Case Study Analysis: Leadership and Organizational Behavior Issues

This case study examines a scenario within a photon laboratory, focusing on the leadership challenges faced by Bob Knowlton, the project head. The arrival of Simon Fester, a highly intellectual but disruptive team member, creates significant friction. Knowlton's leadership style, which emphasizes team collaboration, is undermined as Fester takes control of team meetings and overshadows Knowlton. The case explores issues such as conflict in the workplace, the impact of differing work styles, and the importance of communication. It details how Fester's behavior, including dominating meetings and disregarding Knowlton's authority, leads to Knowlton's dissatisfaction and, ultimately, his resignation. The case study analyzes the problems, objectives, potential alternative actions, and the consequences of these actions, including the impact on team dynamics, leadership, and organizational outcomes. It highlights the importance of open communication, conflict resolution, and the need for leaders to adapt to changing team dynamics. The case study references several academic articles that support the analysis of the issues.

Running head: CASE STUDY ON ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
CASE STUDY ON ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CASE STUDY ON ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Introduction
The case study is about a person named Bob Knowlton who is the project head in a
photon laboratory. Knowlton had the habit of staying in the office after everyone leaves and
think about the work processes. He was the newly appointed project head of the company and
he was quite happy after seeing the reports of the test run of new unit. The head of this
laboratory Dr. Jerrold motivated him and the other employees to be productive and make
advances in their career. He was sitting alone in the office when someone entered suddenly.
The person who had entered was Simon Fester, who was sent by Dr. Jerrold and Knowlton
was quite surprised by his entry. The next day Knowlton came to know that Fester was about
to join his group. Knowlton was not quite comfortable with the decision; however, he did not
show his discomfort to Jerrold (Biggs, Brough & Barbour, 2014). That day Fester entered late
in the office and told everyone that he had a lunch meeting with Jerrold. Fester joined
Knowlton’s group that day and was introduced to the other members of the group. Knowlton
was waiting for personal time in the office that day after everyone’s exit, however, he did not
get that chance as Fester was still present in the office. This made him uncomfortable and he
was also annoyed with Fester. That night Fester called him up at the middle of the night and
this made him even more angry. This annoyance and discomfort was further increased by
many other problems that occurred in the official proceedings in the later days (Yukl, 2012).
Definition of the problem
Knowlton was the leader of group of a few members including Link, who was the
mathematician, Martha Ybarra, Lucy Martin, George Thurlow, Bob Davenport, Arthur
Oliver. Knowlton held a lot of pride in conducting these meetings with the members of the
group and this was an important part of the job that he was doing in the lab. The team
meetings were regarded as the chance of analysing various ideas of the members of the team

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and thereby implementing these ideas. The effort of the team in the proceedings of the work
was important as thought by Knowlton. In the first meeting where Fester was included in the
team, Knowlton brought up a topic that previously discussed and was decided to be
impossible to solve. This move caused many problems to Knowlton (Haslam et al., 2014).
After this topic was brought up, the charge of the meeting was taken up by Fester and he
started noting the problem and also came up with a solution. Knowlton was quite impressed
with Fester after this instant, however, at the same time he had mixed feelings of annoyance
and anger as well. The reason was that according to Fester the problem was not analysed
properly in the previous attempt and that the way of thinking of the team was not right. From
that time on the team meetings were led by Knowlton, however, in the true sense the
meetings were taken by Fester. The meetings now took a complete different turn and were no
longer cooperative in nature. Fester used to come up with a problem in the meetings and he
himself solved the problems without much discussion with the other team members.
Knowlton felt that although Fester had increased the intellect level of the team, however, the
cooperative spirit of the team was hampered. After six months of the joining of Fester, the
sponsor meeting was held which was supposed to be attended only by the employees of the
administration level (Jiang et al., 2012). Knowlton was reluctant to invite Fester for the
meeting as he did not have a position in the management level. However, he was invited to
attend the meeting on the insistence of Jerrold. Fester dominated the meeting that was held
with the sponsors and this was another blow for Knowlton. The attention that was given to
Fester disturbed Knowlton, however he did not show his discontent to the others in the
organization. Knowlton then started searching for some other job of the same level without
consulting his office members. He received an offer from another company within a few
weeks and then he sent his resignation letter to Jerrold. This was blow to the company as

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Fester was also moved to another project and the photon project was now in a lot of problems
(Lee, Park & Koo, 2015).
Objectives of the case
The objective of the case study is to understand the problems that are faced by a
particular person in an organization in spite of being productive. Knowlton was facing the
problems related to his work process after the entry of Fester in the lab. Fester was preferred
by Jerold, who was the head of the lab and this was the main issue that was bothering
Knowlton (Vaccaro et al., 2012). He had the fear of getting replaced by Fester, as he had a
high intellect level and was able to solve those problems which were previously left
unsolved. However, the work process of the team was hampered by Fester as the
collaborative spirit of the team decreased. This happened after Fester started leading the
meetings instead of Knowlton (Moore et al., 2012). The sponsor meeting of the company
which was not supposed to be attended by Fester, was also dominated by him. This was a
huge blow to the leadership spirit of Knowlton.
Alternative actions that can be taken
The alternative actions that can be taken are as discussed further. Knowlton should
have discussed the problems related to the interference of Fester with the head of the lab.
Jerrold was also at fault as he had appointed Fester under Knowlton without proper
discussion with him. After the appointment of Fester under Knowlton he also should have
discussed the problems that he was having with him, instead of just keeping quiet and
searching for another without any consultation with anyone. The organizational behaviour of
an employee is an issue in this case. Fester was not behaving as a subordinate or a team

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member under Knowlton and was using his intellect level to influence others (Mosadeghrad,
A. M. (2012). Fester was also not giving the respect that Knowlton deserved and he had
shown improper behaviour by calling at the middle of the night for discussing about a
problem that could be discussed later on as well. Knowlton was also at fault by not discussing
his issues with Fester and taking the drastic decision of leaving the job. Knowlton should
have discussed the problems with Fester and Jerrold and try to find the solution instead of
leaving the job (Sung & Choi, 2012).
Implementation
The implementation of the alternative ways that are discussed above can prove to be
fruitful for the organization. The leadership style of Knowlton was cooperative in nature and
Fester had caused a hamper in the style by trying to solve every problem all by himself.
Fester can try to coordinate his activities with the other members of the team. He can then use
intellect level to increase the productivity of his team rather than focussing only on personal
achievements Knowlton on the other hand can understand the mentality and the needs of
Fester and work accordingly with him (Olsen & Martins, 2012).
Consequences of the actions in future
The implementation of the actions will have positive effects on the organization in the
future. The lab will be able to retain the productive employees like Knowlton and not let
them leave the organization due to the issues that have been faced in the case. The
organization should introduce fresh talent in the team, however the management should also
take initiatives to understand the needs of the senior employees as well.

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References
Biggs, A., Brough, P., & Barbour, J. P. (2014). Strategic alignment with organizational
priorities and work engagement: A multi‐wave analysis. Journal of
Organizational Behavior, 35(3), 301-317.
Haslam, S. A., van Knippenberg, D., Platow, M. J., & Ellemers, N. (Eds.). (2014). Social
identity at work: Developing theory for organizational practice.
Psychology Press.
Jiang, K., Lepak, D. P., Hu, J., & Baer, J. C. (2012). How does human resource management
influence organizational outcomes? A meta-analytic investigation of
mediating mechanisms. Academy of management Journal, 55(6),
1264-1294.
Lee, E. S., Park, T. Y., & Koo, B. (2015). Identifying organizational identification as a basis
for attitudes and behaviors: A meta-analytic review. Psychological
Bulletin, 141(5), 1049.
Moore, C., Detert, J. R., Klebe Treviño, L., Baker, V. L., & Mayer, D. M. (2012). Why
employees do bad things: Moral disengagement and unethical
organizational behavior. Personnel Psychology, 65(1), 1-48.
Mosadeghrad, A. M. (2012). Towards a theory of quality management: an integration of
strategic management, quality management and project
management. International Journal of Modelling in Operations
Management, 2(1), 89-118.

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Olsen, J. E., & Martins, L. L. (2012). Understanding organizational diversity management
programs: A theoretical framework and directions for future
research. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33(8), 1168-1187.
Sung, S. Y., & Choi, J. N. (2012). Effects of team knowledge management on the creativity
and financial performance of organizational teams. Organizational
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Vaccaro, I. G., Jansen, J. J., Van Den Bosch, F. A., & Volberda, H. W. (2012). Management
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attention. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 26(4), 66-85.