The Bob Knowlton Case Study

The Bob Knowlton Case Study

Summary

Bob Knowlton is the head of the Photon Lab when a new member, Simon Fester, was introduced to his lab. He begins to feel inferior to his new member and feels that he cannot voice his concerns to his superior, Dr. Jerold. After a period of events and insecurities, he finds a better position with more salary and takes the job immediately. Dr, Jerrold and Fester were shocked by Knowlton's decision. The lab took a large hit as Fester went on to work on another project as planned. No one knew that Knowlton wanted to leave as he did so very suddenly citing fictional 'personal' problems.

Analyze the roles of those involved

The main characters in the Bob Knowlton case were:

Bob Knowlton

- the team leader of Photon Lab

- collaborative team leader

- hard working man

- confidence easily wavered by insecurities

- does not voice out problems

Dr. Jerrold

- the supervisor of Bob Knowlton and his team

- has very high expectations of those working under her

- not observant

- no instinctual perception

Simon Fester

- a new comer to the company and Photon Lab

- confident

- aggressive

- competitive

- opportunist

- highly intelligent

- non paticipative

Discuss the reasons as to why what happened happened.

The bringing in the newcomer:

Bob Knowlton

- was threatened by the newcomer that was not properly introduced to him

- Fester just showed up without warning and began looking into things

Dr. Jerold

- did not introduce Fester

- did not even for mention or hint at Knowlton for possibly having someone new join his team

Simon Fester

- lacked tact and the human touch

- was too confident and arrogant to accept the way people do things and embrace it

The communication breakdown:

Bob Knowlton

- did not voice his queries or insecurities

- simply assumed that Fester was there to replace him

- did not consider speaking to his supervisor regarding his problem and started looking for another job instead

Dr. Jerold

- did not indicate that Fester's place in Knowlton's team was temporary

- did not give earlier

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