Download Facilitator Note – Saving Lives Exercise

Facilitator Note – Saving Lives Exercise
Timing Total exercise:
90 minutes
This is an exercise on negotiation in situations of scarce resources. Participants play the roles of different
government agencies responding to the crisis in Mewong and must negotiate the allocation of scarce
trucking resources between the ministries. The exercise is setup so that each decision has measurable
repercussions on the overall response.
Points of note:
This is a highly simplified scenario; it is meant to be a fun game and consequently some aspects may
not reflect real ways of working or real outcomes of decisions.
In particular, there are large simplifications on the inputs (stock needs, locations, and potential transport
options) and outputs (missed deliveries translate immediately to a corresponding loss of life).
How to ‘Win’ the Game
The objective of the game is to minimise the loss of life. This will be tracked at two levels:
-
On an individual level, each player around the table will be accountable for the lives lost due
to their goods not reaching the destination. In this sense, the team that ‘wins’ at the table is the
ministry to which the lowest number of fatalities is attributed.
-
On a team level, each group will be measured by the overall loss of lives for the total
government response. In this sense, the team that ‘wins’ will be the one with the lowest overall
loss of lives in the country.
Organising Groups
Each group will need to have 4-5 people. There are four roles that are essential to the game, and another
one that is optional (depending on numbers).
Ministry of Transport: whoever plays this role will need to be good at mathematics. If the group has
only four people, this individual should also have a very strong personality within the group to exert
pressure on others and make them take decisions within the time limit.
National Food Authority, Ministry of Housing and Ministry of Health: these are the other essential roles
to be distributed around the group. They represent the government agencies sending goods to the
affected area.
Observer from the Prime Minister’s Office: this is the optional role. The observer is responsible for
exerting pressure on the team and ensuring a decision is reached within the time limit. This role should
be assigned to someone who is strong and able to push the other team members to a final decision.
Exercise Structure
The game consists of three rounds; each round represents a month, in which the individuals receive the
updated information from the affected area. The different ministries must then convene a meeting to
negotiate how to allocate the trucking capacity of the ministry of transport between the different
government agencies. Once they have decided on the transport allocation, the month is over and the
PM’s office reveals the consequences of the group’s decisions and who is held accountable.
Preparation of the Exercise
You will need to prepare the following:
 Print off enough copies of the information updates (file ‘1.4.4b Saving Lives – Handout’) for
all groups.
 First, distribute page one of the handout ‘Simulation Instructions’ to all groups (1 per group).
Then, cut the remaining pages into four individual pieces of paper according to the title and
time of distribution to the class (‘Your Role’, ‘Month One’, ‘Month Two’, ‘Month Three’).
 Place these on a table clearly labelled so that, when these are to be handed out, the facilitator
can find the piece of the role and the right month. Facilitators are to give participants time to
decide among themselves who should play which role and then call them one by one to the fron
of the room and distribute the various pieces of paper according to the individual roles.
 Give one soft copy of the excel file (‘1.4.4d Simulation Spreadsheet’) to the observer from
PM’s office or to the Ministry of Transport (when there are 4 people in the group) of each group
(normally on USB). Note that you must ensure each group has access to at least one
computer – tell participants the day before if necessary.
Important Note: The role of the Ministry of Transport (or Observer from the PM’s office) is that of
entering the data that the other three ministries have agreed upon. He/she should just communicate if
the truck capacity entered in the spreadsheet exceeds or is inferior compared to the actual truck
capacity. These roles should be briefed before receiving the excel sheet on what he/she has to do in
terms of data entry (he is not the one responsible for deciding which items to prioritize or not). Also,
the data entry in the spreadsheet should not be based on random input of numbers (not just simply
playing around with numbers/values), but rather on accurate calculations to maximise the
resources/truck capacities and minimize the loss of lives.
Data Entry into Simulation Spreadsheet
The spreadsheet is designed to calculate the consequences of the group’s decisions. The sheet is
protected, so the user can only enter quantities into the given boxes for each agency. The spreadsheet
shall also inform the person entering data if their calculations have exceeded available capacity (in
which case they should advise the team to recalculate). At the end of each round, there is a code that
will lock in the values entered and move on to the next month. The final values entered should reflect
the final decision of the group, as once the codes are entered the data cannot be changed.
The spreadsheet can be used as a last resort to support in calculating allocations between the ministries.
However, this should not be encouraged unless the groups have run out of time, as the objective is for
them to reach a decision through negotiation rather than playing with numbers in the spreadsheet.
Running the exercise
Timing: there are three rounds of the game. Note, that these sessions are not normally the same length,
as groups typically take much longer on the first round while they figure out how the exercise works
and are much quicker on the subsequent rounds. The facilitators should emphasise that it is the
responsibility of the PM’s observer (or MoT) to keep the time. Nonetheless, facilitators should intervene
once the below time limits are breached.
ROUND
Round One (month one)
Round Two (month two)
Round Three (month three)
Max time allowed
40 minutes max
30 minutes max
20 minutes max
Excel code to end the round
vision
service
impact
Password to
unprotect sheet:
PASSWORD
Debrief
You should allow time for the group to answer the questions on the slide; compare the experience of
the MoT (who organises transport and may have had to make executive decisions to the detriment of
some agencies) to those of the other agencies (who may have had decisions made to their detriment).
Relate this back to coordination and negotiation of logistics in real emergencies.