Contemporary Management Issues in the 21st Century: Lessons from Shackleton's Leadership Style

This report analyzes Shackleton's leadership style and the lessons learned from his expedition in the context of contemporary business organizations facing crises. It also critically evaluates the organizational situation of Tesco by drawing on the schools of leadership and provides recommendations for improving performance.

Contemporary Management
Issues in the 21st Century

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Characterization of Shackleton's leadership style and the important lessons learned from the
article in the context of contemporary business organizations in a crises...................................3
Critically analysing and evaluating organizational situation by drawing on the schools of
leadership and making recommendations....................................................................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Management issues are the issues which are identified within the organization and are
addressed as problems occurring for the situations (Kaehler and Grundei, 2019).
Therefore, report will analyse that the article “Leadership in Crisis: Ernest Shackleton
and the Epic Voyage of the Endurance” will be explained in appropriate manner and this will
help in stating the aspects which were concerned effectively by the leadership style. Further,
Shackleton's leadership style will be analysed and described in detail. The important lessons
from the article will be learned effectively which demonstrated the context of contemporary
business organization in crises. And finally, analyses and evaluation of the organizational
situation will be addressed by the schools of leadership along with recommendations which will
be addressed for improving and enhancing the performance.
MAIN BODY
Characterization of Shackleton's leadership style and the important lessons learned from the
article in the context of contemporary business organizations in a crises
Leadership is defined as the ability of an individual or group of individuals to influence and
guide the followers or members of an organization. It has become important to manage the
individuals within the organization and this helps in indicating that how effectively the
leadership styles are managed and are creating value at large scale within the organization. The
leadership style which Shackleton followed was that Shackleton was a curious leader and was
good at improvisation (Gutmann, 2018). Shackleton was a model and was inspired and believed
in the mission to accomplish and frame a team for benefiting and making learn the individuals all
measures which are being addressed to as effectively and appropriately keeping in point of view
the concerns of how to motivate and encourage the individuals of his team.
Shackleton always shared a clear purpose which helped in knowing the aspects and
concerns related to improving the regular schedules and the crises which Shackleton and the
team were facing. The individuals who joined the Antarctic expedition understood the purpose of
what was the mission and goal about. Shackleton valued hard work and loyalty above all which
helped the team members in analysing the concerns which are related to effectively framing the
team in appropriate manner (Lathrop, 2020). The team which Shackleton framed was of top
priority and this helped in completing the mission which they were on. Shackleton also ensured

that the team members are able to address the concerns and aspects which they are facing in the
manner of issues and problems at large scale.
When the team left the Patience Camp, they travelled to the boats which was not seen in
15 months. Shackleton changed the plan four times which made clear the concerns related to
how the planning and framework of goal was to be achieved appropriately. Shackleton had the
ability to change and devise a new plan instantly which helped in encouraging the other team
members at large scale and make them understand the concerns related to accomplishment of
goals (Brandt, 2020). As Shackleton followed curious leadership style, there was framework of
some tough decisions which helped in indicating that Shackleton was aware of the situations in
which there could have been decisions which were to be changed appropriately. Throughout the
expedition there were some tough decisions which were made which helped in understanding
and knowing the concerns related to the analysis and assessment of the project which Shackleton
and his team were on. Shackleton made the tough decisions which proved to be best. This was
proved as – example – when the ship arrived in Argentina after crossing the Atlantic the cook got
drunk and disorderly that night. At the very point, Shackleton fired the cook. Shackleton was
very particular about the team which was framed (Leadership in Crisis: Ernest Shackleton and
the Epic Voyage of the Endurance, 2010). Shackleton used systems approach which helped in
analysing and knowing that Shackleton provided and created value of how effectively there are
concerns which are related to effectively being synchronized by being a leader.
The important lessons learned from the article “Leadership in Crisis: Ernest Shackleton
and the Epic Voyage of the Endurance” is that there should be - Perusing of engaging distractions – For example, Shackleton kept the group engaged
which helped in assessing the prospect of how the planning was being done in
appropriate manner at large scale. Planning an expedition to Alaska was method for
entertaining during the long empty hours at large scale (Murphy and Louis, 2018.).
 Finding of things to celebrate – Shackleton had identified the sense of shared identity
which was done from the very beginning which helped in analysing and creating value
for the team which is working effectively and appropriately (Leadership in Crisis:
Ernest Shackleton and the Epic Voyage of the Endurance, 2010).

 It has been also learned from the article that diffusion of the conflicts should be done
immediately so that there are no crises when such situations occur within the
organization and are hindering the business.
Critically analysing and evaluating organizational situation by drawing on the schools of
leadership and making recommendations
It is very important to consider the aspects and key concerns which are related to business and
are addressing the aspects of situations which the company is addressing and is keeping in view
point. The organizational situation which is being addressed and is taken into relevance for the
aspects are kept to understand the concerns related to effectively evaluating how leadership
should be formed and the leaders within the organization by facing such situations and coping up
with the challenges being faced at large scale (Shamir and Howell, 2018). Tesco also faces
problems and issues which are related to leadership and this helps in knowing that what are the
changes which are required within the organization at large scale. It is very important that the
leaders within Tesco are creating value for the organization and are keeping and framing the
teams in such manner that keeps intact the goals and objectives realization at large scale.
Problems which the company is facing in the leadership style is adapting democratic style of
leadership which is sometimes beneficial but there are some negative impacts of the leadership
style which are denoted and are keeping aspects of addressing to improve the performance of
team members at large scale within Tesco (Cortellazzo, Bruni and et.al., 2019). There are
negative emotions in following the democratic leadership styles and this helps indicate the
concerns that are -
 Democratic leadership evoke negative emotions and this creates problem for the team
members when they are working together to achieve the goals and fulfil some major
objectives.
 This leadership which is followed by Tesco takes lot of time when reaching the end
results. This is how effectively and in appropriate manner there are aspects which is
creating weakness among the team members which also affects the progress and growth
of the organization (Marashdah and Albdareen, 2020).

 Tesco is also facing the problem and situation of the characteristics which are affecting
the productivity and performance at large scale. This has made the situation worse of the
organization (Jensen, Moynihan and et.al., 2018).
By analysing the organizational situation of leadership of Tesco, there are aspects of how the
teams and managed and are creating value for the known concerns at large scale. The problems
and the organizational situation which is occurred between the leaders and team members is
being analysed at large scale which is helping to keep intact the concerns related to effectively
and in appropriate manner the organization is keeping intact the productivity and is showing
improvement at large scale. It is very important that the leaders are able to analyse and create
value for understanding the consequences which has been occurred due to which there are
concerns related to effectively working upon the situation and drawing conclusions for the set
goals and objectives framed (Ma and Jiang, 2018).
There are certain recommendations which are framed and are categorized as important to
be considered when there are different ways of improvement within the situation which has been
occurred within the organization. These recommendations are defined as follows -
 The leaders should be results focused such that they are able to keep up with team
members such that it helps to keep up with the goals and objectives to be accomplished at
large scale.
 Being results focused should be the main aim of the organization which helps in
analysing the concerns which are related to effectively achieving the goals by being
focused at large scale (Pitelis and Wagner, 2019).
 Decisions should be of high quality so that proper planning is being done and the correct
decisions are taken at large scale.
 Getting good at dealing with the individuals is also another aspect which helps in
knowing that what are the major points which are to be taken care of.
Therefore, it is very important that the organization deals with effective leadership styles such
that there are concerns related to having leaders who are contributing to the Tesco's growth and
development effectively (Leithwood and Louis, 2021).

CONCLUSION
Thus, it is concluded from the above report that the article “Leadership in Crisis: Ernest
Shackleton and the Epic Voyage of the Endurance” was explained in appropriate manner and this
helped in stating the aspects which were concerned effectively by the leadership style. Further,
Shackleton's leadership style was being analysed and described in detail. The important lessons
from the article were learned effectively which demonstrated the context of contemporary
business organization in crises. And finally, analyses and evaluation of the organizational
situation were addressed by the schools of leadership along with recommendations which were
addressed for improving and enhancing the performance.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Brandt, T., 2020. Book Review of Snapshots of Great Leadership. Journal of Business Ethics
Education. 17. pp.211-214.
Cortellazzo, L., Bruni, E. and et.al., 2019. The role of leadership in a digitalized world: A
review. Frontiers in psychology. 10. p.1938.
Gutmann, M.R., 2018. Consulting the Past: Integrating Historians into History‐Based Leadership
Studies. Journal of Leadership Studies. 12(2). pp.35-39.
Jensen, U.T., Moynihan, D.P. and et.al., 2018. Communicating the vision: How face‐to‐face
dialogue facilitates transformational leadership. Public Administration Review. 78(3).
pp.350-361.
Kaehler, B. and Grundei, J., 2019. The concept of management: In search of a new definition.
In HR Governance(pp. 3-26). Springer, Cham.
Lathrop, G.C., 2020. An Analysis of Leadership Through Crisis. Crisis, Stress, and Human
Resilience: An International Journal. 2(1). pp.10-28.
Leithwood, K. and Louis, K.S. eds., 2021. Organizational learning in schools. Taylor & Francis.
Ma, X. and Jiang, W., 2018. Transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and employee
creativity in entrepreneurial firms. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. 54(3).
pp.302-324.
Marashdah, O. and Albdareen, R., 2020. Impact of leadership behavior on psychological capital:
the mediating role of organizational support. Problems and Perspectives in
Management. 18(2). p.46.
Murphy, J.F. and Louis, K.S., 2018. Positive school leadership: Building capacity and
strengthening relationships. Teachers College Press.
Pitelis, C.N. and Wagner, J.D., 2019. Strategic shared leadership and organizational dynamic
capabilities. The Leadership Quarterly. 30(2). pp.233-242.
Shamir, B. and Howell, J.M., 2018. Organizational and contextual influences on the emergence
and effectiveness of charismatic leadership. In Leadership now: Reflections on the
legacy of Boas Shamir. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Online
Leadership in Crisis: Ernest Shackleton and the Epic Voyage of the Endurance, 2010. [Online].
Available Through <http://www.gonder.org.tr/wp-content/uploades/2015/12/salvipdf.pdf>
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