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Bob Knowlton Case Analysis: Submitted by

Bob Knowlton felt threatened by and inferior to a new, confident team member named Simon Fester. Knowlton did not communicate his insecurities to his supervisor and suddenly left his position at the Photon Lab for a new job with higher pay after Fester's arrival hurt the lab's productivity. The case analyzes what went wrong between Knowlton and Fester and how the situation could have been handled differently.

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Kanupriya Gathoria
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129 views

Bob Knowlton Case Analysis: Submitted by

Bob Knowlton felt threatened by and inferior to a new, confident team member named Simon Fester. Knowlton did not communicate his insecurities to his supervisor and suddenly left his position at the Photon Lab for a new job with higher pay after Fester's arrival hurt the lab's productivity. The case analyzes what went wrong between Knowlton and Fester and how the situation could have been handled differently.

Uploaded by

Kanupriya Gathoria
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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BOB KNOWLTON CASE ANALYSIS

Submitted By:
Group 5
Kanupriya Gathoria
Pratik Sharma
Kanika Goraya
Chirag Ved

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.

Main characters
 Bob Knowlton- Team leader of Photon Lab, collaborative, hardworking, 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- New comer to the company and Photon Lab, confident, Aggressive,
competitive, opportunist, highly intelligent, non-participative

What went wrong?

 Bob was threatened by the new comer


 Bob assumed that Fester was there to replace him
 Fester was not properly introduced to Bob
 Bob did not communicate any of the issues to senior management
 Fester showed up without informing and started looking into things
 Fester lacked affection and was too confident and arrogant to accept the way people
do things
Active Agent: Simon Fester
Reactive Agent: Bob Knowlton and team
Problem definition: Conjugation of two different types of leaders in the same team
Alternatives and Analysis:

 Go to new work horizons to the company of the nearby city


o Advantages: Better pay, internal release, let the company go free to decide
on Fester
o Disadvantages: Do not face problems, leave your team alone, abandon your
project
 Stay in the company and face your problems with Fester
o Advantages: Increases your soft capabilities, continues to develop your
project, will generate more self-confidence
o Disadvantage: They can continue their doubts and problems with Fester
 Generate another project for Fester
o Advantages: Fester's leadership style will be enhanced by having the same
work team
o Disadvantages: Rivalry between projects could be generated
 Fire Fester
o Advantages: Bob Knowlton's workforce issues would be fixed
o Disadvantages: You would miss a great worker who meets and who brings
good ideas
Choosing the alternative:

 Stay in the company and face your problems with Fester


o Efficiency: Teamwork is improved, good ideas and communication between the
team are enhanced
o Attractivity: You learn to act courageously, to be a better leader, you learn soft
skills
o Unity Consistency: The company learns from Bob Knowlton's decision to prevent
these problems, accept new members with the approval of the Direct Chief
Action Plan:

 Meeting with Fester and as far as possible with Jerrold where the problems of both
the team and Project Manager Bob Knowlton arise
 Generate Fester's deal and communication guidelines with the team (do not
minimize the work of any team member)
 Return to previous practices where a good work environment was generated
 Strengthening Bob Knowlton's soft capabilities

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