While most can argue that there are no online games that can provide adequate training for managerial positions, World of Warcraft could be changing this.
Using as a reference Jack Parr Associates’ Effective Management Program, which states it helps managers “improve their leadership skills and behaviors” (Jack Parr Associates, 2003), the areas evaluated by the program include:
1. Leadership in Transition
o Participative Style
o Assertiveness
o Trust Building
o Persuasiveness
o Motivational Skills
o Team Building
o Empowerment
2. Initiative
3. Planning
4. Controlling
5. Decision Making
6. Communication
7. Time Organization
8. Motivational Level
9. Managing Change
10. Development of Direct Reports
(Jack Parr Associates, 2003).
Let’s go over the importance of each evaluation component.
1. Leadership in Transition includes a potential manager’s ability to participate in groups, assert his/her power, build trusting relationships with each individual and as a group, persuade his/her group of subordinates on a new idea or concept, motivate his/her team, build and empower teams. Evaluating someone’s KSAOs (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics) under this category is important in determining their fit as a potential manager. It can also serve as a means to help someone better their skills as a manager by letting them know what areas they need to work on. Being able to participate actively and effectively within a group is an important characteristic for a leader to have. Being able to believe in yourself and go with your gut-feeling (and to know when not to) is also important when you are in a leadership position. This assertiveness can also lead to trust building and your persuasive abilities. The more times you are able to make a decision in the time of need and have it turn out successful, showing it was the best choice for the team and the company, helps build your credibility. Being able to build teams and keep them motivated, even when attempting to achieve a long-term goal, is very important for many managers. Successfully carrying out all of these characteristics can lead to empowerment of the team as a whole.
2. Initiative is the proposal of a new idea, or an expansion on an existing idea. This helps a company expand and teams grow. This can take boldness and persuasion in order to get others to really accept your new idea, especially if it is really unique.
3. Planning is the stage after the proposal is made and accepted. This is the part where managers and perhaps a team they have put together of individuals to help brainstorm and consider impacts of their new idea, or expansion. You take your plans and figure out how to turn it into actions that have the company’s best interest.
4. Controlling is essential when in a leadership position. You need to be able to have a good grasp on what is going on in the team you supervise/manage. You also need to be able to control spending so you stay within your allotted budget. This is where the ability to plan, organize and stick to plans is essential.
5. Decision making is also a very crucial aspect of being a manager. As mentioned before, being able to listen to your gut instincts, and know when not to go with your gut, are also important. You need to be able to make accurate and effective decisions, sometimes with no time to spare.
6. Communication is key in any relationship. Being able to communicate effectively what you are wanting accomplished and how you expect it to be accomplished are important as a manager. Communication is only 20% verbal and 80% body language. In this day and age, with technology and the ability to hold meetings over the phone or via web conferences or even chat, the body language can be missing. This is why it is important to plan out what you are going to say and make sure any misunderstandings are cleared up before you execute your mission.
7. Organizing and mapping out time frames for things to be accomplished is also important of a good, effective leader. Letting your team know when deadlines are due before hand, and reminding them of upcoming deadlines help them stay on task. There can be times where deadlines are not going to be met, but there are also deadlines that should be kept and pushed. It is important for managers to know the difference.
8. Motivation is the degree to which people put effort in order to complete a task or reach a goal. Being able to keep the level high on important tasks, and keep motivation at all on tasks that are daunting or boring, or will be achieved over a long period of time is important for a manager. The level of motivation the manager has can play a key role in how motivated his/her team is.
9. Change is inevitable. Sometimes you may have to change a plan, sometimes you may have to deal with a change that makes it so you have to re-work your entire plan of action. Handling ambiguity well is important for managers. There are no guarantees that a plan will be able to be carried out to the extent it was originally thought, due to changes in factors such as technology and economy. Managers need to be able to handle any change that may come up effectively and gracefully. This will help keep their team on target and be able to ensure success.
10. One of the many important roles of a manager is being able to delegate as well as be the entrusted from higher ups.
Forming a guild on World of Warcraft is like starting your own business. You need to come up with a unique name that is not being used by anyone else and then pay to have that name. This is similar to filing a master business license application with the state you are choosing to do business in. Once the guild name is purchased, you need to solicit your guild before you can open your doors for business, so to speak. You have to have at least 10 people sign the guild charter before it can be an officially formed guild. With so many guilds being formed all the time, a lot of new guild leader resort to offering incentives for those who don't already belong to a guild to join. An example of an incentive can include offering as much as 50 gold to sign the charter and stay on at least until it is formed. While it is true that many guild leaders are just leaders because they wanted to branch out on their own, or they thought of a funny guild name (the ineffective leaders), there are some who take it more seriously. They go with their initiative to start a new guild and plan out how they want it to be run. They actually spend time planning out and ensuring missions are effectively executed. They schedule and delegate to other guild members. While sometimes it is not very fun, they are able to handle change and carry on despite it when necessary. Communicating and motivating their other guild members helps them in successfully completing their missions. Make no mistake; this is actually a pretty complex task. An effective guild can be compared to a small corporation. You have your founder/CEO, and then you have officers who can be assigned specific tasks. You can even have one individual who acts as a vice president and can act on the guild’s behalf in the absence of the leader (except very specific tasks that can only be accomplished by the guild leader and no one else.) Then you have the rest of the guild members who may or may not have assigned titles. Sometimes a guild is made up of 50 or more players. Each player has his/her own personality and brings his/her own knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics. This needs to be taken into account and efficiently accommodated so that there is very little to no fighting within the guild members. Guild leaders must also be able to manage resources within the guild bank and between each member’s professions, as well as allocate resources within the guild bank.
Up until now I have only discussed guild leaders’ duties on day to day tasks and playing. This does not take into account raid coordinating, which is a whole new set of responsibilities and organization. Coordinating raids involves many skills in which business managers use in order to plan and implement major events/assignments within their team. At the end game level, coordination for fighting dungeon bosses gets pretty complex. Each fight involves multiple phases, which require completely different actions and organization structures in order to progress to the next phase. Specific groups must complete specific tasks in order for the raid to be successful. If they do not, then the entire group fails.
Being able to accept and plan with the new changes that happen weekly and the new expansions that come out every two years is also important for successful guild leaders. They realize that leadership comes with the duty to believe in oneself, but also be able to be fluid when it comes to necessary changes in leadership goals and duties. Ensuring fair distribution of “loot” items and scheduling of raids so that the majority of those who want to participate can is important. Major raids are once a week and offer only sets of 10 player and 25 player groups. It is the guild leader’s duty to make sure everyone gets a fair chance at money and items that are dropped within the raids, as well as a fair chance at playing time. Just like when managers set up meeting time schedules in places that have several shifts, raids need to be set up during a time when most (if not all) players have the ability to attend.
From the interview by ONRPG.com of one of the world’s most successful WoW Guilds, it is shown that experience also helps when leading a guild to the top (Game Empire Enterprises, 2011). According to the interview, the guild, Incorporated, has been in operation for four years, at the time of the interview (before WotLK). As mentioned in the interview, a motivational technique and reward for being such a great and successful guild includes many benefits such as monetary, lotteries, bonuses for achieving special accomplishments and other exciting benefits (Game Empire Enterprises, 2011).
In my own interview experience of WoW guild leaders and members, there are other benefits in addition to increasing managerial experience and skills: self-confidence. One guild leader in particular that I have met and spoken to was a very non-assertive person before becoming a guild leader. It is actually very impressive how much he has gained from being a leader of a guild.
In a nutshell, when leading a top guild, or a serious/successful guild, leaders need to be able to delegate, plan, organize, take initiative, communicate effectively, motivate, control, make decisions, accept change, and constantly improve their leadership skills. So basically, each aspect that is analyzed and evaluated by the Jack Parr Associates’ Effective Management Program are essential when leading a successful guild. It is no wonder why some people put “World of Warcraft Guild Leader” on their resumes. While not everyone takes it as seriously, some do and because of this, they are one of the world’s top guilds, and some even develop what it takes to be effective leaders for a company.
References:
Effective Management Progra (2003). Jack Parr Associates, Inc. Salina, 2003.
Retreived on January 10, 2011 from: http://www.jackparr.com/EMP.html
WoW World’s Leading Guild Interview. (2011). Game Empire Enterprises. 2011.
Retreived on January 12, 2011 from http://www.onrpg.com/MMO/World-of-Warcraft/interview/WoW-Worlds-Leading-Guild-Interview
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