knowledge).

Since its creation, this pedagogical exercise has been offered to students in initial training, in continuing education, in other French institutions (Toulouse Business School, ISAE-SupAeroISIS CUFR Champollion) and abroad (Universidad de la República – UruguayBeijing JiaoTong University – ChinaGeorgia Tech – USA, Virginia Tech – USA) and at all levels (Bachelor, Master, Doctorate). From here, the teaching team hopes to disseminate this system more widely and make it a shared tool and plans to develop this exercise with the help of IMT colleagues in order to further diversify its uses.