Common Reasons For Ineffective Role Plays
Many participants hate roleplay exercises. That is a problem because it is undoubtedly one of the best methods of developing interpersonal skills in a safe situation, and of bringing alive behavior that would otherwise never see the light of the real world.
The most common complaints are:
• Participants often feel very exposed by the group.
• Participants cannot take the scrutiny of their colleagues.
• Participants don’t like to play in front of a video camera.
• Participants think that role-plays are often unrealistic.
How Training Professionals Assess Role Playing
Criticism comes not only from participants but also from training experts. The criticism of behavior training is diverse and sometimes quite inconsistent. It is legitimate that behavior training is criticized. Since the significance of behavior training grew strongly over the last years, this criticism was to be expected. Following are the most important items of criticism, divided into four groups:
1. Criticism of the effectiveness of behavior training:
• Very often, unrealistic (exaggerated) training goals are targeted.
• Most of the time, role-plays are used that are out of touch with reality.
• Sometimes, the problems in the role plays are exaggerated, and exercises with unrealistic problems take place.
• In behavior training, extremes are often overgeneralized.
• During behavior training, the behavior is often enforced that would be punished in practice.
• Behavior conditioned by role-plays does not remain stable in real life.
The effectiveness of role plays is criticized because often there is an insufficient or sometimes even a false relation to real life. Consequently, this creates a transfer problem. Scientific literature often refers to this problem, which is still not satisfactorily solved. Practical men and women do not appreciate it. Most of the time, the problem is evaded.
2. Criticism of the type of reinforcement
• The delayed reinforcement of behavior after the role plays lets us question the results.
• The use of video cameras to record the role plays makes the role players behave differently; they try to “show off”, making the results questionable.
Based on the rules of the learning theory that immediate reinforcement supports the development of the required behavior, they do not differentiate between the short and long-term effects of the modification.
3. Criticism of the emotional demands during a role play:
• The uncritical use of behavior training and especially of the role-play method puts the psychological and emotional health of the participants at risk.
• Roleplays in front of an observing group (arena games) generates great frustration, followed by stress.
• After role plays, weakened participants often enter into a severe self-esteem crisis.
• The extreme psychophysiological stress leads to a partial mental block.
In this context, we certainly have to make a distinction on the participants’ side. The psychological limit and the effect it has on them might be very different. There are hardly any systematically collected data for criticism. These points of criticism are merely based on face validity.
4. Special points of criticism:
• The only goal of behavioral changes is to maximize productivity (Taylorism).
• The industry is short of qualified, well-educated trainers. The trainers often overestimate the bounds of their own capabilities and have an excessive self-portrayal.