Purpose of this assignment

The aim of this assignment is to allow you to become confident in managing and honing your own employability skills in a way that will allow you to achieve your long term personal and career goals.

LO1 Be able to determine own responsibilities and performance

1.1 Develop a set of own responsibilities and performance objectives
1.2 evaluate own effectiveness against defined objectives
1.3 make recommendations for improvement
1.4 review how motivational techniques can be used to improve quality of performance

LO2 Be able to develop interpersonal and transferable skills

2.1 Develop solutions to work-based problems
2.2 communicate in a variety of styles and appropriate manner at various levels
2.3 identify effective time- management strategies

LO3 Understand the dynamics of working with others 3.1

3.1 explain the roles people play in a team and how they can work together to achieve shared goals
3.2 analyse team dynamics
3.3 suggest alternative ways to complete tasks and achieve team goals

LO4 Be able to develop strategies for problem solving 4.1
4.1 evaluate tools and methods for developing solutions to problems
4.2 develop an appropriate strategy for resolving a particular problem
4.3 evaluate the potential impact on the business of implementing the strategy

Task 1: Essay

1a. You start by considering your personal responsibility in your role as a worker in a healthcare organisation. So you develop a set of your own responsibilities under three separate headings:

- Personal responsibility
- Your ability to learn and develop
- Establishing and maintaining direct and indirect relationships

Then you choose two items from each list, and, for each of them, set a performance objective which should be SMART capable of being achieved before the week ending 2nd June 2017.

Take note that you should be actually working in a healthcare sector to be able to produce the set of responsibilities required in this task. If this is not the case, you may then have to consider the responsibilities in your role as a student, however, your answer should manifest how the set of responsibilities and objectives you have identified can be transferred in an actual work based setting. (This should be produced by Week 1 second session)

1b. Review how you can use Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory to improve your own quality of performance in relation to the objectives you have identified.

1c. During the week commencing 5th June 2017, evaluate how effective you have been in meeting the objectives you set in task 1a.

1d. In the light of your response to Task 1c, make at least three personal recommendations designed to improve your performance in relation to the responsibilities developed in task 1a.

Task 2: E-mail, memo, simulation

You have recently been appointed as the Director of Operations of a third sector organisation providing traditional large unit-based residential care services for people with learning disabilities. You have extensive experience in the sector plus knowledge of changes in thinking related to learning disability in line with the Supporting People initiative. You want to form a partnership with a housing association to provide individual homes instead of the current large units as you think that this will establish better provision of care services to clients. While you think that it is beneficial for the organisation, some employees are resisting this initiative as it is likely that if the partnership pushes through some of them are to be made redundant.

2a. You are to develop solutions to respond to the employees' resistant to your proposed plan of forming partnership with a housing association.

2b. For this task, you need to demonstrate that you are able to communicate in a variety of styles and appropriate manner at various levels.

i. Send an e-mail to an ex-colleague inviting her for a meal and explaining that you would like to use her as a sounding board for your new venture

ii. Write a short memo to your staff team outlining your proposal and attaching the agenda for a staff meeting to discuss the proposal

iii. Conduct a simulation exercise in class portraying a meeting with the chief executive of the Oasis Housing Association to discuss the formation of a partnership to convert two of your organisation's large properties into individual units. (This will be witnessed by a third person who will take notes of the simulation which will serve as the evidence that you have completed this task)

2c. Identify, giving reasons of your choice, a range of time management strategies you can use to make sure that you get your plan completed within a period of 6 months.

Scenario for Tasks 3 and 4

You have been told by the General Manager that she is leaving in a week. With such a short notice and being the deputy manager, you are now to assume all the roles and responsibilities she is currently doing. Since you have worked with the home for 5 years, you think that it is going to be smooth. However, you have noticed that Pam, the head of admin, is always hesitant to accept the new ideas you bring to the table and thinks that she has better solutions to problems.

As you know, the home is experiencing a terrible staffing issue where agency workers are always needed to cover shifts especially on weekends as most members of staff have young families and therefore are unable to do weekend shifts. Not only that it costs the organisation a lot of money, it also takes a huge amount of time to train agency workers which also compromises the quality of care given to residents. The daily basic care routine is delayed - residents are being fed late, medications are not given on time and some residents have to miss shower schedule as there is just not enough time to carry out the tasks. There has also been a number of complaints from families and staff members because of the current situation of the care home.

As you are taking over as the head of care, it is your duty to ensure that care is delivered at best practice. You have found out that some MAR sheets are not signed by senior carers and care plans and other charts are not up to date. As a consequence, important details of care are not being communicated to the members of staff. As you needed to sort the staffing issue as a priority, you have asked one of the senior carers, Tina, to give you a hand in updating the files. You have always seen her as a team worker, doing more than what is expected from her including checking that call bells are working and hoists are charged and are ready to use.

The kitchen department is also currently understaffed. While Sue, is a very good chef, she can't do everything in the kitchen by herself. You have had complaints from the residents' family because of the food being served late. They are also not happy as there aren't any activities for the residents in some days of the week. Maria, one of the carers, has volunteered to organise a colouring session when she's on duty to ensure that activities are still being done in spite of being understaffed.

Carers are complaining of not having enough PPE and other supplies to use in some shifts. Staff morale is really low which affects the delivery of care to residents. You are to look into the overall situation but one of your main tasks, is to ensure the appropriate staffing level is achieved without needing agency workers and maintain quality of care.

3a. Basing your answer on team roles exercise carried out in class, explain how Belbin's team roles as manifested in the scenario above and analyse how the dynamics of each of the role contributes in ensuring that the team would be able to function effectively.

3b. With the current understaffing in the kitchen department, you now suggest alternative ways to ensure that the tasks are completed on time and achieve team goals.

Task 4 Fishbone diagram

4a. Working as part of an allocated team and using two methods/techniques for problem solving (a Fish Bone Diagram and the 5-step Process for Problem Solving) first define the problem in the scenario and then develop an appropriate strategy for dealing it. (LO4.2) (This should be produced by Week 8 second session)

b) Now that you have had the chance to practise using them, evaluate the Fish Bone Diagram and the 5-step Process as practical tools/methods of solving problems.

c) Evaluate the impact of implementing your team's recommended strategy for solving the problem described in the scenario.(This should be produced by Week 9 second session)