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Leadership in Crisis: Ernest Shackleton and the Epic Voyage of the Endurance

Decent Essays

1. What were the underlying causes of the Endurance crisis? Two major underlying causes of the Endurance Crisis are: A. Bad evaluation of circumstances and stubbornness instead of perseverance. Shackleton was ready to depart to Antarctica however; just when he was at South Georgia, local seamen warned him that he might get trapped and advised him to wait until next year. At this point he had the opportunity to make a decision and wait, but due to the compromises reached with his sponsors and the conditions in Britain getting in WWI he took a risk to go forth and as a result, underestimate the situation. This I can consider to be the main crisis. B. Impulsive decision making skills. Another minor crisis occurred, for example …show more content…

When a strategy fails or new situations appear, a manager needs to make adjustments. Sometimes these adjustments set a brand new goal that was not anticipated at all. For Shackleton his inhability to do this is exemplified when the endurance sank, failing to his original goal however, new mission present itself at the very moment the Endurance sunk. His goal: bring home all the men. For this new objective, Shackleton did not plan accordingly due to the nature of the event, it was more of analyzing options (planning), choosing one (organizing), trial and error (directing), and start all over again (control). The functions of management were implied at a very small scale. Due the conditions (low temperatures and strong winds), efficiency was in the mind of the “boss” at every moment. His strategy was to do his best in the least time possible and spending the minimum resources as possible was always the strategy. To exemplify this point of efficiency more, we can look at the food. They had limited resources and they had to manage the best way so they will not starve to death. Tasks were assigned and they had a stricter schedule for meals and meal consumption. 3. What are the lessons from this case for leaders/managers in business situations today? A. Support and awareness of the team. A leader

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