"Role-Playing our Way to Solutions"
By: Miriam Axel-Lute
National Housing Institute
Source: https://www.bostonfed.org/commdev/c&b/2013/winter/role-playing-our-way-to-solutions.pdf
Summary:
The article discusses a community development issue that used a megacommunity simulation as a way to find solutions and methods. In this situation, the overall goal is to reduce the state of Connecticut's energy use by 25% by the year 2030. Under the leadership of the Housing Development Fund (HDF) and the guidance of the consultant company Booz Allen Hamilton, this large community role-playing simulation was formed in March 2012.
Participants from across the sphere of the energy industry and the Connecticut community were selected to participate. Examples of those represented are energy suppliers, government agencies, non-profits, private residents, the financial sector, and many more. The goal of the simulation was to find avenues in which all parties could agree on to increase Connecticut household energy efficiency. According to the article, in the beginning the participants were uneasy in regards to fitting into the role-playing process but eventually were able to get comfortable.
As expected, the simulation allowed participants to think differently and many new relationships for future collaboration were formed. Participants mentioned how this simulation awoken them to how many aspects of the issue there were and how many sectors play a role in reaching the overall goal of increased energy efficiency. One interesting comment about the potential of role playing was made by Booz Allen VP Gary Rahl, He said, “You never want to pick a goal that can simply be met by an analytical solution—figure out who needs to do what. You need a goal where, to meet it, there will be tensions between participants and no single way of getting there.” I find that very intriguing and I think it is worthwhile to note about future role-playing simulations.
Critique:
The article discussed it, but a major issue with this study was the lack of one major participant, low-income householders. To get the full benefit of a role-playing simulation all aspects of participation need to be represented. The other negative of the study was that most of the results were that of compromise from previous ideas. While compromise and collaboration are good and important, I would have liked to see more innovation in a role-playing simulation. I realize it is difficult to achieve due to every side have their own goals and agenda, however true innovation would be the best result in my opinion. The benefit of role-playing is it increases the potential for innovation, there is no clear cut answer as Booz Allen VP Gary Rahl said. His statement as mentioned above I believe is very interesting and something we all should keep in mind when discussing role-playing.
By: Miriam Axel-Lute
National Housing Institute
Source: https://www.bostonfed.org/commdev/c&b/2013/winter/role-playing-our-way-to-solutions.pdf
Summary:
The article discusses a community development issue that used a megacommunity simulation as a way to find solutions and methods. In this situation, the overall goal is to reduce the state of Connecticut's energy use by 25% by the year 2030. Under the leadership of the Housing Development Fund (HDF) and the guidance of the consultant company Booz Allen Hamilton, this large community role-playing simulation was formed in March 2012.
Participants from across the sphere of the energy industry and the Connecticut community were selected to participate. Examples of those represented are energy suppliers, government agencies, non-profits, private residents, the financial sector, and many more. The goal of the simulation was to find avenues in which all parties could agree on to increase Connecticut household energy efficiency. According to the article, in the beginning the participants were uneasy in regards to fitting into the role-playing process but eventually were able to get comfortable.
As expected, the simulation allowed participants to think differently and many new relationships for future collaboration were formed. Participants mentioned how this simulation awoken them to how many aspects of the issue there were and how many sectors play a role in reaching the overall goal of increased energy efficiency. One interesting comment about the potential of role playing was made by Booz Allen VP Gary Rahl, He said, “You never want to pick a goal that can simply be met by an analytical solution—figure out who needs to do what. You need a goal where, to meet it, there will be tensions between participants and no single way of getting there.” I find that very intriguing and I think it is worthwhile to note about future role-playing simulations.
Critique:
The article discussed it, but a major issue with this study was the lack of one major participant, low-income householders. To get the full benefit of a role-playing simulation all aspects of participation need to be represented. The other negative of the study was that most of the results were that of compromise from previous ideas. While compromise and collaboration are good and important, I would have liked to see more innovation in a role-playing simulation. I realize it is difficult to achieve due to every side have their own goals and agenda, however true innovation would be the best result in my opinion. The benefit of role-playing is it increases the potential for innovation, there is no clear cut answer as Booz Allen VP Gary Rahl said. His statement as mentioned above I believe is very interesting and something we all should keep in mind when discussing role-playing.
Posts
Did these participants take on the roles and mindsets of other participants (e.g. residential participants looking at the problem from the view of the energy suppliers)? Or was it more of a Town Hall meeting-style discussion? The summary doesn't quite specify this.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in this question as well. I would also ask if the energy suppliers looked at the situation from a customer perspective in order to see the impacts on homes and business.
DeleteIn the article it was kinda vague but it gave the impression that the participants played the role of their industry/sector/etc. The issue was that while many were represented not all groups were there.
DeleteAccording to the article, participants were selected to role-play the position of low-income home owners. Do you think the results would have been significantly changed if actual low-income house owners were present?
ReplyDeleteI would argue the results would only change if the people selected to represent low income households never lived in the environment. Otherwise the role players would draw on from their experience living in such an environment. It is unlikely a reputable company like Booz Allen Hamilton would miss such an important detail, unless they deemed the variable would not have a significant impact on the study.
DeleteYes, although it is difficult to say it would have helped due to their vested personal interest. I sorta agree with the article in that I'm not sure actual low income homeowners would be able to see through the lens of let's say the government energy sector.
DeleteThe article mentions that their participants were hesitant to role-play towards the beginning of the exercise. While the participants warmed up to the role-playing process, do you think the results would have significantly changed had they been more vocal from the beginning of the process? Could groupthink have to do with the participants becoming more comfortable?
ReplyDeleteI don't think so, maybe in a very short-term simulation but in this case it was done over the course of a week or two. In a simulation of a day or less I agree quick active participation would be better.
DeleteI will say that I think the organizers did a good job of getting many different participants from all walks of the sector to hinder groupthink. In this case the goal did not have one or two main avenues of success, many different ideas could be used.
I'm also very curious as to whether or not actually having low-income house owners would have changed the results. I'm a little familiar with a poverty simulation that I've helped set up in the past as part of my work study, and they really go to great lengths to make the participants feel that they are in a poverty situation. I think that it would have been ideal that there was a residents team made up of the affected residents as was mentioned in the article. Even without that aspect, however, this article still shows the benefits to role-playing as a method to solve problems.
ReplyDeleteIt might have, but I'm not sure how it would have helped the simulation. I do think the low income homeowners would have a harder time seeing the other side due to their difficult personal situation. That may not be a bad thing though, although it would take longer to breakthrough when working through the issues.
DeleteThe article I've reviewed mentions about expertise. Personal competencies, skills etc. form this expertise. But in this study the conductor of the study needs not skilled or expert people. As Amanda noted the results would be more robust if the real low income people had played 'participant' role. Because the poverty isn't something that you can mock; it is rather something that one can understand by living.
ReplyDeleteThe participants did usually have a competency in their specific sector. The only group that was not represented were low-income homeowners. I agree, it is difficult to represent a low-income homeowner without being one. That said, it would make the simulation harder due to the personal nature of their interests.
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