14 - th EUROPEAN CONFERENCE E-COMM-LINE 2013, Bucharest ,

September 24, 2013

DECIDE-IT
Mihaela Coman, Dorothea Lidia Caraman
SIVECO Romania, Victoria Park
oseaua Bucureti-Ploieti,nr. 73-81,
Cldirea C4, Sector 1, 013685, Bucureti, Romnia
E-mail :mihaela.coman@siveco.ro
dorothea.caraman@siveco.ro
Abstract
DECIDE-IT is a Leonardo da Vinci Transfer of Innovation project which belongs
to the Lifelong Learning Programme. DECIDE-ITs main aim is to create an
innovative learning method, easily used, which improves learners abilities when
they are forced to take decisions in stressful situations.
Keywords decision-making, eLearning, learning by doing, stressful situations, lifelong
training

The DECIDE-IT project was funded with support from the European Commission - the
Leonardo da Vinci Programme.
The Leonardo da Vinci Programme funds practical projects in the field of vocational
education and training. Initiatives range from those giving individuals work-related
training abroad to large-scale co-operation efforts.

The DECIDE-IT project was an initiative of four partners from three countries:
1. Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione Consiglio Nazionale
delle Ricerche (ISTC-CNR, Italy)
2. SIVECO Romania SA
3. Engineering Ingegneria Informatica S.p.A. (ENG, Italy)
4. EVERIS Spain S.L.U. (EVR, Spain)

DECIDE-IT considered methods initially used for training personnel managing natural
and industrial disasters, methods which will be adapted in order to be used in training
management.
DECIDE-IT educational strategy was based on experience which simulated stressful
situations without exposing learners to the risks which might be implied.
To this extent, the project adopted a combined approach, mixing classical teaching
with playing a role in a 2D environment, monitored by a virtual teacher.

14 - th EUROPEAN CONFERENCE E-COMM-LINE 2013, Bucharest ,

September 24, 2013

The project targeted 2 strategic objectives. On one hand DECIDE-IT wanted to

introduce a formative methodology to create and improve abilities related to taking
decisions in stressful conditions. On the other hand, the project targeted an articulated
strategy for promoting the suggested solution to the companies, which are the final
target of the project and to the scientific community.
The specific objectives may be synthesized as follows:
-testing the already developed system in the former project, DREAD-ED, with
small groups of managers (4-5/country) from the Romanian, Italian and Spanish
companies which participate to the final test of the product;
-identifying and implementing the necessary technological and methodological
adjustments in order to make the product more attractive and efficient for being used
inside the companies;
-checking the utility, attractiveness and efficiency of the product by the help of
60 users coming from 3 big private companies from Romania, Italy and Spain;
-marketing to identify the initial clients among the business partners of the 3
companies participating in the project;
-creating partnerships with management schools, institutions for professional
training, training units inside companies and other organizations interested in using
DECIDE-IT with their own trainees or clients or even for trading the product;
-exploring the economic and technical feasibility of a new organization,
legally independent (e.g. a spin-off, an NGO) with the mission of moving forward the
development of methods and technologies developed in DECIDE-IT, offering as a
guarantee, technical support to new business partners;
-using the website for dissemination actions in the scientific community, by
organizing events, participating in conferences, publishing articles in scientific
magazines, producing dissemination materials (brochures, posters, etc.)

The project transferred in a new working environment (the society) and a new
objective (manager), a practice and an instrument for training communication abilities
and decision making, initially made for personnel involved in managing emergency
situations.
The product was developed within DREAD-ED project, a LLP-Trasv07 project. The
analysis of DREAD-ED results conducted to the idea of a great potential for training
the instrument, which turned to be efficient even for training needs different to the
original ones.
Consequently, the partnership objective was to extend the instrument application and:
-to adapt it to the managers training needs, which is characterized by a training
demand more economic, more flexible and more efficient;
-to introduce it in the companies training programs, one of the most interested
sectors in the field;
-to check its functioning on other targets.
The transfer was not only instrumental but also methodological.
For the instrumental point of view, the transfer consisted in using the game on-line, in
3 European countries different from those involved in the original project and with
different goals as compared to the ones for which it was designed and tested.

14 - th EUROPEAN CONFERENCE E-COMM-LINE 2013, Bucharest ,

September 24, 2013

Using this instrument in new countries and for new goals, will overpass the limits and
in the meantime, will develop the potential, which will lead to reaching a different
target from the original one.
From the methodological point of view, the project allowed testing in Romania, Italy
and Spain the training program in decision making process.
It is worth mentioning that the instrument can be used as a basis for the strategy as
learning by doing which overpasses the simple transfer of knowledge.
A common methodological approach in 3 big companies from 3 different European
countries will allow a coherent language which will be the basis of an innovation
transfer in professional training at European level.
DECIDE-IT will also test the possibility of developing an eLearning instrument,
attractive for companies and capable of imposing on professional training market.
The trail targeted 60 managers coming from 3 big companies from Romania, Spain and
Italy which belonged to DECIDE-IT consortium.
Regarding individuals, there were some benefits easily measured in an assessment
meeting:
-acquiring new theoretical knowledge regarding decision making in normal
and stressful conditions;
-a better understanding of factors which may affect the efficiency in decision
making in normal and stressful conditions;
-trainees admitting the role of such factors in making his own decisions;
-trainees admitting the aspects which ask an improvement of his own
behaviour;
-improving professional perspectives;
-reducing stress and increasing his personal wellness.
Talking about the benefits for organizations, even if the are more difficult to be
measured, they are important to be underlined:
-increasing the efficiency in decision making processes;
-reducing the loss due to delays and mistakes in decision making processes;
-improving relations between decision making factors and other employees,
decision making factors and clients, decision making factors and suppliers;
-diminishing stress within the organization and improving the indicators of
The Quality of Professional Life.

The proposal for DECIDE-IT professional training was based on a combined strategy,
which integrated training in class with an on-line professional training, based on an
interpretation of a role in a virtual environment (an efficient method from the
pedagogical point of view which stimulates trainees motivation and reduces in the
meantime costs and duration of training).
The experiment developed in 2 phases. In the first phase, the formative assessment,
using the system generated by DREAD-ED was tested (originally designed for
emergency situations operators) with a small group of managers. The results were used
to identify the necessary changes for satisfying the specific needs of the target group.

14 - th EUROPEAN CONFERENCE E-COMM-LINE 2013, Bucharest ,

September 24, 2013

In the second phase, the cumulative assessment, the efficiency of the adapted product
was evaluated with a group of around 60 managers, belonging to the 3 software
producing companies, participating in the project. The experiment consisted in
forming 4-5 trainees groups. Each group participated in 3 formative meetings, which
lasted half a day, a month distance one another. Such a methodological approach was
based on a preliminary analysis of the characteristics of the target group.
In each meeting, trainees group used the on-line instrument to simulate the group
behaviour in stressful conditions. Each on-line game meeting was followed by an
evaluation meeting led by a tutor who identified together with the participants the
strengths and weaknesses of the game and suggested the changes in the behaviour and
communication styles.
The evaluation methodology referred to post-testing questionnaires for participants to
the test and interviews to tutors and companies representatives. The instruments would
be built to get an objective evaluation, without being influenced by the subjective
perception of the tutors leading the test and which might be reproduced by another
trainer which was not directly involved in the experiment. The data was gathered and
analyzed according to the good practices for this type of study.

In brief, the project offered an innovative solution without competition, on the existing
professional training market, which corresponds to a strong need of companies.
DECIDE-IT suggested a methodology based on role-playing as a fundamental element
in developing soft-skills (e.g. training negotiations abilities).