Case study of cultural comparison using a simulation game – COSIGA

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to implement the simulation game in the cultural comparison study so as to understand the impact of cultural differences on the team interaction.

Design/methodology/approach

In order to focus on the factor of “national culture” and avoid other factors which can affect the results, this paper conducted a simulation game – COSIGA – for the data collection and factor control. Two sets of groups were performed to represent two national cultures – the UK and China.

Findings

This paper finds that there is more decision providing in the UK teams and more decision seeking in the China teams. The China teams used a more intuitive process to make decisions, and the UK teams used a more reference process to make decisions. There were more repetitions of the problem‐solving process in the China teams than in the UK teams. The looping problem‐solving process was present in the China teams and the linear problem‐solving process in the UK teams.

Originality/value

This paper presents a case study of cultural comparison using a simulation game. The selection criteria and factor control of the simulation game is outlined for the practical implications.

Citation

Ma, Z., Lin, C., Pawar, K. and Riedel, J. (2009), "Case study of cultural comparison using a simulation game – COSIGA", On the Horizon, Vol. 17 No. 4, pp. 303-312. https://doi.org/10.1108/10748120910998362