21 Eva Hicks – ServiceSquad Pro

Eva Hicks is a junior completing her degree in Human Resource Management while residing in Bloomington, Indiana. This project provided her with an opportunity to apply what she learned in her HR Management course (BUS Z440). It is intended to be a management audit to describe goals that were set, strategies that were used, decisions that were made, and the outcomes throughout the simulation. Professor Yan Liu notes, “A well-developed argument, clear outline, thorough, demonstrates the student’s commitment to the project and understanding of the course materials, shows the student’s creative thinking and problem solving skills.”

ServiceSquad Pro

Introduction

Before we began the HR Simulation, our team determined five goals to work towards for the next two years. Our goals included analyzing wages, managing our budget, and spending, implementing a safety program, focusing on employment development, and establishing a diversity program. Taking advice from HR Professionals, we learn there are nine critical competencies in defining HR success, including “HR Expertise (HR Knowledge), Business acumen, Communication, Consultation, Critical Evaluation, Ethical practice, Global and cultural effectiveness, Leadership and navigation, and Relationship Management” (Strobel, 2015). While no one in the group had worked with a simulation, we were determined to work together to make decisions that would maintain our company’s success while considering the quarterly decisions. This paper will begin by describing our organization’s goals and strategies for achieving them, the highlights of our plan throughout the simulation, including our performance objectives and the actual performance achieved. Moving forward, we will share the success factors, how we left our company positioned for the future, and the essential takeaways from our simulation experience. Finally, we will highlight the significant sections while sharing insight into the benefits and challenges we encountered throughout the semester simulation.

HR Plan

Our objective in managing our budget was to implement more opportunities for wage growth and safety and training programs. With effective budget management, we can ensure organizational stability and growth while enabling investments in training and development. The strategy to accomplish this step was to allocate funds for wage growth and training programs. Using data in the simulation as we progressed each quarter, we had to determine future needs accurately. To succeed in analyzing wages, our focus was to align them to be compatible with industry and location. By aligning wages, we attract more talented applicants and have a better chance of retaining them. Better wages will instill loyalty and motivation amongst staff, enhancing our productivity and lowering training costs. Strategically, our organization agreed that providing a wage increase percentage to all levels would ensure fairness among staff members and prevent grievances and turnover.

We aimed to implement a safety program to ensure a safe work environment and reduce accidents and injuries while considering the legal requirements. To achieve this, we had to identify the hazards and risks in the workplace while educating employees, regularly updating protocols when circumstances changed, and providing additional feedback. Regarding employment development, training opportunities, and benefits, our company saw these incentives as a way to improve employee skills, encourage loyalty and long-term commitment, and create an environment of continuous improvement. To achieve this, we planned to offer workshops, seminars, and course opportunities while working with everyone on a clear progression path within the organization. Lastly, our company goals included a diversity program for hiring and promoting women and minorities. With diversity comes innovation, a respectful workplace, and assistance attracting a wide range of skilled professionals. To accomplish this, the priority was to educate current staff on the importance of the program while developing ways to attract more diverse candidates and encouraging management to promote diversity at all levels to demonstrate inclusivity in leadership.

While we implemented these goals, it is essential to note that there are “different approaches to business strategy – a mass production strategy focused on high volume and low cost versus a differentiation strategy based on high quality or value-added production” (Lee et al., 2019). As seen from this paper, we have used multiple approaches based on the data provided each quarter and considering budget and industry changes throughout the two years.

Performance Objectives

 GOAL 1: Wages. We aimed to assess our wages, compare them to the industry standards’ regional wage structure, and identify areas below market rate. Our objective was to exceed the rate set by market forces as indicated in the simulation. While the industry average wages continued to rise, our HR department adjusted wages at the beginning of Year 2. At that time, we adjusted wages a meager 3% for an annual cost of living adjustment.

 GOAL 2: Budget and Spending. In year 1, our budget was not a primary concern for our HR department. In Year 2, we began to closely monitor our budget and make our HR decisions to adhere to our budget allocations. Our objective was to closely monitor our spending for the previous quarter and adjust the next quarter to ensure our annual budget was on track. We met this objective in year 2.

GOAL 3: Safety. Our safety program began as a minimal concern for our HR Department. Even though we only invested in the minimum Safety Training Program, our Accident Rate declined each quarter. In Quarter 1, we allotted $1000 for a minor accident reduction. Our safety budget increased in Quarter 2, but more is needed to make a difference within our company. We consistently communicated each quarter, “Quality is not as high as it should be.”  In Quarter 4, we hired a full-time Safety Director, which resulted in a minor reduction in accidents. Our Safety training budget doubled In Quarter 5, as we hired a Full-time Safety Director, offered occasional classes, and had a reduction in accidents. However, our message continued that we needed to do more. Our Safety Training program budget increased to $40,000 in Quarter 6, and we added regular safety classes. For the first time in Quarter 7, we saw an improvement in our Accident Rate.

GOAL 4: Employment Development: Training and Benefits. Our budget determined our training programs at the start of the simulation. Our HR Department was looking to minimize costs, and that decision hurt our employees. In Quarter 1, our total training budget was $6,000, and it was just a basic training program. Our Safety and Quality Training programs were minimal at best. We increased our training in these two areas and saw an improvement in our overall Safety and Quality ratings. Regarding total compensation and benefits, we adjusted our holidays in Quarter 6 to add paid days off in response to decreased employee morale. We adjusted our retirement program in Quarter 7 to an Employer-Sponsored Retirement plan- low contributions. We began our Health program with Tier 2, Low coverage, moderate deductible; we added a Dental and Eye Care plan in Quarter 4. Term Life and Legal Services were the minimal other benefits offered, and we increased those to include Tuition reimbursement in Quarter 6. Our decisions could have been more proactive, thinking of the employees first; our decisions were reactive in response to falling employee morale, absenteeism, turnover, and productivity.

GOAL 5:  Diversity. Our HR Department set lofty goals for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Our beginning goal targets were 40% women and 25% of racially minoritized (RM) groups. This percentage increased in Quarter 2 to 50% women and 30% RM groups and in Quarter 5 to 55% women and 35% RM groups. Our overage percentages have consistently increased, and we are now leading the simulation.

Simulation Performance

While we made the best decisions at the time, based on our HR knowledge, our reactions to the simulation were reactive instead of proactive during the first year. Our initial decision was to change our simulation, which would affect our budget the least. We also made most decisions based on what was best from an employee’s point of view instead of what was best for our overall business. After the first week, our decisions began to harm our business, and we began to make minor adjustments in our simulations. However, these decisions only had an overall impact on our simulation in the last quarter, when our business finally started to achieve the objectives we had set at the beginning.

Decision 1- Job Analysis and Job Design. For this decision, we analyzed all jobs and began job design on job rotation, enlargement, and enrichment. These decisions gave our simulation a strong start and laid the foundation for our HR department.

 Decision 2- Recruiting for Temporary Positions. ServiceSquad Pro decided to lease employees from an employee leasing company, as this decision would allow us to discontinue the use of these employees, and there would be no hard feelings if we did not offer them permanent positions after their lease had expired. This decision caused dissension within our workforce even though the work was completed (at a higher cost).

Decision 3- Selection of Employee. In this decision, our team looked at all the candidates without identifiers and made our decision based on the best fit for the position. We selected a 32-year-old male with a technical degree. This decision disappointed our CEO. However, our team’s commitment to DEI continued, and we finished our simulation with a high percentage of Racially Diverse employees.

Decision 4- Anti-Sexual Harassment Policy. The Sexual Harassment Policy for ServiceSquad Pro was to develop a “zero tolerance” policy and present it in our meetings. This decision looks good from the outside, but from the inside, it could cost our firm if we ever face legal action from an employee.

Decision 5- Safety and Part-time Employees. Our team decided to hire a full-time Safety Specialist in Decision 5. We were awarded “Safe Workplace of the Year” and received a superior rating from the government.

Decision 6- Performance Appraisal. In the formation of our performance appraisal program, we chose the Appraiser to be the Supervisor, subordinates, and self. This decision made some supervisors unhappy for their appraisers to be subordinates. We also chose Management by Objectives. Our team needs more experience in this area, which may need clarification within the Performance appraisal process.

Decision 7- References and Promotion Decisions. When asked about an employment reference for a former employee, our team followed the policy precisely as written. When presented with a question on promotion, we chose not to hire either candidate. As a result of our decisions, two lawsuits were filed.

Decision 8- Compensation Planning and Employee Health and Wellness. For compensation planning, we chose to implement a performance-based pay system. This system would allow our employees to make more money if they performed at a higher level, and our productivity numbers should increase. We also implemented a Wellness and Mental Health program for our employees. This decision was excellent, and the Health Institute awarded us Employer of the Quarter awards.

Key Success Factors in HR Management

HR departments can be successful for various reasons and can be defined by the difference between average and successful HR management. HR is successful when a company considers employee health, diversity, development, and engagement and can handle difficult situations. When one incorporates culture into a workplace, that adds diversity, which means that the employees benefit. There is room for new ideas, creativity, and decision-making as we work with different perspectives from people from different backgrounds. A planned strategy for hiring new employees will give the company the best chance of picking out the best talent it needs.

A key factor for HR management to be successful is providing benefits as well as the health and wellness of employees. Jobs without benefits are in less demand, and employees will not feel motivated to work a job that does not bring benefits or help them grow. With benefits comes increased morale, job satisfaction, productivity, and engagement. Employee relations is a critical component of successful HR management. All employees need a safe space to talk and resolve issues that may arise in the workplace.

HR management achievements need to align with the company’s goals and strategies. When HR management understands this well and works towards ensuring that their policies support the company’s goal, it is a win-win situation for both. The critical role of HR management is to attract and hire the right talent for open positions. Successful HR management has efficient recruitment policies and processes to attract, identify, and select candidates with the required skills and who will fit in with the company’s culture. In addition to hiring, they should have an attractive package to keep the talented candidates.

Successful management involves creating training programs that improve the employees’ skills and help to increase the company’s productivity. It also provides employees with opportunities to improve their professional development skills and increase employee satisfaction. HR Management should be able to evaluate the employee skills and performance by establishing clear expectations and facilitating regular performance evaluations. Setting goals and reviews ensures that employees contribute to the organization’s overall success and have the skills and information needed. For HR management to succeed, transparent communication between all levels of the organization, which can be facilitated and monitored regularly, will be required.

In addition to satisfying the company’s current needs, successful HR management should look ahead proactively, determine the company’s future needs, and plan for future hiring and policies. Embracing inclusion and diversity is essential for creating a dynamic workplace, and HR should promote policies that ensure inclusion and diversity for all employees. Another key area for successful HR management is their success in effective conflict management. Addressing workplace conflict is critical to the success of any organization. HR professionals should be skilled and trained to treat all employees fairly. According to chapter one, “the tasks should be grouped in ways that help the organization operate efficiently and obtain people with the right qualifications to do the job well” (Noe et al., 2022). So, it is critical to identify and group tasks to align with the company’s current policies and direction.

In HR Management, it is vital to have essential tools such as AI-based systems or other technologies to manage employees, their benefits, and payroll and to provide data analytics. HR Management should be well-versed in all the legal laws that govern employment to ensure that the organization follows them. The HR Management team should strive to make organizational leaders to ensure continuity and stability. Understanding that to achieve success, the organization’s leaders must present a united front and provide “engagement, leadership development, and succession planning where development acts as a funnel for succession planning which can enhance the organization’s learning, leadership, and longevity” (Mason, 2020).

How You Left the Company Positioned for the Future

Throughout the semester, we have considered potential issues that may arise and set the company up for the future by creating policies and procedures for employees and managers to follow. These issues include sexual harassment policies, discrimination policies, and policies for temporary employees. We have also created programs to help further the company. These programs include Employee Participation, Grievance Procedure, Orientation Program, HR Information System, Performance Appraisal System, and DEI Program. We implemented most of these programs by Quarter 2; however, we implemented all of them by Quarter 4. We hope to have the company in a position to have effective developmental programs for both management and employees. These programs will also help with training so that each new or existing employee can help create a sustainable company. In Week 7, we learned about employee development and how to help lead a company to success. Chapter 8 describes development and training as “preparing employees for other jobs or positions in the organization and [how it will] increase their ability to move into jobs that may not yet exist” (Noe et al., 2022). Development and training will ensure employees are up to date on each policy and procedure. By doing this, it will help with possible accidents in the workplace as each employee will understand the regulations in place.

We have left the company in a position to have higher diversity in the workplace, such as different races and more women. Diversity in the workplace has many benefits, including “increased productivity, increased creativity, improved cultural awareness, a positive reputation, and increase in marketing opportunities,” according to Rachel Minkin (2023) from the Pew Research Center. From these benefits of having a diverse workplace, the company will gain more than without a diverse workforce. When upper management has adequate experience and training in the specific job field, it can set the company up for success in its position in multiple ways. Managers help achieve the company’s goals while adhering to the vision and strategies. In addition, managers also set up the company for success by handling the resources for employees to use to reach goals. The programs added to the company are similar to what is commonly found among most companies today.

Important Takeaways from the Simulation Experience

Human Resources plays a vital role in the success of the organization. Decision-making is critical in any group, and through the simulation, we arrived at a reasonable conclusion. We can see that our decisions impacted the overall organizational effectiveness. We collaborated as a team and gathered various perspectives before making a decision. Collaborative decision-making fostered creativity and helped us comprehensively understand the issues at hand.

One of the most critical decisions in HR management is the wellness of the employees. We tried to comprehensively address the well-being of the employees through orientation programs, performance appraisal, and grievance procedures, to name a few. These programs ensure that the employees are grounded in the organization and that the new employees are okay with a successful start in the company.

We had programs for the employees’ professional development, which are essential because they enhance the employees’ skill sets and improve their overall job satisfaction, which is critical for overall company success. A study done at the University of Chicago found that “only one-fifth of plants [from data from over 35,000 manufacturing plants] use three-quarters of more of the performance-oriented management techniques, but that these plants had dramatically better performance than their competitor” (2021). This study also showed the difference in the same plants and that with different managerial styles, employees would perform better with managers who adopted incentive-based practices. Employees were highly productive, more innovative, and ultimately more profitable. This study found that the leading causes for differences within managers are factored by; “being in more competitive industries and in those [plants that are] more pro-business states; firms with more college graduates [or] located near universities; being located near a successful large new entrant” (2021). All these factors show that managers can vary; however, each firm is different in how management experience can better the company overall.

Throughout the semester, we have used the simulation to resolve multiple issues that commonly arise in real-life situations. The simulation helped us determine what may motivate employees in our independent fields and future careers. The experience of the simulation within a competition among other groups has also helped us as a team to understand and evaluate areas of improvement. We have been able to make important decisions about different topics and how they could affect an HR department. Due to this, we have applied the otherwise abstract concepts to real-life examples and what to expect when put into these situations.

We recognized the benefits of diversity in the workplace and focused on implementing diversity and inclusion programs. These programs provide an inclusive work culture and promote fairness and equal opportunity. By fostering diversity and inclusion, organizations can broaden their talent base, which will be beneficial as it could enhance innovation and problem-solving. In “Why Diversity Training in the Workplace Is Important,” Hassan (2023) points out that diversity training also emphasizes considering others’ opinions and viewpoints. He concludes that this increases the cooperation between employees on work tasks and encourages teamwork.

A study done at Indiana University Kokomo, “The Educational Value of Simulation as a Teaching Strategy,” found that “student performance on the topics covered by the simulation was significantly improved compared to a control section that did not use the simulation” (Chulkov & Wang, 2020). This was due to the teamwork dynamics as well as the collaboration aspect. The simulation has been able to show the HR role more transparently. Before the simulation began, human resources mainly comprised a company’s recruitment, hiring, and compensation. During and after the simulation, the role became more transparent as it dealt with not only those three areas but also benefits, training and development, employee relations, and performance management. This simulation has helped us understand how we want to further our career and understand concepts, as it also gives immediate feedback and retention of what we have learned in the class.

In conclusion, the decision-making process was multi-faceted, requiring us to collaborate and help us make informed decisions for the company’s success. Overall, HR management and programs play a vital role in shaping the way of the organization.

Conclusion

In summary, our company encountered many challenges throughout the simulation. At the same time, we continued our dialogue on each topic and discussed how best to turn things around to increase our standings within the group competition. We started strongly in quarters one and two but quickly fell toward the bottom as we used a large portion of our year one budget. This decision caused a decrease in team standings. It motivated our team to be more conscious of our spending and utilize it more beneficially for our employees and the organization.

Focusing on the motivator of succeeding in the simulation “was like the American psychologist Frederick Irving Herzberg, one of the most influential names in business management, who first distinguished between what he called hygienic factors (extrinsic) and motivator factors (intrinsic)” (Guillen, 2021, p. 4). Using what Herzberg found in his studies helped us to understand better our motivation for achieving success. It is more about the achievement of our simulation company to excel in the top three teams and better our HR understanding than completing the project for the sake of our grade. Ending quarter 8 with three categories in the top three team levels was a good accomplishment.

One must maintain adaptability when leading a HR team: “More than ever, society is demanding change, and organizations are being asked to shift into more conscious and agile business practices. Moreover, even if the desire to change exists, understanding how to achieve it is elusive (Sahota, 2021). Throughout the simulation, special decisions, and assignments, our team worked together to adapt and make necessary changes to bring ServiceSquad Pro to the top three teams.

Our company created a mission statement to provide services to our employees through teamwork, organization, and professionalism. Our mission includes recruiting individuals who share our company’s values and goals, promoting engagement through competitive compensation, retention incentives, training and development opportunities, and creating a diverse and safe environment that will motivate employees to provide effective communication and constructive feedback. Throughout this term project, we fulfilled our mission and have made notes on areas that will need to be reviewed with adjustments to be made consistently to maintain our best efforts for our employees and organization.

References

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Bloom, N., VanReenen, J., & Brynjolfsson, E. (2021, August 31). Good management predicts firm’s success. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2017/04/good-management-predicts-a-firms-success-better-than-it-rd-or-even-employee-skills

Chulkov, D., & Wang, X. (2020). The educational value of simulation as a teaching strategy in a finance course. e-Journal of Business Education & Scholarship in Teaching, 14(1), 40–56. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1276442.pdf

Guillen, M. (2020). Human motivation theories. In Motivation in organisations: Searching for a meaningful work-life balance. https://research-ebsco-com.proxyeast.uits.iu.edu/c/k54rre/search/details/ZTAwMW13dy0yNjAxMDg3

Hassan, A. (2023, September 5). Why diversity training in the workplace is important: Jazzhr blog. JazzHR. www.jazzhr.com/blog/diversity-training/

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Mason, S. (2020).The leaders within: Engagement, leadership development, and succession planning. Health Administration Press. https://research-ebsco-com.proxyiub.uits.iu.edu/c/pejgdu/search/details/cnget2j6ij?q=maintaining%20a%20mission%20statement%20as%20an%20HR%20leader

Minkin, R. (2023, May 17). Diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/05/17/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-in-the-workplace/

Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B. A., & Wright, P. M. (2022). Chapter 8: Developing employees for future success. In Fundamentals of human resource management (9th ed., p. 237). essay, McGraw Hill LLC.

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