Bob Knowlton

In analyzing the current company’s issue of the absence of Bob Knowlton, new photon unit project head, it is apparent that there were concerns gone unaddressed. The lack of communication between employees and the avoidance of conflict are seemingly the result of the recent actions taken place.
The main problem in this situation is the avoidance of conflict that occurred between Knowlton and Fester, especially in the group meetings held each week. At one point in a group meeting Fester commented that teams lead to, “a high level of mediocrity”. This made the group uncomfortable and encouraged the others to withdraw from participating in the meetings. By not directly managing the meeting and the remarks made, he allowed Fester to overturn the theory of “small research teams as the basic organization for effective research”. Another issue was the lack of communication that Knowlton displayed toward upper management. Due to feelings of intimidation and self-comparison toward Fester, Knowlton failed to express his genuine feelings on certain issues. He delivered mixed signals to Dr. Jerrold by expressing only positive comments of Fester’s brilliance on the project and that he should be included in the presentation, only to quit a short time after with no true indication of why he had resigned. He allowed his own personal feelings to display poor management characteristics regarding his team, and to ruin a relationship with his boss in which was once honest and trusting.
The apparent cause of these outcomes occurred when Fester joined the group with his ability to challenge others with his intelligence and to have an outspoken personality in which intimidated most others. In correspondence with Fester’s arrival, Knowlton did not know the appropriate manner in which to display the company’s culture of working as a team instead of as an individual. He avoided any type of conflict with Fester or Dr. Jerrold by conveying only positive comments to them and concealing his