I am a chocoholic, so I love two quite effective learning activities that involve counting M&M's. This article is focused on the very first activity, which utilizes M&M's to allow participants to experience the outcome of different leadership decision-making fashions. A following article focuses on the next activity, which uses M&M's to experience the process and impact of a work audit.
That is an activity that I think I accommodated many years back from a single printed for public use from the Pfeiffer Annuals.
Before the course, I fill a glass jar to the top with peanut M&M's candies from a large purse.
http://www.ameliatoffee.com/ use peanut M&M's rather than plain M&M's candies cause I need to count the total amount of M&M's required to fill the jar. A large bag may have over 500 pieces of candy!
I form seven small groups and assign each a different decision making design they will use to gauge just how many M&M's have been in the jar. The team finding the number closest to the total in the jar will win the jar and its contents.
1.
This person is advised to practice control by such means as telling the group how to sit while waiting for the choice to be made and how to use their time while she's deciding.
The chief then estimates how many candy bits are in the jar and admits their choice to the group.
2. The member with the most experience makes the choice.
I decorate the member with the most training in math to be the leader. This "expert" then considers the amount of candy pieces are in the jar, makes a decision, and announces it to the group.
3. The opinions of those individual members are averaged.
Each member of the team is told to back away from the team so that s/he can't see the answers of other band members and they can't see his or her answer.
The recorder then asks each member for his or her estimate, adds the estimates, and divides the sum by the amount of members. The resulting amount is announced as the team's decision.
4. The member with the most authority chose following a group discussion.
I appoint one member to be the chief, and calls the meeting to order. The "authority" asks the group to talk about how many candy pieces are in the jar.
If the "authority" thinks s/he knows how many candy bits are in the jar, the "authority" declares her decision to the group. This is not consensus or majority vote- that the leader has full responsibility and makes the choice thinks is best.
5. A minority of group members makes the decision.
The committee meets from the team to decide how many candy pieces are from the jar. They announce their decision to the category.