High school students who are considering going into business right after graduation may have a head start due to the emerging popularity of the virtual enterprise, a simulated business designed to effectively equip aspiring high school students for management excellence, enabling them to lead a highly productive organization. High school graduates coming into the work force will be well prepared to go into any organization and fix what needs to be fixed or take the company to a whole new level of success.
New Technology: Cost Effectiveness
The days of enrolling in expensive post -secondary business schools for training may be long gone by the time this unique technology takes control of the management training arena. Organizations often spend millions of dollars equipping new managers through training seminars, extra schooling and hands-on or in house instructions. But the virtual enterprise, a system operated by high students and assisted by accomplished teacher -facilitators and other business partners, allow students to experience a wide range of business interactions and engagements without being in a physical business environment. Students are able to gain valuable experience in every area of the business organization until complete competence is achieved.
Profitable Experience: The Virtual Way
The virtual high school enterprise allows students to gain considerable experience in a number of skills, including problem solving, communication, both verbal and written, answering customer inquiries, executing hands-on-applications, and other skill necessities. The most remarkable thing, once again, is that students are not under any undue stress or pressure. They don’t have to worry about losing a job or sending an organization in a costly tail spends. This is why the virtual enterprise will most likely become training system of choice when it comes to preparing the next generations of managers and leaders.
The Virtual Organization: The Five Departments
The virtual high school enterprise is designed to function like any typical organization. It consists of five departments, including administration, finance/accounting, marketing, sales/purchasing and human resource. Each virtual department is assigned a Chief Executive Officer, a president and vice president. Therefore, students will be able to approach the virtual organization as if they are in a real environment. Nothing will be left to chance. Not only will high school students be able to gain skills working within each department, students will also learn how to run a business from top to bottom, mastering every corporate area, including:
• Human resources
• Accounting
• Product development
• Quality control
• Production
• Distribution
• Sales and Marketing
Knowledge and skill in these critical areas of an organization will give students an advantage over other aspiring managers who never had access to the virtual enterprise. While such students will have to learn on the job, students who receive virtual enterprise training will be ready to make a significant impact in an actual business environment.
A Collaborative Initiative
Engaging the virtual enterprise is by no means a solo initiative. The system allows high school students to interact with the departments of other virtual enterprise systems across the world. Students are able to interact with different cultures and perform organizational practices and routines, resulting in significant international skills. Furthermore, working with the virtual enterprise allows students to comprehend how regular employees, teams and departments work and interact with one another throughout the entire school year.
In this simulated, project based approach to learning, management students collaborate with one another while teachers’ guide or facilitate the process. High school students can also seek the advice of actual business partners who have agreed to provide their expertise on such issues as quality control, productivity, product design, as well as customer satisfaction.
Advantages of Virtual Mastery
When students have mastered the complexities of the virtual enterprise system they will be well qualified for the actual business environment. Students will know how to control information, make quality business decisions, perform effectively with groups work independently, conduct evaluations or assessments of products and services, and help steer the organization in the right direction. Such well qualified students will be in demand as the business world becomes more globally competitive and grow in diversity. Organizations will search for new managers who are experienced, competent and ready to run a business from the get go.
The virtual enterprise is a God send for high school students who are unable to afford college cost in order to become great managers. Students of the system will have acquired more experience and knowledge than the typical business student who has never managed an organization. Mastering all aspects of the virtual enterprise is as real as it gets when it comes to effectively running an actual, real life organization.
