Case Analysis
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Bob Knowlton was project and group leader of the photon unit at Simmons Laboratory. Knowlton was content with the work of his group and he considered himself to be a team player. Dr. Jerrold, head of the laboratory, felt integrating a new member into Knowlton’s team would act as a catalyst for improved results. Simon Fester, an individualistic, brilliant scientist was brought into the group by Jerrold. Fester’s perspective was talented and unique, adding much to the results of the group. However, Fester’s aversion to “democratic principles” as the route to mediocrity created paranoia in Knowlton concerning his own abilities. This eventually led to a lack of group cohesion and Knowlton’s abrupt departure from the laboratory. Fester’s addition to the group added much in terms of project output, but it also created a lack of group leadership, a lack of group cohesion, confusion over group roles, and further deteriorated group communication. The following are the causes of the problems at Simmons Laboratory: Bob Knowlton’s inability to communicate openly and honestly Dr. Jerrold’s inabilities to communicate effectively, clearly delineate roles, and clearly define goals Knowlton’s inability to unite different personality and learning styles Simmons Laboratory’s lack of leadership training and lack of performance measures The success of teams may depend on the efforts of team members, but team leadersh
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or criticizing the work of others he views as inferior. Jung and Eysenck note that “introverts, relative to extroverts, tend to focus on internal thoughts rather than external stimuli, display higher cortical arousal to stimuli and lower short-term memory performance, and be more socially anxious and inhibited” (Nussbaum, 2002, 184). The inability of Knowlton and Fester to work well together has much to do with these kinds of differences in personality and leadership style.
Team leaders who are unable to make considerations for such difference will often meet with failure. This is due to an inability to unite disparate styles into an overall team style directed toward goal attainment. Some individuals flourish working alone while others prefer to be the member of a team. The collectivist versus individualist perspective is important for team success. We see that Fester has doubts about democratic principles leading to higher performance. We see this when he “proceeded to comment on the American emphasis on team ideas, satirically describing the way in which they led to a ‘high level of mediocrity’” (Bavelas, 2002, 5). Knowlton seems unable to unite such disparate views of collective versus individual action among group me
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Approximate Word count = 1240
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)
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