Marbella Residential Homes has experienced rapid expansion that has strained its resources and staffing. As the new HR Director, you interview several core staff members and the Director. Staff express concerns about the quality of care declining due to high patient-to-staff ratios, inexperienced workers, low pay, and constant crises. The single doctor struggles with the workload across multiple residences. The Director acknowledges high turnover from unqualified recruits and maintains standard patient-to-staff ratios to keep costs low per the owner's demands, despite the challenges described by staff. COVID has further complicated HR management.

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BCO213 HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
Task brief & rubrics Assignment # 3
This course will have 3 assignments. Please find below task
brief & rubrics for Assignments #3.
Task for Assignment # III - Please answer the 2 questions of the
case and 2 out of 4 of the open section. Each question is worth
25% of the
assessment.
Part 1 - Case
Introducing a New Performance Management System
A large organisation, which traditionally had a paternalistic
approach and low levels of unionisation, decided to introduce a
performance management
system incorporating performance-related pay.
This changed the nature of the previous incremental salary
scales and led to the abolition of the annual cost of living-
related increase.

2. The new system incorporated an annual objective setting
process, ongoing review and annual assessment with a reward
link.
The annual assessment determined two things.
a) Firstly, whether the individual could move up on the salary
scale:
• one increment
• two increments
• would remain put or
• would move down one increment.
There were careful descriptions related to performance which
indicated which action should be taken in respect of each
individual.
This replaced the previous system where increments were
automatic and there was no possibility of moving down an
increment.
b) Secondly, the assessment was translated into a grade (A–E)
and each grade was linked to an amount of performance-related
pay, expressed as
a percentage of current salary.
There were however limits on the number of people in any
department who could be put into each category.
So, for example, A grade, which represented outstanding

3. performance, was only available to 5% of the staff in any
department.
The system was introduced very quickly using a consulting
firm. However, 2 years after implementation there are high
levels of dissatisfaction from
employees, and some line managers have also expressed ser ious
concerns about their role in the system and the system itself.
2
To tackle the problem a different consulting firm was used as
the previous one had disbanded.
They carried out some research and established the following:
• Objectives were not always agreed at the beginning of the
period, sometimes they were agreed at the end or not at all
• Reviews were not generally carried out during the year
• Those departments that did set objectives found high levels of
competitiveness between staff and an unwillingness to support
others
• Changes to the incremental system were widely resented,
except for a few highfliers
• Many felt the system was not used fairly or consistently
• Many employees, including line managers, did not understand
why the system was introduced, others thought it was to do with

4. cost cutting
• All felt the grade limits were unfair
• Employees did not feel line managers were objective in their
assessments
• Some line managers expressed discomfort with the process
• Most employees felt their development needs were ignored
• The reward levels were too small to motivate employees.
Case Questions (each question is worth 25% of the exam grade)
1. What do you see as being the primary weaknesses of the new
performance management system at this company? Why? How
do they affect
the employees? Organize and explain how they affect other HR
functions.
2. As an external HR consultant to the company, list and rank
by priority the recommendations you would make to the
Director of HR as to how
the system should be modified and relaunched? Establish a
timeline for the recommendations.
Open Questions (each question is worth 25% of the exam grade)
Answer two of the following questions:
1. From afar, the best prize that life offers is the opportunity to

5. work on something worthwhile. (Theodore Roosevelt). Explain
how this phrase
impacts the HR corporate strategy and suggest what actions that
should be implemented in a company in order to be consistent
with its
message.
2. Steven Covey’s Top 7 Habits of Highly Effective People are:
(1) Be proactive (2) Begin with the end in mind (3) Put first
things first (4) Think win-
win (5) Seek first to understand, and then to be understood (6)
Synergize (7) Sharpen the saw. How do these principles relate
to the HR
function? Explain precisely and justify.
3
3. Operational managers sometimes complain that the HR
function is more restrictive than helpful. What can HR managers
do to demonstrate their
value to operational departments? What are the 5 most common
errors that an HR executive can make? Explain and justify.
Apply to your
personal experience.

6. 4. Outline a ‘best practice’ process for developing an HR
strategy at the organizational level. What kind of measurements
(KPIs) would provide
effective monitoring and evaluative insights for such a strategy?
Formalities:
• Format: Word document
• Word count: 2.500 words minimum
• Cover, Table of Contents, References and Appendix are
excluded from the total wordcount.
• Font: Arial 12,5 pts.
• Text alignment: Double Justified.
• The in-text References and the Bibliography must be in
Harvard citation style.
• Please apply Professor’s top tips to produce a great report.
• Similarity scores over 20% will not be accepted.
Submission: Via Moodle (Turnitin). Deadline 17th Jan. 2022 at
23:59 CEST
Weighting: 40% of the course grade
Learning Outcomes: It assesses the following learning
outcomes:
• understand the Human Resources functio n inside the

7. enterprise, describe and analyze responsibilities and tasks.
• interpret job analysis and apply job design.
• understand different stages of human resources planning.
• asses strategies for recruitment, selection and training;
• asses retention strategies: performance management systems,
compensation strategies and career development plans.
4
Rubrics
Exceptional 90-100 Good 80-89 Fair 70-79 Marginal fail 60-69
Knowledge &
Understanding

8. (20%)
Student demonstrates
excellent understanding of
key concepts and uses
vocabulary in an entirely
appropriate manner.
Student demonstrates
good understanding of the
task and mentions some
relevant concepts and
demonstrates use of the
relevant vocabulary.
Student understands the
task and provides minimum
theory and/or some use of
vocabulary.
Student understands the task
and attempts to answer the
question but does not
mention key concepts or uses
minimum amount of relevant
vocabulary.
Application (30%) Student applies fully
relevant knowledge from
the topics delivered in
class.
Student applies mostly
relevant knowledge from
the topics delivered in

9. class.
Student applies some
relevant knowledge from
the topics delivered in
class. Misunderstanding
may be evident.
Student applies little relevant
knowledge from the topics
delivered in class.
Misunderstands are evident.
Critical Thinking
(30%)
Student critically assesses
in excellent ways, drawing
outstanding conclusions
from relevant authors.
Student critically assesses
in good ways, drawing
conclusions from relevant
authors and references.
Student provides some
insights but stays on the
surface of the topic.
References may not be
relevant.
Student makes little or none
critical thinking insights, does
not quote appropriate
authors, and does not

10. provide valid sources.
Communication
(20%)
Student communicates
their ideas extremely
clearly and concisely,
respecting word count,
grammar and spell check
Student communicates
their ideas clearly and
concisely, respecting word
count, grammar and spell
check
Student communicates
their ideas with some
clarity and concision. It
may be slightly over or
under the word count limit.
Some misspelling errors
may be evident.
Student communicates their
ideas in a somewhat unclear
and unconcise way. Does not
reach or does exceed word
count excessively and
misspelling errors are
evident.
5

11. Marbella Residential Homes
Marbella Residential, located in southern Spain, was originally
founded in 1972 to provide skilled and caring support to the
elderly. Over the years it became very
successful, gaining a number of prestigious awards, especially
due its focus on beautiful premises, onsite medical services and
comprehensive facilities. It
expanded gradually to five residencies with space for 250
patients until 2015. At that point, the company was acquired by
a venture capitalist who made a
substantial investment in securing 4 further residencies with a
total capacity of nearly 1,000 patients.
The focus changed significantly from highly personalized care
to ensuring that the residencies were continuously filled to
capacity, with profitability being the prime
objective. This change has meant that many of the experienced
staff have decided to retire or seek work in other places, leaving
many staff gaps to be filled,
mostly by young, inexperienced and sometimes untrained staff.
The market for skilled care of the elderly is growing apace as
baby boomers from northern Europe decide to spend their final
years in the sun of the Mediterranean
and there is no shortage of people seeking a place at one of the
Marbella residencies.
However, the rapid expansion of the company has created a
number of problems and now, as a newly hired HR Director for
the company, you are interviewing
some of the 50 ‘core’ staff to assess the extent of the challenges
you are facing:

12. 1. Gerda, a 35-year old licensed nurse from Germany says: “I’ve
been here for 5 years and I’ve seen management do what it can
to fill positions, but I don’t
always agree with who they recruit. Some of the basic skills can
taught, of course, but you can’t teach someone to care. So I find
myself really stressed
out, looking after so many patients who often just want more
attention”
2. Phillipe, a Belgian carer with a BA degree in Psychology
tells you: “I came here a year ago thinking that it would be fun
to work in southern Spain – you
know, sun, sea and sangria …But it isn’t like that at all. There
are constant crises to deal with and I’m the one everyone turns
to first it seems, so I’m
constantly running from situation to situation dealing with
outbursts, arguments and even fights! And this goes on every
day, including weekends, so I
hardly have any time to myself at all. I’m already applying for
other jobs…”
3. Peter, a German doctor: “Well I’ve been living in this area
for over 10 years, and I spend most of my time divided either at
my surgery in Estepona or one
of the Marbella residencies. I visit each residence once a week
to check on patients and prescribe medicines and so on. If
there’s a medical emergency,
then I get called out to that as well. That worked fine until 2015
but now, it’s just impossible to get around all the residencies
and see all the patients that
need me. It’s totally ridiculous to think that only one doctor can
deal with everything! We did have a second doctor, but he left
almost as soon as he

13. realized what the workload consisted of and frankly, I’m
thinking of doing the same .. “
4. Laura, a 17-year-old recent hire says: “I just started three
months ago straight out of school. I’d really like the job if only
I had more time to spend with each
person. But there are so many patients, I can only clean them
up, make the bed, and tidy the room and then I have to run off
to the next patient. We’re
supposed to be ‘carers’ but we’re just maids on the lowest
minimum pay. The conditions are pretty bad and until now,
we’ve had nobody to go to – I’m so
glad you’re here now. Perhaps you can increase our pay and
give us more time to look after the patients properly rather than
just chase around until we’re
exhausted?”
5. Charles, Director of Marbella Residential: “Welcome to your
new role and I’m very happy you’re here! I’ve spent most of my
time interviewing people for
vacant jobs and I told the owner it’s about time we had a
professional HR person to help me out… Yes, we have 50 full -
time nurses and carers spread
around the various residencies and sometimes we have to shift
them from one to the other to fill gaps. We outsource things like
the cleaning and the
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catering because the owner wants to keep the organization as
lean as possible. He only comes every now and again to check

14. on things .. he expects us to
keep the company going on the minimum possible cost base and
he really isn’t interested in how we do it, because there’s a
waiting list of over 50 people
at the moment and it gets longer and longer every month … we
just don’t have the places available. Enough staff, you ask?
Well, frankly, there’s always
people who want to come and work in this part of Europe and
unemployment is high in the area, so we always have lots of
applicants for any jobs that
come up. Unfortunately, very few of them are qualified or
interested in the job itself, so they don’t stay long. Our turnover
is 30% a year, which keeps us
busy recruiting… and the ratio of carers is 1: 25 patients or so,
which is standard for the industry in Spain ….”
In addition, the 2020-2021 COVID pandemic has complicated
Marbella’s HR situation, implementing new ways of managing
its employees to effectively serve the
patients.