Knowlton Roberts

Dr. Knowlton Roberts II is the main character for this case. We mainly see his viewpoint and thoughts. It seems he takes pride in his position as project head to oversee compound development. However, as soon as Rankle shows up he feels threatened. Rankle questions the team’s methodology and reports that the lab has worked on. However, we also learn that Rankle is brilliant and Dr. Jeffery Kim, Roberts’ boss, takes notice right away. Roberts was never fond of Rankle, but after seeing that Kim thought so highly of Rankle he decides not to share his opinion and praises Rankle on his work. He hides his true feelings to remain on Kim’s good side.

As for Rankle, he thinks differently from everyone in the company. He provides new outlooks on certain situations and gets noticed very quickly. During the group meeting Roberts had scheduled, he mentioned a problem the team already announced as unsolvable. However, as soon as Rankle hears this he engages himself immediately to find the solution. Roberts emphasized coming to a solution as a group, but this seemed to make Rankle have a one-way discussion. He ended up looking down upon teams and group thinking and thought the meetings should serve for information, and not scientific advancements. His viewpoints did not coincide with group efforts. When Rankle finds out that the team deems the issue as unsolvable, he emphasizes more the fact that a person should immerse himself to come to a solution.

Dr. Kim does not directly interact with Rankle most of the time, but sees how rapidly he comes to solutions and develops ideas. For the sponsor’s meeting that features many executives, Roberts realizes the meeting can’t take place without Rankle. When Roberts gives Kim this information, Kim immediately gives Rankle the main speaking role. Kim sees that Rankle’s genius is needed by the company and makes him lead accordingly. The expression “you can’t judge a book by its cover” falls in line with perception. An example of when my perception and actuality were different was when I first met one of my close friends. My first interaction with her was very awkward and she seemed distant and uninterested in making conversation.

It seemed that she didn’t like me as a person. I would always be the one to strike up a new topic to talk about and she would respond back with short simple answers that I wasn’t able to build off of. However, after being in a few group meetings with her and spending time with her out of school, I saw that she was shy at first and nervous to talk to people in general. We interacted with each other more and she became comfortable around me. Now, she’s one of the most talkative people I know and she engages herself in conversation well. My first perception of her was that she was rude, but I see her in a completely new light now. From this case, we are able to see the different effects each person’s perception has on one another. Roberts, Kim, and Rankle all had differing views of one another, which led to Roberts leaving the corporation. All the issues that occurred in this case could have been solved by communication.