BOB KNOWLTON Alex Bavelas Bob Knowlton was alone in the conference room of the laboratory. The rest of the group had departed. One of the secretaries had conversed about her husband’s forthcoming induction into the Army before departing. Bob, all by himself in the laboratory, moved a bit lower in his chair, observing with contentment the outcomes of the initial test run of the new photon unit. He enjoyed staying behind after everyone else had left. His recent appointment as project head still filled him with immense joy.
He was focused on the graphs in front of him, but he could still hear Dr. Jerrold, the head researcher, repeating, “In this place, the sky’s the limit for those who can deliver!” Knowlton felt a mix of joy and embarrassment. Well, he thought to himself, he had indeed delivered. He wasn’t fooling anyone. He had joined Simmons Laboratories two years ago while conducting a routine test on some rejected Clanson components. Unexpectedly, he had come up with the concept of the photon correlator and everything else had fallen into place.
Jerrold was filled with excitement about his new role in overseeing a separate project aimed at further research and development of the device. The entire sequence of events seemed almost miraculous to Knowlton. However, his train of thought was interrupted when he heard someone entering the room behind him. He quickly snapped out of his thoughts and looked up, eagerly anticipating Jerrold’s arrival for their customary chat that made the end of the day enjoyable for Bob. To his surprise, it wasn’t Jerrold who entered the room this time, but rather a tall, thin stranger with a darker complexion.
The man had steel-rimmed glasses and a wide leather belt with a large brass buckle. His wife later compared it to the belts worn by pilgrims. The man introduced himself as Simon Fester, asking if the other person was Bob Knowlton, who confirmed and shook hands. Simon mentioned discussing Bob’s work with Doctor Jerrold and showed great interest in it. Bob gestured for Simon to sit down. Interestingly, Simon didn’t seem to fit into any typical visitor categories like customer, visiting fireman, or stockholder.
Bob gestured towards the sheets on the table, indicating that they were the preliminary results of a test being conducted for a new gadget. He mentioned that they were still in the process of comprehending it. Bob offered to show Fester the specific section they were testing; however, Fester was absorbed in studying graphs. Eventually, he looked up and identified them as plots of a Jennings surface. Bob pretended to understand and agreed with Fester’s observation, despite feeling uneasy. Subsequently, Bob suggested going to the workroom to show Fester something else.
Once Fester departed, Knowlton felt slightly annoyed and put away the graphs. Deciding to take a detour past Jerrold’s office, he discovered it locked, raising questions about Jerrold and Fester’s whereabouts.
The following day, Knowlton approached Jerrold and mentioned his conversation with Fester while inquiring about his identity. Jerrold asked for Knowlton’s opinion of Fester; honestly, Knowlton replied that he believed Fester was intelligent and competent. Jerrold appeared pleased with this assessment and disclosed their intention to hire Fester due to his extensive experience and ideas concerning their current problems.
Knowlton agreed with Jerrold but secretly wished that he wouldn’t be assigned to work alongside him. Uncertain where exactly Fester would end up, Jerrold mentioned that he had an interest in Knowlton’s work and might spend some time collaborating with him.If Fester continued to show interest, Knowlton could include him in his group. Despite not fully understanding their work, Knowlton believed that Fester had good ideas and hoped he would join their group. Feeling conflicted, Knowlton returned to the laboratory but convinced himself that Fester would be beneficial. He remembered Jerrold’s promise of rewarding productivity, which now seemed somewhat threatening. The next day, Fester arrived in the afternoon and explained that he had a long lunch with Jerrold discussing his position in the laboratory. Knowlton informed Fester that he and Jerrold had already discussed the possibility of him working with them. Smiling knowingly, similar to when he mentioned the Jennings surfaces, Fester expressed his interest in working with them and Knowlton introduced him to the other laboratory members.
Fester and Link, the mathematician of the group, had a great connection and spent the rest of the afternoon discussing Link’s analysis method for patterns that had been a concern for him for the past month. Knowlton left the laboratory that night at 6:30, eagerly waiting for everyone to leave so he could have some quiet time to relax and ponder. He wondered what exactly he needed to think over. By 5 p.m., everyone had left except Fester, and what followed was almost a duel.
Knowlton was frustrated that his quiet period was being disrupted and reluctantly decided that Fester should leave first. Fester was engrossed in reading last year’s progress reports at the conference table while Knowlton sat at his desk inside the small glass-enclosed cubicle where he could work undisturbed. The time passed slowly, with Knowlton absentmindedly doodling on a notepad and feeling increasing tension. He couldn’t understand why Fester was so invested in the reports. Eventually, Knowlton gave up and they left the laboratory together.
Fester took multiple reports to study in the evening. Knowlton asked if the reports accurately portrayed the laboratory’s activities. Fester replied with sincerity, stating that the reports were not only good, but also the content they reported on was excellent. This pleasantly surprised Knowlton and he became more optimistic about Fester’s presence in the laboratory. Knowlton had never fully understood Link’s analysis, but he believed that if there were any issues with Link’s approach, Fester would likely identify them, albeit not in a diplomatic manner. Knowlton recounted Fester’s appearance to his wife, who found amusement in Fester’s choice of a broad leather belt with a brass buckle. Knowlton joked that he wasn’t concerned about how Fester kept his pants up, but rather about his tendency to act like a genius twice a day, which could be challenging for the group. Later in the night, Knowlton was abruptly woken up by the ringing telephone after he had been asleep for several hours.
Fester arrived, expressing frustration and annoyance with the perceived incompetence of others and the presence of a telephone. He showed no concern for the time and immediately launched into an enthusiastic explanation of how to address Link’s patterning issue. Knowlton covered the phone to respond to his wife’s whispered inquiry of the caller’s identity. He replied that it was Fester, referred to as a genius. Fester disregarded the fact that it was 2 a.m. and eagerly began describing a groundbreaking method for solving photon laboratory problems, which he had discovered while analyzing previous experiments.
Knowlton listened to Fester talk at length about his discoveries, feeling somewhat dazed and uncomfortable. Fester’s findings presented a new approach and an analysis that exposed the flaws of the previous experiment. It was clear that further experimentation along the same line would have yielded inconclusive results. The next day, Knowlton spent the entire morning with Fester and Link, the mathematician. The scheduled morning meeting was canceled to thoroughly review Fester’s work from the previous night.
Fester was eager to have this task completed, while Knowlton was somewhat content to postpone the meeting for his own reasons. In the following days, Fester occupied the back office assigned to him, solely engrossed in reading progress reports on the work accomplished during the past six months. Knowlton felt unease regarding Fester’s potential reaction towards his own contributions, causing him to be slightly caught off guard by his own emotions. He had consistently maintained a sense of pride (despite outwardly displaying modesty) regarding the pioneering advancements made by his group in photon-measuring devices.
Now, Case: Bob Knowlton, he was uncertain. He believed that Fester could easily prove that their research direction was flawed or lacking in creativity. The following day, in Bob’s laboratory, which included secretaries, it was customary for everyone to gather around a conference table. Bob took pride in the fact that the group as a whole guided and evaluated the laboratory’s work. He often emphasized that including secretaries in these meetings was not a waste of time.
The researcher’s meetings with the group served multiple purposes. Firstly, they provided an opportunity for the researcher to present their basic assumptions to inexperienced listeners. Secondly, these meetings offered new perspectives on these assumptions that the researcher had not previously considered, despite accepting them as essential for their work. In addition, Bob acknowledged that his confidence would have been significantly lower if he had relied solely on his own thinking to guide the work. By utilizing group meetings as a leadership principle, it was always justifiable to explore dead ends due to the overall educational benefit for the team.
Fester, Lucy Jones, and Martha Smith, the laboratory secretaries, were all present. Link was sitting next to Fester and they appeared to be continuing their discussion about Link’s mathematical study from yesterday. The remaining members – Bob Davenport, George Thurlow, and Arthur Oliver – patiently waited. Knowlton suggested discussing a problem they had all previously invested considerable time in for reasons he couldn’t fully comprehend. They had collectively concluded that finding a solution was not feasible and there was no practical experimental approach.
Knowlton presented a problem, but Davenport promptly disregarded it, asserting that revisiting the issue was futile due to limitations in the laboratory’s equipment and physical capacities. Nonetheless, Fester found new motivation from Davenport’s remark and demonstrated curiosity in further exploring the problem. Fester proceeded to jot down on the blackboard various factors and justifications for abandoning the problem while the rest of the group engaged in discussing it.
At the start of the problem description, it became clear that Fester would contest the notion that attacking the problem was impossible. The group recognized this and as a result, the materials describing and explaining the reasoning behind their decision gradually diminished. Fester initiated his statement, which seemed to have been prepared beforehand even though Knowlton knew this couldn’t be true. Knowlton couldn’t help but be impressed by the orderly and coherent manner in which Fester presented ideas that likely came to him just moments before.
Fester expressed his thoughts, causing Knowlton to feel a mix of annoyance, irritation, and a sense of superiority. Fester criticized the analysis of the problem as an example of group thinking and sarcastically described how team ideas in America lead to mediocrity. Meanwhile, Link focused on the floor and Thurlow and Davenport glanced at Knowlton during Fester’s speech. Knowlton believed that Fester was wrong on this particular point. The entire laboratory, influenced by Jerry, believed in the theory of small research teams for effective research. Despite this, Fester insisted on approaching the problem and studying it personally.
Knowlton concluded the morning session by stating that the meetings would persist. He believed that the mere fact that a seemingly unsolvable experimental problem would now be given another opportunity was evidence of the worthiness of such meetings. Fester quickly responded by expressing his acceptance of meetings aimed at updating the group on the advancement of its members. However, he wanted to emphasize that creative breakthroughs were rarely achieved in such gatherings. Rather, they were achieved by individuals who closely and consistently engaged with the problem, developing a personal connection to it.
Knowlton expressed his appreciation to Fester for bringing up these points and believed that the group would benefit from reevaluating their approach. He agreed that individual effort was likely responsible for significant progress, but emphasized the importance of group meetings in maintaining unity and assisting weaker members in keeping up with those who excel in problem analysis.
As the days passed and the meetings continued, it became evident that Fester started to appreciate them due to the predictable pattern they followed. It became customary for Fester to take charge and it was unquestionably evident that he outshined everyone else in terms of expertise, preparation, and ability to make progress on the topics relevant to the issues under examination. Knowlton became increasingly unsettled as he realized that Fester had effectively assumed leadership of the group.
Whenever Fester was mentioned in occasional meetings with Jerrold, Knowlton would only comment on Fester’s abilities and work ethic. Knowlton never felt comfortable expressing his own discomforts because it revealed a weakness and because Jerrold seemed impressed with Fester’s work and their interactions outside of the photon laboratory. However, Knowlton began to feel that the intellectual advantages Fester brought to the group didn’t make up for a breakdown in the cooperative spirit that existed before Fester arrived. There started to be more skipped morning meetings and Fester’s opinion of other group members, except for Link, was noticeably low. During meetings or smaller discussions, Fester would sometimes act rudely and refuse to continue an argument by claiming the other person was ignorant of the facts.
His impatience with others caused him to make similar comments to Jerrold, which Knowlton interpreted from a conversation where Jerrold asked about the continuation of Davenport and Oliver, and his omission of Link made Knowlton think that this was due to private discussions between Fester and Jerrold. Knowlton easily built a compelling argument on whether Fester’s brilliance outweighed the start of the group’s disintegration.
During a private conversation, Knowlton spoke with Davenport and Oliver and discovered that both of them felt uncomfortable because of Fester. It was evident that they found Fester’s arguments difficult to understand and felt awkward asking for more information. However, Knowlton did not speak with Link.
About 6 months after Fester joined the photon laboratory, there was a scheduled meeting for the sponsors to visit and see the progress of the research. It was common for project leaders to present their group’s research at these meetings. Other meetings were held later in the day for all members, but the special meetings were typically attended by only project heads, the lab head, and the sponsors. Knowlton felt that he had to avoid the presentation at all costs as the special meeting approached.
Knowlton was hesitant to present Fester’s ideas and work. He doubted his ability to explain them thoroughly and answer any questions accurately. However, he didn’t want to disregard Fester’s contributions and solely present his own work from before Fester joined. Knowlton also feared that Fester might criticize his presentation and expose his perceived inadequacy if he were present.
It appeared that it would be challenging to prevent Fester from attending the meeting, despite not being invited on the administrative level. Knowlton took the chance to address this concern with Jerrold. He mentioned that due to the upcoming meetings, Fester’s involvement, and his contributions, Fester would likely want to attend. However, there was concern over how the rest of the group would feel if only Fester was invited.
Jerrold casually dismissed any concerns about the group understanding Fester’s unique position and suggested inviting him. Knowlton quickly agreed, adding that Fester should present the work since he had done a significant portion of it. Knowlton saw this as an opportunity to acknowledge Fester’s contributions and reward his desire to be seen as a productive member of the laboratory.
Jerrold agreed and so the matter was decided. Case: Bob Knowlton 9 Fester’s presentation was highly successful and in certain aspects, it took control of the meeting. It captured the interest and attention of numerous attendees, leading to a lengthy discussion after the presentation. Later that evening, during the pre-dinner cocktail period with the entire laboratory staff in attendance, a small group gathered around Fester. Jerrold was among them and a spirited conversation occurred regarding the implementation of Fester’s theory.
All of this unsettled Knowlton, and his response and actions were typical. He joined the group, complimented Fester to Jerrold and the others, and commented on the excellence of the work. Without seeking advice, Knowlton started showing interest in the potential of finding employment elsewhere. After a few weeks, he discovered that a new large-scale laboratory was being established in a neighboring city, and that his experience would qualify him for a project management position comparable to his current role, with slightly higher pay.
He accepted the job offer without hesitation and informed Jerrold by sending a letter to his house on a Friday night. The letter was short, leaving Jerrold shocked. It stated that he had found a superior job opportunity and didn’t want to continue working at the laboratory due to personal reasons. However, he assured that he would be happy to come back in the future from his new location, which was approximately 40 miles away, to help with any confusion or issues regarding previous work.
The text stated that Knowlton believed Fester would be able to provide leadership for the group and that his abrupt departure was due to personal problems, specifically health issues in his family. It was later revealed that these claims were false. Jerrold accepted the explanation at face value but found it odd and couldn’t understand why Knowlton would behave in such a way, as their relationship had always been positive and Knowlton seemed content and productive.
Jerrold was deeply concerned because he had already planned to assign Fester to another project that was about to begin. He had been pondering how to explain this decision to Knowlton, considering the obvious benefit and value that Knowlton was gaining from Fester’s expertise. In fact, he had even considered the possibility that Knowlton could hire someone with a similar background and training as Fester, which had proven to be incredibly valuable. However, Jerrold did not make any effort to meet Knowlton and felt somewhat upset about the situation. Fester was also surprised by Knowlton’s sudden departure, but when Jerrold asked if he had reasons to prefer staying with the photon group rather than joining the upcoming Air Force project, Fester ultimately chose the Air Force project and started that job the following week. The photon laboratory faced significant challenges as a result. Leadership of the laboratory was temporarily entrusted to Link until someone could be hired to assume control.
