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Microsimulation of decision making by Dorothée Baumann-Pauly

Professor Dorothée Baumann-Pauly’s proposal selected following the GSEM's call for pedagogical innovation projects


Professor Dorothée Baumann-Pauly’s proposal to further develop a microsimulation that immerses students in a decision-making scenario with the help of an online tool was selected for the GSEM Pedagogical Innovation initiative. The initiative reflects the GSEM’s commitment to developing new formats of teaching practices, improving teaching quality, and promoting innovative pedagogical methods.

Based on a previous pilot project, the Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights proposed the use of microsimulations to allow students to apply concepts learned in class to different real-life business situations. The project would measure key skills expected in a senior sustainability professional: leadership, decision making, strategic communication, and systems thinking.

The simulation places the student in the role of a senior sustainability professional in a Swiss commodity trader and highlights the complexities of managing a formalization project of an artisanal cobalt mine during COVID-19. Based on a real-world situation from the Congolese cobalt mining industry, students are shown an email inbox with correspondence from various groups, introducing them to the facts of the scenario and presenting them with several business challenges. Certain emails are followed by questions, and depending on their choice of answer, students are sent subsequent emails presenting additional decision-making situations in connection with scenarios arising from their previous decisions.

The simulation is incorporated in the Business and Human Rights courses of the Bachelor in Economics and Management, and the Master in Responsible Management.

March 7, 2022
  Initiative to support pedagogical innovation at the GSEM
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