Systems Made Simple Mission Statement

Systems Made Simple, a Lockheed Martin Company was founded in 1991 in Syracuse, NY by two businessmen that had very different approaches, but their previous business knowledge and experience allowed them to build a Fortune 500 Company.
The mission of Systems Made Simple, a Lockheed Martin Company is “To deliver leading-edge solutions that leverage information technology in the Healthcare domain to improve, increase, enable and ensure efficient and effective delivery of services for patients, providers, government agencies and insurers”(http://www.systemsmadesimple.com).
The vision of the company is to be a leading provider of “Health Information Technology” services by applying an unrelenting drive towards continually improving the quality
of our products, services and internal processes. We will use a three-pronged approach to achieve this vision by recruiting and training top talent, developing innovative products and services, and most importantly, maintaining an unrelenting focus on supporting the customer’s mission. We will couple this ‘drive for quality’ with an active research and innovation program to ensure we can support the latest technologies and provide cost effective, proprietary solutions. We will establish and maintain a top-notch workforce by leveraging a world-class program for hiring and retaining top talent with internal (SMS University) and external training programs. We will always remember and support our customer’s motivation, which is to improve patient outcomes while increasing their return on investment (R. Fishbeck, personal communication, February, 2, 2014).
There are several characteristics that are important ingredients of an ideal performance management system: strategic congruence, context congruence, thoroughness, practicality, meaningfulness, specificity, identification of effective and ineffective performance, reliability, validity, acceptability and fairness, inclusiveness, openness, correctability, standardization and ethicality (Aquinis, 2013).
The Performance Management System in place at Systems Made Simple has several of these characteristics the first one being Strategic congruence this is where the strategic goals of the organization are linked to the goals of the individuals and teams.
Goal setting is an important facet of achieving the mission and vision of the company.
The Board of Directors established goals at two levels. The first level represents the high-level corporate goals which align with the mission and vision of the company. These goals establish the framework for what the Board expects our organization to focus on accomplishing during the year. The second level represents organizational goals that specifically align with the corporate goals to establish a framework that can be used to develop departmental as well as individual goals. The management staff of SMS will be responsible, working in partnership with HR and Corporate Initiatives, to develop individual goals for each facet and individual of in their respective organizations. These individual goals will be communicated to each level of the organization, incorporated into the Wingspan employee appraisal system and actively used in the performance appraisal process.
Another characteristic that is present in the Performance Management system at Systems Made Simple is Thoroughness. All employees should be evaluated; all major job responsibilities should be evaluated; evaluation should include performance spanning the entire review period and feedback should be given on not just positive performance but also areas that need improvement (Aguinis,
2013).
Each member of the organization receives a performance appraisal; the process kicks off in September and concludes in November. All employees complete a self-appraisal and then their manager evaluates the employee on their job responsibilities and successful completion of goals. The performance appraisal touches on the aspects of the employee’s job, areas they are excelling in and areas where they could improve. The manager and the employee set up a meeting where they go over the performance appraisal together, this dialogue is important because you are letting the employee express concerns they may have and also assisting that employee in being successful in their position.
In order to attract and retain qualified and committed individuals, organizations need to have appropriate pay systems that encourage and reward employees to always stay focused and motivated in their job roles. Reward systems should be linked with goal-setting, employee development, competency measures, and team performance. The best predictor of future performance is the past. An individual who has received exceptional ratings in the past will tend to receive high ones in the future (Hayashi, 2007). A comprehensive employee reward system for effective performance management programs can include the following elements: fixed pay (base pay), variable pay, short term incentives and long term incentives, gain sharing plans, health insurance/life insurance, training and development (career/professional), paid holidays and sick leave.
Systems Made Simple offers a comprehensive and attractive benefits package to all full-time employees. We offer a work environment that supports initiative and the spirit of entrepreneurship. Employees receive a competitive salary that rewards one’s performance annually and on the “SPOT” Bonuses. Systems Made Simple encourages their employees to participate in year-round community events and activities to foster work relationships and enhance the teamwork. We offer flexibility, professional development, career development, career enrichment, and a family-friendly culture. The total rewards package includes health and wellness benefits, income protection, retirement benefit, paid time off, company paid holidays, bereavement time, jury duty leave, employee referral program and tuition reimbursement. This is a pretty generous package that will help Systems Made Simple attract choice employees instead of becoming an Employer of Choice.
It is important that rewards are perceived as fair and equitable in the eyes of the employee. Fairness in pay and rewards is a key factor in providing an environment that motivates people to believe in the organizations mission and values. Unfortunately top performers do not always receive top pay for their efforts and performance. It is important to make sure we reward our top performers so that they stay and that our poor performers are not rewarded so they will leave the organization. (Becker, Huselid, and Beatty, 2009).
With the Performance Management System at place at Systems Made Simple the company is on the right track to maintaining a workforce that is dedicated and motivated.
There are some areas that need improvement and those are in regards to the Performance Management system. One characteristic that is lacking in the current PM System is that of Identification of effective and ineffective performance. There are some managers that unfortunately do not take the performance appraisal process seriously, they rate all of their employees the same and copy and paste the same comments. This is not fair to the employees, particularly those that go above and beyond in their job. Each individual employee deserves to be rated accordingly, if managers continue to reward the low performers there is no incentive for them to leave. Some employees do all of the work while other do just enough to get by, these two types of employees need to be rewarded
accordingly.
This is a relatively easy fix for Systems Made Simple; they need to provide training every year to managers to make sure they understand the process of conducting performance appraisals. In addition to training we need to provide them with job aids that will assist them in the process, Human Resources can also provide a list of FAQ’s to the managers. Having all of these items you are ensuring that everyone is receiving the same message and will conduct performance appraisals according to company procedures.