Q1A.

David was determined to intrinsically motivate his team by helping them grow in their
particular domains while extrinsically motivating them by offering a share of partners profit.
But he could have handled following aspects of team design in a better way:

The hiring criteria should have included soft skills: He ignored the soft skills which define
a new hires fitment to the team. He did not evaluate the new hires compatibility to the team
culture, ability to resolve conflicts, ability to work in collaborative environment and the

impact on the team dynamics.

Stephanie should have been included in hiring plan: Stephanie was a key resource
providing research assistance to David. Because Stephanie was ignored in hiring process, she
felt a loss in her influence in the team leading her to seek new employment elsewhere.

Q1B. We feel that he could have done the following to facilitate the team process better.

He should set up a system of peer evaluation and feedback when making a hiring decision.
He did not consult with Stephanie or consider her opinion while hiring Brian. This later

impacted the team dynamics.

Periodic feedback and one to one informal communications should have been done to avoid

misunderstandings and friction between members.

Clear career progression plans should have been prepared for members. By not doing this, he
created some ambiguity about career progression. David should have had an inclusive and
motivating performance management system in place. Lack of that, was clearly the reason
why Stephanie resigned.

Q2

A well written and understood incentive system should also be put in place, for the successes
as measured and determined by the performance management system.

Have a structure for recognition and reward for employees at the firm. Maintain a practice
and exploit the power of positive feedback.

Try and retain Stephanie as the company has invested a lot in developing her to senior
analyst. Besides, Stephanie is an asset to the firm considering she deeply understands its
culture besides being highly competent. A definite career progression plan with greater role
clarity and quantifiable development goals should be done for all analysts in his team to
bring more clarity in what the firm has to offer to them.

If unable to retain Stephanie, hire Mary Robinson.

Since providing one to one counselling to his team is very difficult for Fletcher, a separate
team for the exclusive management of human resources should be imbibed in the firm this
time around.

Also considering the burnout factor on this job is really high, special focus on developing
practices such as counseling and grievance redresses with their respective managers for
existing employees should be made regular practices at the firm.

To ensure compatibility of new hires with exiting employees, Fletcher should formally
include the existing team members in the hiring process, thus developing an inclusive
mechanism to expand his team while ensuring compatibility of new hires with existing team.

Since portfolio consistency might be a potential problem when experienced analysts are
eventually given some control of the money, to ensure consistency across portfolio, a regular
practice of brainstorming and taking final investment decisions based on consensus of every
one should be put in place.

This time around Fletcher should also actively try to resolve conflicts or similar issues in the
team. In order to hone his skills as a peoples manager he may enroll in certain leadership

development programs or seek assistance of external consultants to try to ensure minimum

dissent in his team.
Q3. Our advice to Mary Robinson would stem from the way Rachel Kindred handled David
Fletcher. Kindred adapted well to the firms atmosphere and produced results with minimal
direction and supervision. Based on her experience, I would advise Mary Robinson to:

Be specific and direct with Fletcher

Fletcher feels that as long as the person can perform the job well, getting along with people is not
important. Mary needs to understand Fletchers working style and ask specific questions in order

to have a useful dialogue with him.

Set her own goals and take the initiative to set up meetings for feedback with Fletcher
Kindred had to set up feedback meetings on her own and we would advise Mary to do the same.
Understand the family like atmosphere of the office
JFP had an inclusive culture, something which is common in small firms. Considering the fact
that Stephanie was well loved in the office, Mary will have to deal with the inevitable

comparison.
Manage the office politics
Mary comes with an extensive investment background but may not have the experience of
working in a small firm like JFP. We will advise her to steer clear of office politics and not let it
affect her work.