Exploring the Use of Gamified Systems in Training and Work Environments

Abstract

Gamification has been described as the employment of game thinking and game mechanics to support long-term user engagement, behaviour change and problem solving. It has driven novel approaches in diverse industries ranging from education, healthcare, sales, or travel, opening up disruptive channels of interaction and enriched means to foster motivation. In the business world, gamification can be put into action in a wide variety of areas within an enterprise, such as recruitment, training, project management, performance management, employee collaboration, team-building, etc. The role of gamification is to enable goals to be reshaped in order to make them more appealing and achievable for end-users (learners, employees, or customers). The golden rule behind gamification is to motivate users with a challenging blend of contests, quests, and good performance incentives. Even if the concept of gamification is widely popular, it remains a very specific challenge to engage individuals in a smart way and be innovative in the process. To better comprehend how gamification can revolutionize daily activities (training/learning, hiring, team-building, performance management, staff evaluation), this paper explores the perception of gamification and opportunities for its exploitation in work environments. Based on the case study carried out, the authors present examples of gamification systems that can be applied in training and work environments.