GM Exercise: Middle Management Problems
Today’s situation is pretty abstract, but hopefully immediately obvious in its relevance at least to people who, even in their elfgames, work as managers:
A leader needs to improve the morale of a group of workers to ensure they accomplish an urgent task.
The usual questions:
- Would the stakes of this situation be at all meaningful for the game?
- Would it be worth it to include such a situation in the game?
- What would it take to introduce a situation of this kind to the game?
- What more would I need to know about the situation to adjudicate it?
- What mechanics, if any, would I employ to resolve the situation?
- What information would a player need in order to make good tactical decisions in this situation, and how can they get it?
- What aspects of this situation do I feel capable of improvising?
- How much time would I want to spend resolving this situation in this game?
- Which roles would it be fun for the player characters to assume in the situation?
- Would this situation be engaging to all players at the table? Or would it leave some bored on the sidelines? Would it offend anyone at the table? Would it bring back past trauma?
More specific ones:
- Do the workers generally acknowledge the leader as a legitimate authority? If so, why is that legitimacy not enough right now? If not, can the leader gain that legitimacy, or demand compliance through coercion?
- Who speaks for the workers as a collective? Can they be persuaded of the importance of the task? Would that suffice to align the interests of the workers with the leader, or would the workers just turn on that spokesperson and find another one?
- What factors are most decisive in motivating the workers? How does a high or low morale interfere with the workers performance and productivity? Does being motivated get the workers to accomplish the task faster, or better, or both?
- Why are the workers trending toward low morale? Are they being mistreated? Are they working under stressful conditions? Does the task seem impossible? Are they being forced to advance an agenda that is ultimately detrimental to them or their loved ones?
- How does low morale manifest? Would low morale be just the beginning of a larger breach of trust between the workers and the leader? What would it take to push the workers to abandon or revolt against the leader?
- Could the leader try to meet the workers’ most important needs and demands while still fulfilling the task? What would they need to sacrifice in order to do this?
- Why is the task urgent to the leader? What are the consequences for the leader if it isn’t accomplished on time? And for the workers?
- Is there anyone with a vested interest in making sure the task doesn’t get done? If so, how can they interfere with the leader’s efforts? What about a third party interested in making sure the task is achieved? Do they help the leader, or try to supplant them to ensure the task gets done their own way?