Combines two applications into one package: “Networking” & “Source or Sink”.

Number of Participants:

6– 14

Running Time:

40 mins (Flexible)

Key points:

1. Two games in one package
2. Illustrates vital customer/supplier relationship
3. Also demonstrates importance of high-quality resource allocation

Main Concept:

Supply Chain illustrates the complexities of working within organisations and the need to balance personal, functional and organisational goals and targets in order to be successful.

Supply Chain introduces participants to the potential conflict between individual and team goals. It also depicts the significance of networking and its critical role in team performance. Supply Chain raises significant questions about the network of relationships within the team and the team’s contact with other key groups inside and outside of the business. The effects of individual actions can have a considerable impact on others in the team and good project co-ordination is required to ensure a successful outcome.

The review of the exercise emphasises the need to understand what others need in order to be effective and to be open about your own resources and support needs. We will use this model of networking as an opportunity to explore how they, individually and together, build and develop their working relationships and develop the mutual support and challenge that enables them to be effective in what they do.

Supply Chain:

• Illustrates the impact of ‘unseen’ decision making upon a large structure
• Develops skills in diagnosing and resolving problems in and making efficient use of customer/supplier relationships
• Enables users to quickly and actively define working relationships in a safe environment
• Offers the opportunity to adapt thinking styles and procedure in order to maintain effective networks

Supply Chain is a combination of two exercises: ‘Networking’ and ‘Source or Sink’. The situations developed during these exercises have obvious workplace parallels, making transference of the learning back to the workplace achievable with a high degree of impact.

Main Concept: Networking:

During the Networking exercise, in which information and resources are moved around the network according to a restrictive set of rules, individual objectives and a team objective must be met. The effects of individual actions can have a considerable impact on others in the team and good co-ordination and communication is required to ensure a successful outcome.

Networking work most effectively when it mirrors the real organisational network in which the participants work. The team can explore patterns of communication and contact, suggesting changes to their own ‘networking’ and identifying the best ways of using the communication links that they already have in place and developing new ones. The active and participative nature of these experiments, with people occupying their real or representative places in the networks, makes the transfer of learning back to the workplace particularly easy. This very effective type of learning is much more dynamic process than paper based analysis could produce.

Main Concept: Source or Sink:

Source or Sink is an exploration of the dynamics of customer/supplier relationships and the efficiency of supply chains. It contributes to user skill in the organisation and use of customer/supplier networks, and also in team working and problem solving skill development. Source or sink can lead to organisational efficiency savings by comparing the relative efficiency of different network forms and compositions.

Source or Sink develops skills in consultative management, and focuses on communication system development within an organisational context. It can also be applied to new business structures where the development of efficient and effective networks are demanded.

Advantages of Supply Chain:

• Portable and simple to set up and administer
• Two games/exercises in one complete package
• Ready to use and needing no additional equipment or facilities
• Supplied with clear instructions and review suggestions
• Powerful transferable learning
• Quick and easy route to underline the importance of and develop team and network based skills
• Attractive, absorbing and challenging
• Versatile enough to meet a wide range of learning objectives
• Easy to use and fun for all participants