Rob Parson at Morgan Stanley

A case analysis Submitted for

Human Resource Management (HRM 5003)

by

FAS: AI1

ARUN. R – 17F705

KOSHICA OBEROI – 17F715

MAYANK AGRAWAL- 17F718

SHIVA SRIVATAVA – 17F733

KARTHIKEYAN VVR – 17H106

SOUMYA KHANDURI – 17H112

Under the Guidance of

Prof. Sushanta Kumar

T.A. PAI
MANAGEMENT
INSTITUTE

MANIPAL, INDIA
Problem Statement
To address the issue of Rob Parson’s recommendation for promotion to Managing Director at
Morgan Stanley based on his significant contribution in building Morgan Stanley’s reputation
and revenues and his continuously poor performance evaluation and also taking into
consideration whether or not he would stay if not promoted.

SWOT LISTING: ROB PARSON

Strengths
 Star performer with unique selling
skills
 Good decision maker
 Excellent client relationship skills
 Excellent market and product
knowledge
 Highly committed and hard worker
 Cooperative and helpful
Weakness
 Impatient and difficult to adjust
 Lack of Management and
interpersonal skills
 Too judgemental and rushes to a
decision
 Lacks team player skills
 Volatile personality: Reacts too
quickly and impulsively

Opportunities
 If management, interpersonal and
leadership skills are improved, Rob
can get promoted to managing
director’s position
Threats
 Not aligned with “One Firm Firm”
vision of Morgan Stanley
 Negative performance review may
hinder his chances of getting
promotion
 He has created a hostile work
environment around him with
disgruntled syndicate guys and
traders.

SWOT LISTING: MORGAN STANLEY

Strengths Weakness
 Leading U.S Investment bank since  Low market share in financial
inception services sector
 Strong work culture and hierarchy  Capital market business was low

Opportunities
 Capital market business, if
resurrected, had high potential.
 Important investment banking
clients already present, who can be
better utilized.
Threats
 Other firms were capitalizing in
financial services and capital
markets sector
 Financial industry clients moved at a
rapid pace and were very demanding
and competitive
Symptoms


The colleagues in the organization had animosity for Rob Parson, since they feel-
 He doesn't give time to build consensus
 He assumes he is more knowledgeable than his fellow colleagues
 He was criticized for lack of team player skills.
 They accuse him of creating a hostile environment around him.
 Superiors described him as – “volatile” and “abrasive”.
 Nasr received frequent complaints of him
 Traders and syndicate members are not satisfied with his knowledge of markets
Detailed Analysis of the problem
The Capital Markets Services (CMS) division at Morgan Stanley, required professionals who
had industry knowledge as well as skilled at responding to client needs. It was these
requirements that lead to appointment of Rob Parson, a managing director at a smaller firm,
as market coverage professional.

The nature of Rob’s responsibilities involved resurrecting Morgan Stanley’s capital markets
business. His tasks were difficult to perform with various obstacles like understaffing,
dramatic turnover in trading coverage and very low coverage. Rob Parson, despite
unconventional education, has been acknowledged for his ability to interface with clients and
sell products effectively. In financial services sector, Morgan Stanley’s market share jumped
from 2% to 12.2% due to the exceptional work by Parson in obtaining substantial revenues
from new and existing clients.
But all this came at the cost of company culture and vision of its senior management of an
environment that promotes teamwork and emphasizes respect and dignity of its employee.

With his 360-degree feedback indicating dissatisfaction over the level of professionalism he
displays, his lack of interpersonal and managerial skills and concerns over the nature of his
volatile personality, a decision regarding his promotion needs to be taken.

Variable Chart
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Professional Skills Commercial Management Skills One Firm Contribution
Orientation

Downward Average Colleague Average

Decision Criteria

 Promotion Decision: This evaluates the possibility of Rob Parson’s promotion and
the repercussions that will accompany the verdict.
 Revenue: Impact of a particular course of action on company’s revenue.
 Customer Relationship: Impact of a course of action on Morgan Stanley’s customers
and their interaction with CMS division.
 Cultural: Impact on other employees and the precedent that the action sets in the
organization.

Alternative Solutions

 Recommend Rob Parson for promotion

 Even after recommending Parson for promotion, evaluation and development

summary will be valued by a promotions committee. The senior directors will
likely reject the recommendation based on the assessment summary and
continued negative feedback.
 If Parson’s recommendation is rejected, there is the risk that he may exit the
company given his personal managerial ambitions. This will be detrimental to
both revenue as well as customer relationship.
 Parson’s recommendation for promotion will set a wrong precedent that
attracting business at the cost of company culture was acceptable

 Defer the recommendation for promotion and provide him incentives for his
performance

 Rob Parson can be clearly informed of his areas of improvement, which once
improved upon, he can be recommended for promotion in the following year.
 By providing incentive and recognition for his promotion along with the
feedback on his areas of improvement, Rob might get the belief that if he
improves his areas of weakness informed to him, he will make it to senior
manager position next time.

Recommendations

If Rob Parson is recommended by Paul Nasr, for the promotion, he has high chances of being
rejected by promotions committee. It would be better if his promotion is deferred for one
year, wherein he is personally advised about his weakness and the cultural parity, which he
should try to overcome. Since he is a star-performer, losing him would be a huge loss to the
firm. Performance based incentives can be provided to keep the morale up.