Group decisions in projects are often influenced by biases, leading to delayed or suboptimal group decision outcomes. While these biases are well-documented, there is a lack of training methods designed to improve decision-making skills by increasing the perception of these biases. Serious games have potential as training strategies for addressing biases, but specific characteristics that should be implemented for effective training are not clearly defined. This thesis addresses challenges that hinder effective group decision-making, emphasising cognitive biases. To raise awareness of the problem, interviews with experts working in project teams for Swiss Federal Railways, a large Swiss company, are conducted. The interviews revealed that the main challenge is the presence of group biases, highlighting groupthink, social loafing, authority, and sunflower biases as key factors. Based on this, the requirements and associated characteristics of the game were defined. The developed prototype, an adventure role-playing game, holds the potential to significantly raise the perception of these biases, offering a promising solution.

The thesis used a design science research approach and developed the game prototype as an artefact to answer the following thesis statement. “Implementing a collaborative serious game as a training strategy improves group decision-making by focusing on cognitive biases within project teams.” The artefact was evaluated through group interviews, observation, and a qualitative questionnaire.

The findings demonstrate that the game effectively heightened the perception of biases by emphasising key characteristics, such as feedback scenarios, role-play, and storyline elements, that led participants into bias traps. Assigning roles that matched players personalities enhanced engagement and effectiveness, while feedback was most impactful when given at the end of the game. Developing serious games is a valuable tool for bias training in project management and eventually improving group decision-making. The study contributes to the theoretical understanding of biases in group decision-making and offers practical insights into the design of serious games for training purposes. Future research should focus on refining game characteristics to address specific biases more effectively and exploring the long-term impact of such training interventions.