Download Recommendation: Abernathy & Frontier National Bank - Team Formation Strategy and more High school final essays Business in PDF only on Docsity! Ross Abernathy and the Frontier National Bank Group 10 Consulting & Co. Vedica Scholars Programme for Women 2021-22 Group 10 Mrignayani Deep Shiva Udenia Suhasini Srirangam Letter of Transmittal Group 10 Consulting & Co., Vedica Scholars Programme for Women Qutab Hotel, New Delhi Ross Abernathy Frontier National Bank United States of America Date: September 17, 2022 Subject: Letter of Transmittal for Recommendation Report Dear Mr. Abernathy and team, It was an absolute pleasure to work on and present the recommendation report titled “Ross Abernathy and the Frontier National Bank”. We found the entire process to be an extremely exciting, insightful, and fulfilling experience - for it gave us the opportunity to look deeper into the situation in question and further provide a holistic solution for the same. For the purpose of providing the said solution, we followed a thorough procedure of evaluating the situation and generating suitable alternatives thereafter. By prioritising the decision criteria, we carried out a gradual stepwise elimination process in order to reach our proposed solution. The final recommendation was prepared by analysing the case facts as well as the three suggestions that Mr Abernathy were presented with. On that note, please find the attached recommendation report with a detailed analysis for your assessment. Thank you for the wonderful and intellectually stimulating opportunity, once again. We look forward to hearing from you. Warmest Regards, Group 10 Consulting & Co. and limiting internal structures - for it to bounce back to the top rungs. But there wasn’t a lot of time at hand, especially to mould a whole new generation at FNB, which then meant the need for immediate action. After joining the bank and making preliminary observations, Mr. Abernathy found incompetence amongst the younger employees and stagnant compliance amongst the older employees. To make matters worse, the retirement age at Frontier National Bank was fixed at 75 years, which further added to the dissonance amongst the employees. So, he believed the slashing of retirement age to be a befitting starting point for change, and therefore, reduced it to the normative limit of 65 years - which meant, that those above the new retirement age (the senior employees) had to retire. Following this, he concluded that Frontier National Bank needed a change of team. And to figure out a robust way to go about this, he consulted with three of his most trusted advisors who presented him with three alternatives respectively to consider, for him to arrive at a sound and sustainable solution. This would effectively entail the what, how and why of the new team - i.e. the future of Frontier National Bank. Problem Statement Frontier National Bank is challenged with a situation of managing its financial losses, declining employee morale and allegiance to the choices presented - by building a new team that can effectively synergise with Ross Abernathy, the new CEO. The decision on who constitutes the core team with the alignment of ‘why’ stands to be solved. Generation of alternatives: The alternatives as proposed by three of his trusted advisors were as follows: 1. Since firing all of the forty people was out of the question, the first advisor suggested that Mr Abernathy pick the top performers from Frontier National Bank and form a team. Now it was up to him to convey the vision and drive the performance, failing which they will be let go of. However, on the bright side, achieving performance by using their credibilities would mean that they will be handsomely rewarded. 2. The second alternative as suggested by another professor was that Mr Abernathy drives performance through established trust - which essentially is cemented with his workforce at Chicago Bank. Since he doesn’t have the luxury of time to spare, in training new workforce, of forge impeccable trust with the employees at Frontier National Bank, he was suggested that he was better off in hiring the top performers (even if meant only a few), from Chicago Bank - and that he communicated to the employees at Frontier National Bank of the hard decision at the backdrop of this change. 3. The third alternative as suggested by the lawyer, was that Mr Abernathy brings in a completely new team from outside - based on pure merit and competency, with zero-ties with any banks that Mr Abernathy was associated with. This, according to the lawyer, would ensure objectivity and also give Mr Abernathy an opportunity to offer to these young champions something they would find hard to refuse - a position to “command position and challenge.” Decision criteria: In the best interest of the bank’s sustainability, here are four decision criteria that Frontier National Bank should consider in forming its decision: 1. Competence: Given the competitive landscape, and the unforgiving industry of numbers and profitability that banks belong to, competence becomes a major prerequisite. This core team needs to have competence to be at the top of its game to drive extraordinary performance, for the firm to make quick growth in a short span. 2. Dynamism: In the face of so many changes, the employees are required to be flexible, dynamic and fluid in their spirit who can adjust and adapt to predictable and unpredictable changes. 3. Employee morale: A given in any situation, ensuring that the employees never lose the faith that they entrusted in their company, retaining the top workforce from Frontier National Bank is crucial to sending a message that Mr Abernathy acknowledges their worth and is giving them a chance to participate in bringing back it’s fleeting glory. 4. Risk Appetite: Considering the industry, the workforce must have a fair amount of risk appetite in order to adapt to the volatility that the industry brings with it. Additionally, given the fact that Frontier National Bank is challenged with a precarious situation itself, the employees must be prepared to face any kind of backlash as well. Evaluation of alternatives against decision criteria: The first alternative brings with it a potential drawback of not having enough trust between Mr Abernathy which is a major factor in bringing competence to full life. The second alternative is on the extreme end of alienating the existing employees altogether which will bring down the employee morale altogether resulting in direct impact on productivity and hence profitability. The third option, is, in absolute terms - a longer route which has both the drawbacks that were Exhibit In order to arrive at a solution, we evaluated each one of the above against the following decision criteria: 1. Competence 2. Dynamism 3. Employee morale 4. Appetite and understanding of risk Decision criteria: In the best interest of the bank’s sustainability, here are four decision criteria that Frontier National Bank should consider in forming its decision: 1. Competence: This criterion is important because the bank has been dealing with an issue of incompetence and there is an urgent need to bring in more driven and competent workforce. 2. Dynamism: This criterion assumes the importance of being dynamic in an industry that demands so, unlike the previous cohort of FNB employees. 3. Employee morale: This consideration is important because the morale of employees is directly related to their productivity. 4. Risk Appetite: This criterion is considered important because the workforce must have a fair amount of risk appetite to adapt to the volatility that the industry brings with it. Additionally, risk involved in all the options differs in response to situations. Decision Matrix for Evaluation of Options Criterion/ Option Decision Criterion 1 Decision Criterion 2 Decision Criterion 3 Decision Criterion 4 Option 1 Yes, fits No, does not fit No, does not fit No, does not fit Option 2 No, does not fit Yes, fits Yes, fits Yes, fits Option 3 No, does not fit Yes, fits Yes, fits Yes, fits Option 4 (1+2) Yes, fits Yes, fits Yes, fits Yes, fits