Name: Muhammad Omar Sharif Bhuiyan

ID: 100465216

Submission Date: February 16, 2024

Course Name: Managing Dynamic Teams(BUSM-5110)

Section : P01
Introduction

Tragedy of Mount Everest, Deponent of deadliest disasters in the mountain climbing

history. In the spring 1996, there was a commercial expedition by the leading of Rob
Hall and Scott Fischer as experienced climber to the embarked on summit attempts of
Mount Everest. But, there were some challenges such as physical and mental
exhaustion, extreme weather and logistic difficulties etc. The climbers tried to manage
the challenges to overcome, but they were failed and the result was fifteen people were
died.

The tragedy was occurred mainly because of extreme weather condition of Everest
where logistic was not enough to survive. And most importantly, some climbers were
not fit physically and mentally to survive in the extreme challenging environment. Also,
there were lack of managerial skill of team leaders such as Scoot Fischer and Rob hall
were not strict on the turnaround time to manage their team according to the plan.

According to my Analysis, I have found that lack of planning skill was one of the root
cause of this disaster because there was no contingency plan to survive in an
unexpected situation and also, plan was not organized about what to do and how to do
in the extreme condition of Everest. Another cause was the lack skill of risk
management to survive in the unpredictable weather condition of Everest. In addition,
goal achievement was more prioritized rather than safety of team members, which
means some safety issues were ignored and that makes the disaster. Most importantly,
There was no clear communication guideline about who should be in contact with
whom, how often should contact with team members and what are the prioritized
information needs to share to take quick decision, and that was created
misunderstanding environment which led’s the disaster.

.
Analysis

However, the tragedies are inevitable in a place like Everest or not, It is depend on the
situation and some critical factors such as environment analysis including risk
assessment, ability of decision quick decision making based on the situation, and
planning including contingency plan about how the reach the goal. Risk assessment,
ability of quick decision making and contingency plan is very important in a place like
Everest because the weather condition is very unpredictable and this is the only risk is
not possible to control by clambers. In addition, Fitness of climbers, logistic support and
clear communication is equally important to survive in the extreme and unpredictable
situation. And most important thing is a proper guideline which has to be
understandable to each and every member those are committed to expedition. The
guideline has to be prepared base on the principle of safety first because the priority of
life saving is not comparable with anything. Also, that is need to be make sure that
climbers are well trained and mentally very strong to face and handle any situation. As
part of planning, team work has to be considering as highest priority and plan has to be
done team work. Also, team members need to make sure their strength and weakness
to team to organize and assign the tasks and responsibilities.

Therefore, tragedies will be inevitable in a place like Everest when critical factors are
not considered as highest priority to execute, even there is no guaranty that tragedy will
never be inevitable when critical factors are considered with the highest priority with the
top managerial skill of leaders, because weather condition in place like Everest is
unpredictable.

According to my evaluation based on my analysis, Scoot Fischer and Rob hall both are
experienced as climbing leader. Both have strength and weakness as leader.

As Leader, Rob Hall is well focused on preparation and planning. For expedition, he
was well organized and focused with the details attention to logistic, client preparation
and schedule. He established the details of acclimatization plan for his clients to ensure
proper adjustment to altitude. He was always deeply committed with the clients. For
example, He decided to stay with Doug Hansen during his summit despite the
turnaround time that has passed, which is demonstrate his commitment to client
success. He is good in risk management such as turnaround time 2.00 PM was setting
by Rob Hall for summit attempts to ensure climbers could return safely before nightfall.
But his weakness as leader, sometimes he is inflexible because he is strict very with his
decisions even when condition warranted a change in plans. For example, He was
pushing Doug Hansen to reach the goal after the turnaround time. Also, sometimes he
is overcommitted which makes judgment error. For example, Doug Hansen was
struggling and moving slowly because his physical condition, But Rob was pushing him
to reach the goal rather than the consideration of safety.

On the other hand, Scott Fischer motivation skill is excellent. He can motivate team
members with his energy and optimism. He shared his stories of climbing journey,
which made the positive sense of responsibility to the climbers about the overall
success of team, not the individual achievement. His Fischer innovative approach is
great such as acclimatization Strategy helps to recognize the importance of allowing the
body to adjust to high altitudes gradually. This method mainly designed to improve
overall performance on mountain to reduce the risks associated with altitude sickness.
Also, His communication skill is very effective. Each and every regular briefings with the
team members, he clearly articulated the day’s objectives, weather condition and safety
protocols, which ensured that the expeditions plans and expectations were well
informed and aligned to everyone. But, His risk Management skill is not optimistic
because the arrangement of safety protocols was not enough to face the environmental
challenges, which is indicate that risk assessment of environmental factors not
appropriate or it was underestimate. Also, Decision making ability is not enough reliable
in a critical situation. He was fail to take reliable decision when kruse was sick and
wanted to turn back but Scott Fischer decided that no one will be with kruse when he
will turn back and that is clearly mentioned about Scott Fischer decision is not reliable.
In addition, he has Lack of skill in the area strategic planning. Because, there was no
effective contingency plan to overcome from the extreme environment condition of
Mount Everest.

However, Rob hall and Scott Fischer did make some poor decisions such as

- Moving forward was a poor decision without proper risk assessment.

- Managing the critical situation in Everest without proper logistic support was a

Poor decision.

- Decision to set the top priority to reach the client goal rather than safety makes the

negative Impact to the team members.

They made poor decision because their lack of skill to take appropriate decision under
the pressure, lack analysis and managerial skill and their over confidence.

Conclusion

Overall, there are some good lessons from this case for all professionals, especially
lessons are very vital for the general manager. The lessons are all about Importance of
risk management, Importance of communication Guidelines and the importance of
decision making skills under pressure. The lessons are clearly indicates that general
manager consider the contingency plan as part of planning to mitigate and control the
indentified and unexpected risk. Also, manager should prepare and establish a realistic
communication guideline which has to be understandable to the team members and
applicable in any situation for business. Most importantly, managers can be understood
about why self skill assessment is important to improve their decision making skill to
take appropriate decision under the pressure.
Recommendation:

Finally, my recommendations of indentified course of action are following below that

need to implement the best solution

 Develop Comprehensive Risk Management Plan

Action:

- Identification of potential and external risk is needed to operate the operational

activity through risk assessment.
- A comprehensive risk management strategy is needed to develop including
mitigation plan, contingency measures clear guideline for risk escalation.
- Risk management plan needed to review and update regularly based on the
refection of changing environment.

 Clear policies and enforcement establishment

Action:

- Policies, procedure and guideline needed to define clearly with the alignment of
goals and values.
- Needed to ensure that policies are effective for all team members for effective
performance
- Monitoring is needed to understand the result of applied compliance and
enforcement including
- Provisions for exception under specific situation
 Enhancement Decision making under pressure:

Action

- Training and resources are needed to for the leaders and team members to
improve their decision making skills under pressure.
- Simulation of high-pressure scenarios are needed for team members to
practice in making tough decisions quickly and effectively.

 Effective Team building and Maintenance

Action

- Roles and responsibilities needed to define clearly within the team

members to prevent overlaps and ensure accountability
- Issue recognizing and addressing is needed which may impact team
dynamic such as conflicts or communication breakdown

Reference:

Cabrera A. How to make the right decisions under pressure. People Dynamics, Inc.
Published June 30, 2022. https://peopledynamics.co/make-right-decisions-under-
pressure/