At MBS, Dr. Ruo Mo uses the game League of Legends to teach students skills in conflict management.
In 2023, Montpellier will host the European Esport finals of League of Legends (LEC). This famous video game is also a way for MBS students to develop their first skills in conflict management.
Based on an experiential and immersive pedagogy, Dr. Ruo Mo, a teacher and researcher specialised in the analysis of interpersonal and hierarchical relationships, offers second year students the opportunity to discover five methods of conflict resolution through the universe of the video game League of Legends.
Using the video game to experience the different categories of conflict within a team
In the second year of the Grande Ecole Programme, students on the English track have the opportunity to develop their managerial skills by focusing on conflict management in complex environments, considering parameters such as the stress of the environment, the trust that binds team members, and the plurality of tasks to be achieved.
Just as in the Lord of the Rings leadership course offered to MBS students, Dr. Ruo Mo uses an atypical approach to capture the attention and motivation of students. “After sharing the theoretical framework of conflict management, the students are invited to compete in teams of five on the game League of Legends. Each team member has to play a specific role with specific missions so that the whole team has a chance to destroy the opponent’s base. The students are subjected to two main types of conflict: emotional conflict caused by the stress of the game, pressure from the enemy, or miscommunication between players; and task conflict, which refers to disagreement on how to complete a mission,” explains Dr. Ruo Mo.
“In the second year, not all students have had the opportunity to be exposed to these types of situations in a professional environment. The game allows them to experience both types of conflicts in a competitive context.” Following this experience, Dr. Ruo Mo gives the students the opportunity to discuss and analyse each other’s behaviour during the game. “Their experience feeds into the debates on the five resolution strategies that they must have acquired by the end of the course,” explains the Montpellier Business School lecturer and researcher.
Pedagogical innovation to enable students to develop the skills needed to meet the new demands of the job market.
Dr. Ruo Mo’s new pedagogical module joins a wide range of pedagogical innovations already implemented at MBS.
In order to learn about the challenges of societal and environmental transition, MBS has developed various experiential teaching modules such as the SDG Challenge, the Responsible Leadership Seminar, or the organisation of a low-tech trip in the middle of an environmentally friendly place.
Each year, MBS also strengthens the courses related to digital transformation, with the opportunity to participate in a cross-disciplinary training course on the Creative Cloud Suite in partnership with Adobe, or the implementation of a teaching unit to develop solid skills in low-code in order to be certified by Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Fundamentals.
To find out more about the latest pedagogical innovations in place at MBS, go here.
