Cottage : where HRM comes to life
Step behind the counter of a small Caribbean grocery and lead its people through every stage of the human resource lifecycle, one decision at a time.
About the simulation
Cottage casts you as the first-ever Store Manager of Cottage, a small family-run grocery in a Caribbean community, where you must build and lead a team from the ground up.
Across six story-driven chapters you work through the full human resource management lifecycle, from setting HR foundations and designing jobs to hiring, developing, appraising, and retaining staff, making branching decisions and tackling hands-on mini-games along the way.
Your choices accumulate into one of four distinct endings and a personalised developmental report across six HR areas, turning HRM theory into lived, memorable practice.
Quick facts
- Setting
- A Caribbean grocery
- Chapters
- 6 · full HR lifecycle
- Mini-games
- 4 hands-on challenges
- Endings
- 4, shaped by your choices
- Estimated play time
- 60–90 minutes
- Takeaway
- Developmental report
- Access code
- $4.99 / learner Launch price
University instructors and trainers can request complimentary access to pilot Cottage with their class.
Outcomes, topics & use cases
Switch tabs to explore- 01 Articulate the strategic role of HRM and align people practices with organisational goals
- 02 Conduct job analysis and design roles, job descriptions, and safe working practices
- 03 Apply structured recruitment and selection techniques, including competency-based interviewing
- 04 Plan training and development initiatives and make evidence-based resourcing trade-offs
- 05 Design and conduct fair performance appraisals and connect performance to reward
- 06 Evaluate retention, separation, and succession strategies and anticipate their consequences
Undergraduate & postgraduate courses
An experiential capstone or anchor for HRM and organisational behaviour modules.
Flipped & active learning
Assign as pre-class preparation, then debrief decisions and endings together in session.
Assessment & evidence
The developmental report and instructor dashboard provide gradable, per-student data.
Online & distance education
A self-contained, browser-based experience where live role-play isn't practical.
Corporate L&D & new-manager training
Onboarding and skill-building for first-time supervisors and people managers.
Workshops & executive education
An engaging experiential anchor for bootcamps, seminars, and executive sessions.
Inside Cottage
