SWING - Simulation, Workshops, Interactive Environments and Gaming: An Integrated Approach to Inprove Learning, Design, and Strategic Decision making

Simple games are often used as illustrative elements in teaching and learning activities. However, there could be a different way to regard games and evaluate their effects in terms of learning mediation. Younger people have experienced that electronic gaming has gone from a minority activity a few years ago to mass entertainment today. Is it only entertainment for young people or is it a potential booster in the way we facilitate learning? The word "game" itself does confuse matters by evoking childish playthings but there are a substantial number of indications that games hold a key to a significant change and efficiency in the way we learn. In this paper we shall discuss the impact of games on learning in professional organizations. This will include a review of our ability to learn as an organization and development of a framework to integrate games in learning processes. The empirical context of the paper will be product development processes.