ABSTRACT
Although rarely studied, not only is criminal activity inevitably part of a network of contacts, as we considered in Study 9 on bank robbery, but the investigation of crime requires teams and organisations to carry out the work. Consequently, a further understanding of how teams and networks operate, their components and natural strengths and weaknesses, is directly relevant to the study of anti-social behaviour. To explore these issues further, a detailed exercise is described that enables the participants to experience and study communication processes as part of team decision making.
This exercise may be regarded as a form of game playing, or ‘simulation’. It provides a rich example of this form of research activity, which is common in business studies and other areas, for training and research. The simulation described has evolved over the years, being carried out with students and professional groups all over the world. It has a number of layers of complexity, revealing many features of group and network processes that are often ignored or misunderstood.
