Holyoke Case Study

Holyoke Case Study

The decision to be made by the Holyoke Police Department (HPD ) is indeed a challenging one . The scarcity of the applicant pool and the improving condition of the economy make it difficult to find a new policeman to fill in the position . In a city of 2400 population qualified policemen may indeed be hard to find . At this time , the police department faces two distinct options

Continue to try to hire the fourth policeman

Split the salary between the other three to allow them to make a more

decent living than before

The first option will produce a better outcome since it will allow the police department to address the population 's needs with greater effectiveness . The increase in the staffing numbers would allow greater concentration of effort in areas where help was most needed , more efficient coverage of the area , and attraction of a more diversified pool of workforce . However , the downside of the option was the difficulty in its implementation . If new officers could not be found and the applicant pool was becoming scarce , the Holyoke Police Department cannot reasonably count with a serious and sudden improvement in the situation . In this case , the hiring of the fourth one appears unrealistic . However , the recruiters can try to attract prospective applicants by offering extra incentives

Training courses , assistance in getting into police academies , etc

Perks like a car , free lunch , and others

However , there is no guarantee that a change in recruitment strategy will work

The second option , splitting of the salary , has both its upside and downside . The most obvious pro is that it will increase the compensation for all the three officers , a moment that the council members can use to remind policemen that they are expected to put in so much work as to replace the one that was never hired . Besides , it will improve their motivation by alerting them to the fact that their efforts are valued and appreciated , and the council is aware of their merits even if their overtime work is not rewarded properly . In the eyes of the policemen , a pay raise can balance out the overtime work they have to do for free Finally , it will simply improve their living standards , making their lives more comfortable and freeing up some energy for work . In terms of Maslow 's hierarchy of needs , the more completely their basic needs are satisfied , the more the policemen will approach a level of the pyramid at which self-actualization becomes the top priority . With a current salary of 1 ,600 , it is clear that even basic needs can be a problem

However , the downside is the temporary nature of the award . When the grant term expires , policemen are likely to experience a nasty feeling when their salaries get back to 1 ,600 . A drop in compensation levels can be devastating to the employees ' morale . If the department undertakes a commitment to `upgrade ' salary levels , the supervisors had better see to it that they find...