There was a recent study which revealed that since the number of students that engage in playing video games has exponentially increased, teachers are more likely to engage students when using educational video games. An elaborate example was the Assassins’ Creed videogames which proved more than a bankable tool in aiding history teachers in getting students to remember and understand several key historical events.
One of the suggestions in that report was that a similar technique could be implemented in professional workplaces as individuals are more likely to respond positively to workplace ethics-related gamification. This would not only be a wonderful team building exercise but also considerably more effective in getting the intended message across.
But at the same time, there’s a flip side to that argument. A visible difference exists between a classroom and a professional corporate office. Keeping that in mind, here are a few pros and cons of gamification of the workplace to help you understand it better and aid your decision-making on the subject.
- Recruitment:
It has been noted that it’s hard to identify a candidate’s true strengths and weaknesses based on their CV’s alone. Introducing a role playing game instead has been known to highlight a candidate’s strength and weakness, making it easier for companies to judge whether that candidate suits them or not.
However, there is also an argument that these role playing games would limit the extent to which candidates can express their true potential. The lack of human interaction during the recruitment process is also a tough pitch to sell, either to the candidate or companies.
- Training:
New recruits are expected to start succeeding from day one. Although a little bit of a learning curve is expected, companies still yearn for immediate results. Gamification would allow the new recruits to be eased into the job and the tasks they’ll be expected to perform.
It’s one thing to be on a computer and make decisions that have no real impact on the actual company functions whatsoever, but being on the job and performing those tasks in real is a whole different ball game. Factors such as risk, pressure, expectations and internal employees’ competition, is missing from such gamification.
- Leadership and skills development:
Gamification can help in building up the employees’ confidence by putting them into several leadership roles and letting them call the shots. Deloitte and NTT Data have invested thousands of dollars in games that would groom future candidates for future leadership roles.
The most glaring deficiency of gamification is that it places winning or successfully performing the exercise over grooming skills. There might be cases of employees’ completing their games but not necessarily take anything meaningful out of them. Skills and leadership qualities can only be meaningfully harnessed once these candidates are exposed to real-time situations.
