Moaz kassam: consulting intern
CASE Questions:
1 What, if anything, could Kassam have done to prevent the current situation?
It is really tough to say if Kassam had any chance in preventing the current situation while in Canada. Kassam broke the rules and emailed Singh, the project manager, directly, even though he knows about the high power distance that is incorporated in Matthew corporate culture. But it paid off and he was assigned the job. We could push the envelope and say that Kassam could have asked Singh for further directions and a brief of the situation and the current status of the job at hand, but that would be highly unorthodox of Kassam. Usually consultants are expected to learn along the way and accommodate quickly to new tasks, as complex as they might be.
In Abu Dhabi, one week into the case, the circumstances were very unfavorable. Already a matrix of problems is installed and Kassam arrived to an unwelcoming ground. Problems started with the expectations and deception of the client’s management team and do not end with how his own management team is handling the situation. Basically the client was promised an experienced team of consultants, and instead received younger less experienced ones. That made them disgruntled and consequently built tremendous pressure on Matthews’s leadership team, putting the job in jeopardy and making them worry for the outcome because a lot is at stake, especially for Mahfouz, who’s planning to become partner in the region. The young inexperienced consultants were the source of the problem which made Kassam also a part of it.
Arriving to Abu Dhabi, Kassam could have investigated the situation more thoroughly. He could have made more efforts to get to know his new peers and pillars, the office culture, and made a better assessment about how the job is proceeding. He surely won’t be doing it directly; he won’t have the time or the opportunity. However, he could have kept an open eye of everything happening around him,
1 What, if anything, could Kassam have done to prevent the current situation?
It is really tough to say if Kassam had any chance in preventing the current situation while in Canada. Kassam broke the rules and emailed Singh, the project manager, directly, even though he knows about the high power distance that is incorporated in Matthew corporate culture. But it paid off and he was assigned the job. We could push the envelope and say that Kassam could have asked Singh for further directions and a brief of the situation and the current status of the job at hand, but that would be highly unorthodox of Kassam. Usually consultants are expected to learn along the way and accommodate quickly to new tasks, as complex as they might be.
In Abu Dhabi, one week into the case, the circumstances were very unfavorable. Already a matrix of problems is installed and Kassam arrived to an unwelcoming ground. Problems started with the expectations and deception of the client’s management team and do not end with how his own management team is handling the situation. Basically the client was promised an experienced team of consultants, and instead received younger less experienced ones. That made them disgruntled and consequently built tremendous pressure on Matthews’s leadership team, putting the job in jeopardy and making them worry for the outcome because a lot is at stake, especially for Mahfouz, who’s planning to become partner in the region. The young inexperienced consultants were the source of the problem which made Kassam also a part of it.
Arriving to Abu Dhabi, Kassam could have investigated the situation more thoroughly. He could have made more efforts to get to know his new peers and pillars, the office culture, and made a better assessment about how the job is proceeding. He surely won’t be doing it directly; he won’t have the time or the opportunity. However, he could have kept an open eye of everything happening around him,