Rob Parson and Morgan Stanley
1. Introduction
Rob Parson had recently been hired by Paul Nasr, a senior managing director at Morgan Stanley as a principal in the Capital Markets Services division. The division had done very little business even with its most important investment banking clients. In particular the bank wanted to improve business with clients in the financial services industry. Parson was hired for his proven track record in this domain, for his relationships with clients and for his energetic and entrepreneurial approach. Soon after he was hired Parson started delivering results and played instrumental role in improving Morgan Stanley’s ranking and market share. He got first time business with several clients and increased business volumes from existing ones.
However, Rob Parson’s way of working and the performance evaluation that he got as a result of it has become a cause of dilemma for Paul Nasr. While the firm had been laying strong emphasis on establishing a “one firm” culture – focusing on integrity, utilizing employees’ ability to the fullest and mutual dignity and respect, Parson had his own way of doing things. He had a clear priority for the task at hand and often disregarded firm’s time-consuming procedures like consensual decision making. His colleagues often felt intimidated and left out and felt he needed to work a lot on his inter-personal skills.
Paul Nasr, now, had to take a call as to whether to promote Parson to Managing Director as promised. Though the 360-degree performance evaluation had thrown up unfavourable feedback from employees, Nasr knew that he couldn’t afford to lose Parson by not promoting him.
Nasr’s dilemma was thus to choose between recognizing excellent performance and setting a precedent of accepting non-adherence to company culture by an employee.
2. Objective
To resolve the dilemma that Nasr is facing regarding the promotion of his star performed Rob Parson.
3. Appraisal System and Culture Change
“A company gets the
Rob Parson had recently been hired by Paul Nasr, a senior managing director at Morgan Stanley as a principal in the Capital Markets Services division. The division had done very little business even with its most important investment banking clients. In particular the bank wanted to improve business with clients in the financial services industry. Parson was hired for his proven track record in this domain, for his relationships with clients and for his energetic and entrepreneurial approach. Soon after he was hired Parson started delivering results and played instrumental role in improving Morgan Stanley’s ranking and market share. He got first time business with several clients and increased business volumes from existing ones.
However, Rob Parson’s way of working and the performance evaluation that he got as a result of it has become a cause of dilemma for Paul Nasr. While the firm had been laying strong emphasis on establishing a “one firm” culture – focusing on integrity, utilizing employees’ ability to the fullest and mutual dignity and respect, Parson had his own way of doing things. He had a clear priority for the task at hand and often disregarded firm’s time-consuming procedures like consensual decision making. His colleagues often felt intimidated and left out and felt he needed to work a lot on his inter-personal skills.
Paul Nasr, now, had to take a call as to whether to promote Parson to Managing Director as promised. Though the 360-degree performance evaluation had thrown up unfavourable feedback from employees, Nasr knew that he couldn’t afford to lose Parson by not promoting him.
Nasr’s dilemma was thus to choose between recognizing excellent performance and setting a precedent of accepting non-adherence to company culture by an employee.
2. Objective
To resolve the dilemma that Nasr is facing regarding the promotion of his star performed Rob Parson.
3. Appraisal System and Culture Change
“A company gets the