Management Chapter 6 Homework This Case Study Shows The Lack Selfleadership

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Instructor Resource

Neck, Self-Leadership, 2e

SAGE Publishing, 2020

Case Notes

Chapter 6: Team Self-Leadership: Sharing the Journey

Tragedy on Mount Everest

Learning Objectives

1. Explain why team members accomplish more together than they can as individuals.

2. Describe how team self-leadership is the application of mental and behavioral self-leadership

strategies at the team level.

3. Demonstrate behavioral team self-leadership practices within a team, including team self-

observation, team self-goal-setting, team cue modification, team self-reward and self-

punishment, and team rehearsal.

Case Summary

On May 10, 1996, four expeditions attempted to summit Mount Everest. For two of the

commercial expeditions, there were tragic consequences, even after the two joined together to

maximize resources. Eight deaths resulted from decisions made during the climb, with other

people injured. There was a basic rule for any ascent of Mount Everest. The summit should be

reached by 2:00 pm, so the descent should be completed before any snow storms began and the

oxygen for each climber was depleted. The two expeditions did not heed that rule and attempted

to continue to the summit after 2:00 pm.

Case Analysis

Climbing Mount Everest became popular, leading to an overcrowded mountain, but

commercialization. In the case study, several important lessons can be learned about team self–

leadership. When the two expeditions joined, there was little agreement about how to work

together. First, there was no back-up plan when one of the Sherpas was unable to join the other

Instructor Resource

Neck, Self-Leadership, 2e

SAGE Publishing, 2020

Sherpa in setting the ropes on the technical portion of the climb. This led directly to the delay in

attempting the summit. Second, there was a lack of risk assessment about attempting the summit

Sample Answers to Case Questions

Question 1. Do you think that better self-leadership among the members of the 1996 Everest

expedition teams could have led to better decisions? How?

Sample Answer: Yes, if the two expedition leaders and team members had the safety of all

Question 2. In what ways might groupthink have played a role in this disaster, and how could a

teamthink approach have been beneficial in this situation?

Sample Answer:

a. Groupthink in this situation was led by the two expedition leaders, in which the other group

members placed their trust in the leaders and likely led to the suppression of expressing personal

viewpoints/opinions.

Question 3. In what way might the outcome have been different in members of the expeditions

had more effectively balanced the “me” with the “we” in this case?

Sample Answer:

a. To a large extent: as seen in this case study, Boukreev was so eager to summit Mount Everest

that he went on individually and not as a part of the team.

Instructor Resource

Neck, Self-Leadership, 2e

SAGE Publishing, 2020

Question 4. What would you have done if you had been a member of one of the 1996 expedition

teams?

Sample Answer:

a. I would have been aware of the rule about turning back at 2:00 pm and insisted we turn

around.