Helge Fischer Abstract

Games are an integral part of human culture from the early days of our life, encouraging people to interact with each other and with their surroundings to discover new perspectives, to enhance their personality, and to reflect on one’s own strengths and weaknesses. A game opens up a surreal context and reality that is more or less protected from negative consequences in real life.

As components in educational contexts, games have been proven effective in supporting, for example, problem-based learning in formal education at different levels. But also for organizational development game thinking is relevant. Various studies have shown that leaders in the VUCA world need a mindset and leadership techniques that can be conveyed through games or playful learning design.

The concept of playful organizational design is linked to the expectation of creating the conditions for effective work in which employees and teams act self-organized and intrinsically motivated. Therefore, the keynote goes beyond the traditional business game or role game approach in education and examines how single game elements can be effectively integrated into innovative learning and organisational development.