Introduction
Using his own proposed rating scale, Pedersen deserves an O for outstanding. Having been sourced when there was a shift in Shinsei’s leadership and a great uncertainty on the way forward for the growing bank, he made remarkable strides in instilling some learning within the organization’s personnel (Delong & Egawa, 2007). In addition, upon joining Shinsei, Pedersen proposed to Porté various initiatives to align corporate strategy to organizational values.
Pedersen recognized that the lack of consistency and linkage between value statements and strategic plans could maim their implementation, and that is how the Vision and Values Initiative was born. Workshops with senior executives enabled discussions that led to them identifying and owning the vision and values. As a result, he centralized training programs for Shinsei, despite the firm’s decentralized human resource function and revamp performance evaluation.
Accomplishments Needed
Pedersen needs to convince busy bankers and traders that it is worth their time to help train and develop Shinsei’s professionals. This step will significantly complement his efforts toward more learning for staff in the organization. Additionally, he needs to help the organization assess the next objective for employees to have a ‘North Star’ to work towards achieving. Evidently, after the IPO, the momentum seems to have been lost, a situation that cannot continue if Shinsei is to continue rising above and beyond.
Evaluation Program and Questions Considered
The performance evaluation program should be expanded, and some questions must be considered when doing so. However, even with Yashiro replacing the old system for more flexibility, there remains a lot of room for improvement, as evidenced by Pedersen’s changes, like altering the rating scales. In addition, Pedersen must consider some questions when making the decisions, like the list of competencies available for each level and each business.
Questions that can be used to evaluate these competencies and whether the current queries can be improved are other essential factors to be considered. In addition, the metrics to develop to ensure the same rating standards are applied throughout the organization and whether it is sufficient to evaluate professionals. This evaluation happens especially at middle and junior levels, based only on values, or could questions on professional skills, flexibility, and judgment be included as essential questions that should also be considered.
Initiatives to Engage
Team building activities both indoors and outdoors are excellent activities to consider. These can act as cultural exchange sessions where different business units share their rationale for conducting their operations. In addition, it would help do away with the behavioral views placed on both Japanese and non-Japanese professionals. In the end, behavior is pegged to something like an experience, and understanding this helps avoid unnecessary judgment.
In-house exchange programs are other activities helpful to the company. Yashiro had ensured complete abolition of rotation of employees, and the proposition here is not to go back to that past instead, to curve it to our advantage. By assumption, in that era, all of the bank’s staff had a fair amount of know-how of each other’s work. Doing a one-day or whatever period is deemed fit exchange program for a few employees in each department would go a long way in helping achieve a similar objective but for a different purpose. This time, it would, for instance, allow the commercial bankers to explain their relationship-oriented approach and the investment bankers to showcase the logic behind their profit-oriented style of doing business.
Documenting the already existent culture, however, crooked, would also be essential. Graninger, the executive vice president, says that Shinsei does not have a culture (Delong & Egawa, 2007). Culture is essentially a way of life, and Shinsei had lived, as a firm, thus far. Pedersen needs to help Shinsei and its personnel figure out how they have been living. As the Vision and Values Initiative, he can develop a kind of workshop with seniors, mid-level and junior staff, to get their views on how the firm operates. There is a lot to be learned from the past, more than can be imagined, and this could be an excellent first step to increasing learning.
Reference
Delong, T., & Egawa, M. (2007). Shinsei Bank: Developing an integrated firm. Harvard Business School Case, 407- 006.