Organisational Behaviour II

Case Study on:

Mount Everest 1996

Submitted by:
Group no. – 1

Abhishek Mishra - 22A1HP006

Puspa Rani - 22A1HP021
Srishti Singh – 22A1HP001
Riya Awasthi – 22A1HP010
Saisha Ayachit – 22A1HP018
Riya Kheria – 22A1HP016
Q1. Why did the tragedy occur? What is the root cause of this disaster?
ANS The Everest tragedy occurred on the 10th-11th of May 1996, due to a series of
events:
All the climbers were divided into two groups – Adventure consultants and Mountain
madness. The mountaineers started the preparation for the summit bid on the
evening of May 05. Before leaving the Base Camp, Hall and Fischer reminded their
respective teams to stick to the schedules and decision rules. When the teams
departed for camp III on May 08, they experienced unstable weather conditions,
with very high winds, therefore they decided to wait for a few days before
proceeding ahead. It became tougher when the mind and body stopped functioning
properly. When they started climbing towards Camp IV, the weather conditions
continued to become worse. When the winds became slightly subtle, they departed
from camp IV on 09 May towards the summit. Each client carried three bottles of
oxygen. Four climbers chose to quit during the climb. They discovered they were out
of ropes and took a lot of time to climb ahead which left a few climbers behind.
Fischer lagged far behind due to bad health conditions. Due to the issues of ropes,
climbers decided to use their third canister of oxygen too. Most of the climbers
reached the summit by 4 PM. As the climbers started descending, the weather
started to become worse due to high winds and snowfall. It became more difficult
without the supplement oxygen to tolerate the deadly weather. Due to the weather,
climbers lost communication by radio as well. Five climbers died and a few
disappeared and never reached the base camp. Climbing Everest is a dangerous task,
few bad decisions lead to death. The root causes behind the disaster are poor
decisions and errors made by the climbers, which could have been eliminated if
proper decisions were taken at the right time. Lack of essentials like ropes and
oxygen canisters turned out to be deadly for the climbers. They shouldn’t have gone
against the weather and taken the decisions wisely.
Q2. Are tragedies like these simply inevitable in a place like Everest?
Yes, tragedies like these are inevitable in a place like Everest. Mountain climbing is
one of the dangerous activities and it becomes even more dangerous when you are
climbing the world’s highest mountain. Though climbing mount Everest is an
achievable task as proven by the previous records but there are many incidents as
well where people have been unsuccessful in their attempt. Every person prepares
themselves for the worst to happen while climbing Mount Everest. There are many
reasons as to why such a tragedy occurs as discussed in the previous question. Some
reasons can be pre-determined while some happen due to nature. The tragedies that
occur due to nature are inevitable while the tragedies that occur due to your own
mistakes can be avoided. It can be avoided by trying to learn from other people’s
mistakes or from your own mistakes. Also, in a place like Everest even a small
mistake from your side can cost you your life. Therefore, you can only prepare
yourself in order to minimize the tragedies that can occur due to human mistakes
but you can’t predict what nature has in store for you.

Q3. What is your evaluation of Scott Fischer & Robert Hall as leaders?
Both Scott Fischer and Robert Hall excelled as mountain climbers but were poor
leaders. They were exceedingly overconfident, which caused them to overlook their
obligations and priorities. They met their demise because they were too occupied to
compete with one another.
Fischer believed that if Hall could lead climbers to the summit of Mount Everest,
make a decent living, and experience success, he was equally qualified to do the
same because he possessed nothing less than Hall. They each possessed a unique set
of skills and information related to mountain climbing, but they lacked the skills and
knowledge when it came to working in groups and managing a team.
They should have been more knowledgeable than anybody about the weather in an
altitude where it is known to be unpredictable, but their poor planning was plainly
visible by the dire scenario of lack of availability and errors with oxygen cylinder.
Bad leadership is highlighted through poor decision making, which was transparent
in their decisions. Hall poor decision making is reflected in many of his decisions,
such as by not adhering the 1pm turnaround time rule. This decision was very crucial
and was vital towards his death as his other teammates, including the Sherpas, Taske
and Hutchinson strictly followed the rule and survived although they were very close
to the summit.  A second example of a poor decision by Hall was reflected in his
decision of assisting a single member to reach the summit by moving ahead and
leaving all the other team members behind. The decision was a poor reflection of
setting priorities as the team was expecting a storm which turned into a hurricane
and the team members that were left behind by Hall caught into it and couldn’t
retrieve their way towards the tents. The decision to assist a single member while
leaving and ignoring the safety of other members was clearly a poor decision by Hall
and bad choice in setting the priorities.
Poor decision making reflected in almost every decision taken by hall and Fischer as
they paid no attention in choosing and selecting the team, security measure,
developing teamwork and improving communication among the team members, and
following the rules that were set and most importantly not focusing on developing a
plan B.
Q4) What are the lessons for General Managers in Business Enterprise?
Answer:
1) Optimism: According to Hall, returning alive is the true test of whether an
expedition was successful—not reaching the summit. The greatest
accomplishment for every manager is to set the proper goals and to
accomplish them successfully in spite of numerous obstacles.
2) Being realistic: Overconfidence in judgement is a prevalent personality trait
that many people experience at some point in their lives.
On Mount Everest, Hall and Fisher may be seen repeating the task of climbing
high peaks, which gives the impression that they are overconfident.
However, they must keep in mind that there is a chance that while climbing or
engaging in the sport, you can find yourself in an uncomfortable scenario with
which you are unfamiliar.
You must have the correct attitude in order to take anything new and learn
from it. Hall knows there is danger here, but he chooses to ignore it.
3) Awareness and Focus: Employees need to be fully aware of the jobs they play
and have a general understanding of the tasks they are responsible for. If
work roles are unclear or uncertain, resources and labour will not be used to
their full potential.
4) Process Oriented and Planning: It's a critical action to take to guarantee that
concepts are put into practice without difficulty and that objectives are
attained. From the situation, it is clear that Fischer was under stress due to
the logistical challenge and therefore performed poorly.
5) Trust: One of the most important aspects that a manager should consider in
this situation is teammate trust. People in both groups had no idea who the
other members were, much less trusted them. A manager should constantly
endeavor to create and implement an action plan that pulls the entire
organization together and boosts the feeling of attaining the objective by
working together.
6) Strategize: Leaders encounter a number of challenges in today's corporate
climate. And part of their duty is to face these difficulties and strategize
effectively, which involves forecasting what could happen next and taking
calculated risks. The management should keep track of all the actions that will
be taken to attain the objective; otherwise, the entire process will become
haphazard and inefficient.