Morgan Stanley Case
Situation Analysis:
I, Paul Nasr, was hired by Morgan Stanley as a senior managing director of the capital market services. Morgan Stanley is a leading investment bank was in the midst of an organizational renewal. The set goal is to be the world’s best investment bank and the firm of choice for our clients, our people, and our shareholders. We distinguish ourselves by creating an environment that fosters teamwork and innovation, by developing and utilizing our employees’ abilities to the fullest, and by treating each other with dignity and respect.
The capital market service was created as an effort to meet client’s needs. And working with clients was only part of the job, as market coverage professionals were also heavily interdependent with other professionals in the firm. The company recognizing that clients interacted with the firm at many different points of intersection, thought it important to provide a unified face to the customers and to have mechanisms in place to effectively coordinate work across the firm. After joining the company, I realized that the firm had done little capital market business even with its most important investment banking clients, also with a dramatic turnover in trading coverage. I also noticed that clients in the financial services segment were very competitive and often engaged investment bankers in cut-throat negotiations over how much fee they want to pay. I also realized the company historically, has been weak in delivering capital market services to financial services firms such as banks and insurance companies. This was my strength and for me to get the work done effectively, I hired Rob Parson as the man to get the job done based on his track record in the financial industry.
Morgan Stanley has a 360-degree performance evaluation process through which all the professionals were evaluated. The process is also intended to provide comprehensive developmental feedback so that employees could continue to improve their skills in the areas of teamwork/one firm contribution, market/professional skills, management and leadership effectiveness, and commercial orientation. The cultural feeling though ill-defined, implies an employee has to be a team player, has no explicit set of criteria that the managers could use to evaluate their staff and even themselves.
Rob Parson was a managing director at a smaller firm with the intention of making an impact. With his ten years of experience in the financial industry, had built strong relationships with the important players in the banking and insurance industries. After been hired, Rob knew he did not fit into the corporate culture of Morgan Stanley but had what it required of him to get the task before him done. He was more focused on reviving the capital market services. Parson was routinely commended for his ability to cross-sell, willingness to share information and make introductions, and also his energetic