Frequently Asked Questions
General information
ist leer
An important difference is the automatic processing; both the instruction and the evaluation are standardised and therefore achieve a high level of objectivity. Furthermore, the online exercise “Next-Day Inc.” is dynamic; the documents are not all available at the beginning, but arrive in the inbox during the course of the exercise. In addition, the simulation reacts to the participants’ answers at certain points with different consequences. Unlike a paper-pencil exercise, the “Next-Day Inc.” management simulation integrates elements such as video and messages on the answering machine. These elements, together with the dynamic nature of the events, make the exercise particularly realistic.
The “Next-Day Inc.” simulation is designed in such a way that it can be carried out without any instructions and is automatically analysed using a predefined algorithm. This could not be carried out in such a standardised way in an offline version, nor would it be easily possible to deliver the documents dynamically, including a reaction to individual responses.
This means that the “Next-Day Inc.” simulation can only be executed online.
The participant’s answers are compared with the answers of all persons from the norm sample. The current norm sample consists of 1,264 people between the ages of 23 and 61, all of whom are employed specialists or managers. Detailed information on the norm sample can be found here…
Participants’ surname and first name are known before the survey is conducted (without results). During the simulation, the participants also provide additional information that is useful for describing the norm sample, such as gender, age and management experience.
At the end of the simulation, a personalised feedback report is created and sent to the responsible coordinator.
Afterwards, the personal data (surname and first name) is deleted from the database, all other data is stored anonymously – without surname and first name.
This guarantees the highest possible level of data protection; there is no personal data of the participants in the “Next-Day Inc.” database.
During or after the execution of the test
ist leer
You can refresh the display at any time by pressing “F5” or “CTRL+F5” or “Command+R” for Apple users. This re-initialises the display and you don’t have to worry about your given answers, they remain saved.
The simulation works on any device with an internet connection and a modern browser. However, we do not recommend using a mobile phone because the presentation of the content is reduced to the screen size and a reliable performance cannot be expected.
You may also end the exercise before the maximum available time of 50 minutes has expired. By clicking on the check mark in the top right-hand corner, you will first be shown whether you have already received all the documents. You must then confirm that you wish to end the exercise or you can return to the exercise and continue working on the questions. (see also topic no. 7 in the online introduction).
When the simulation is finished, the participant receives the confirmation “The management simulation is now finished”. Immediately afterwards, the feedback report is created and sent.
If you (as coordinator) have not received the feedback report even after some time (note: some mail systems do not retrieve the mails immediately and have a retrieval interval of 5, 10 or more minutes), you can re-enter the participant’s access code on any device and then receive confirmation that the management simulation has ended. The feedback report is sent in the background if this has not already been done.
A good or very good overall result relates exclusively to the answers in this simulation and in many cases allows a good conclusion to be drawn about existing management competences. Such results are achieved, for example, if
- He/she has acquired good management skills in his/her many years of work.
- He/she has a C-level function or is to be given such a function and fulfils the expectations of this role.
- He/she has a clear talent for management tasks, if no such experience is available yet.
- He/she can be counted among the group of “high potentials”.
If a result of the management simulation does not meet expectations at all or is in contrast to the results from other exercises, possible reasons for this are
- He/she did not engage with the simulation deliberately gave incorrect answers or no answers at all.
- He/she ticked too many answers assuming that the correct answer would be included (in fact, wrong answers are given minus points).
- He/she has only read the instructions and documents superficially and has therefore finished the exercise prematurely, e.g. without working through all the documents.
- He/she did not understand the task correctly (e.g. due to a lack of language skills) and e.g. only ticked one box per document or always ticked too many boxes.
- He/she was very tense for personal reasons, was under pressure and was unable to match his/her regular good performance.
- He/she has little experience of using a PC and/or certain reluctance to work with an online tool.
Costs
ist leer
Unfortunately, it is not possible for interested private individuals to take part in a trial; the management simulation is only intended for use by companies.
Depending on the number of exectution ordered, a single execution costs between EUR 65 and EUR 86. You can view the exact prices here…
There are no additional costs: the management simulation does not require any additional installation or training and is ready to use in just a few minutes. You only pay for the number of executions you need.