Teamwork in Both Events
When contrasting the two cases, it is apparent that each represents success and failure in leadership. For instance, Shackleton’s leadership was highly successful while that of Rob Hall and Scott Fischer represented failure. In addition, while both events were characterized by extreme conditions, i.e., Shackleton’s expedition to Antarctica and Rob Hall and Scott Fischer’s expedition to Mount Everest’s summit, Shackleton’s leadership ensured the survival of his team members while that of Rob and Fischer led to the death of five individuals and these outcomes can be used as a basis to gauge the success or failure of the leaders. The primary goals of leaders in such extreme expeditions are not only to attain the goals that they had set forth but also to ensure the survival of their team members. However, while Shackleton had failed to attain the goals of the expedition, i.e., reaching Antarctica, the primary goal was to ensure the survival of his team and Shackleton is thus successful or effective as a leader in this regard (Koehn, 2011). However, Hall and Fischer’s leadership led to their untimely death and they are thus considered ineffective as leaders (The leadership Challenge, 2013). This is especially considering the fact that they had not only failed to attain their objectives but they also led to the demise of some of the group members and themselves.
As a leader, in order to elevate the group in each scenario, I would have ensured that our plans would have minimal risks and also avoid being subject to the ‘sunk-cost’ effect where one doubles down on their commitment to a course in which they had invested themselves considerably (Newlands, 2016). Likewise, to attain a more effective team, I would promote communication in order to provide a collective sense of leadership and also create collaborative goals and objectives.
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Team Leadership Model
The team leadership model, according to Rowe (2007), is a model that gives central importance to team leadership capacity in attaining the effectiveness of the team. The model offers a means of comprehension for leaders who prioritize team leadership and ought to be utilized in the determination of problems in the team as well as the solutions and alternatives to resolve the inherent issues. This is all undertaken while being conscious of the team’s capabilities and resources, as well as the external opportunities and challenges. Hill’s team leadership model is composed of four steps or layers in the leadership process where the top layer entails the leadership decisions which encompass the leader’s mental model of the situation and whether it necessitates monitoring or action. The second layer is the external or internal leadership level, while the third layer is the task, relational, and environmental intervention, where one selects a function depending on the intervention type. Finally, the bottom layer is a result of the performance of the aforementioned steps, thus attaining high performance via maintenance and development functions.
By utilizing Hill’s team leadership model, I would have enabled teamwork, which would have gone a long way into averting the crises or in managing the situations. For instance, to undertake the internal task functions, I would focus on goals via clarification, guide the decision-making process to obtain better information via coordination, and assess performance and also confront when necessary. In regard to the internal relationship functions, I would satisfy the needs of each team members, use more collaborative means and manage conflict. Finally, to achieve the functions of the external environment, I would advocate via the representation of the team, network in a bid to increment influence and garner information, protect the team from environmental distractions and share information with the team. The enactment of the model would ensure that teamwork is at the optimum level and thus a collective decision-making process that would ensure that the best decisions are made and thus an efficacious management of the crises.
References
Koehn, F. N. (2011). Leadership Lessons from the Shackleton Expedition. Retrieved 2 October 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/business/leadership-lessons-from-the-shackleton-expedition.html
Newlands, M. (2016). What the 1996 Everest Disaster Teaches About Leadership. Retrieved 2 October 2020, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/283197
Rowe, W., G. (2007). Cases in Leadership. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
The Leadership Challenge. (20 13 ). Retrieved 2 October 2020, from https://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=2065042&seqNum=5
