Written Analysis of Everest Simulation: Leadership Issues

This report analyzes the Everest Simulation, a practical exercise designed to assess leadership and teamwork skills. The student, assigned the role of physician, reflects on the team's performance, which resulted in a mediocre score due to poor communication, situational decision-making, and a lack of coordination. The report identifies two key leadership issues: a lack of coordination and information sharing, which led to critical errors during the simulation, and a lack of social responsibility, where team members prioritized individual goals over collective success. Drawing on management research, including articles on path-goal theory and functional leadership, the student argues that effective leadership is crucial for team success, emphasizing the need for clear communication, shared responsibility, and support among team members. The report concludes by highlighting the importance of addressing these leadership and social responsibility issues to improve team performance in future simulations and real-world scenarios.

Jia Jia Lau
43989906
WRITTEN ANALYSIS OF EVEREST SIMULATION
Course Code: MGST 1301
Family Name:
Given Name:
Student Number: 43989906
Tutorial Number: T22
Time:
Tutor's Name: Mr. Paul Dibley
Simulation Team Members:
1. Thomas David Munro
2. Jia Jia Lau
3. Justine June Son
4. Ben Jones
5. Alice Ben
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MGST1301 Introduction to Management
Written Analysis of Everest Simulation

Jia Jia Lau
43989906
(Section 1) INTRODUCTION
The main aim of this assignment is to distinguish when pertaining holistic leadership
development to find the concrete issues which were faced during the Mount Everest Simulation
and could be used to handle the problems and complications in a contemporary environment.
The problems were identified in order to develop the holistic leader. At the time of simulation,
each person was assigned 1 out of 5 different roles. And I was the physician. The overall average
score of the team was 48 and my score as an individual was 70. Overall we obtained a mediocre
score, and this happened because we have less experience in communication and situational
decision making. And there was a main problem of coordination among the team members.
(Section 2) LEADERSHIP ISSUE: LACK OF COORDINATION AND SHARING
OF INFORMATION
1. DESCRIPTION OF PROBLEM
At the time of simulation, I (physician) and the environmentalist pressed the resting button as we
were not clear with the instructions and as a result, we both were left at the base camp.
Afterwards, the environmentalist fell ill when they were about to climb from camp 1 to camp 2,
and this resulted in a decision whether we should dispense the medical supplies and physician to
her aid and then finally she was left at the camp 1, and I (physician) climbed to camp 1 in order
to give her medical supplies. Since there is the scarcity of resources, this resulted in reducing our
chances of ensuring that we meet our goals of having at least individuals reach the peak. This
decision split the group in half, with one side people were saying we need to stick together in
order to survive. But on the other side people were working to achieve their personal goals
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MGST1301 Introduction to Management
Written Analysis of Everest Simulation

Jia Jia Lau
43989906
instead of achieving a group goal. This gave rise to debate, which prompted me to give my
opinion on the issue that team members are not working as a team and they want to achieve their
individual goals only, and this would impact our performance. And there is no coordination
between us and the team leader is not ready to take his responsibility as a leader.
2. MANAGEMENT RESEARCH EVIDENCE
The topic is about leadership issue i.e. lack of coordination and information sharing. In this
article the path goal theory of leader effectiveness has been described. The leader’s behavior is
important as it enhances subordinate empowerment and satisfaction and the team works
effectively. It has been stated that team members have specific and different roles which they
have to perform in order to achieve collective success. If the team fails then this is not only
because of the incompetency of the team members but also the lack of coordination and
synchronization results in combined failure. Most of the teams have an individual who is
responsible for defining the team goals and aligning the tasks, and if he doesn't take his
responsibility then there will be a lack of coordination and the task will become more chaotic.
Therefore, it has been discovered that people depend on each other when they work in a team.
The effective teams are those who have a high level of combined performance, and they focus
more on achieving team objective than the personal goal. The result of the research showed that
the researchers paid more stress on teamwork in order to attain good leadership qualities. This
article has proved that this leadership issue has impacted our performance. (HOUSE, 2016)
The second article discusses the leadership issue that how these issues impact the overall
performance of the team. It is being discussed that the role of leadership is essential for the team
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MGST1301 Introduction to Management
Written Analysis of Everest Simulation

Jia Jia Lau
43989906
in order to bring efficiency and effectiveness. It is being stated in the article that the leaders of a
team have to follow functional leadership strategy in order to find the problems which are
affecting the team during the decision-making process, leaders should generate solutions for the
problems and then implement them. This will solve the problem of lack of information sharing.
And this would help the team to follow all the instructions as they will listen carefully to the
leader. Leaders have the responsibility of defining the events of the environment to the team, and
if the responsibility is not taken properly then there will be a chaos among the team, and there
will be a lack of coordination among the team members, and this will impact the performance of
a team badly. This article stated that the leader should have a positive attitude in order to
complete his duties responsibly without creating a chaos and a problem of coordination among
the team members. (Christensen et al; 2014)
3. APPLICATION OF EVIDENCE TO A PROBLEM
Based on both the articles, it is being observed that the issues of leadership effect the overall
performance of a team. It is very important that the leader of a team should be responsible
enough in order to lead his team towards the success. The cooperation and coordination among
the team result in better yields. The results in the journal articles have proven that the leader
should have a positive attitude in order to complete his duties responsibly without creating the
problem of coordination among the team. As people depend on each other when they work in a
team. The effective team is the one which focuses on achieving the group goal rather than
achieving the individual goals.
Our team leader during the simulation has failed because he was not able to find the reasons for
the lack of coordination among the team members. When we started our task, I (physician) and
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MGST1301 Introduction to Management
Written Analysis of Everest Simulation

Jia Jia Lau
43989906
the environmentalist pressed the resting button accidentally, this happened because we didn't get
the proper instructions. The environmentalist forecasted the wrong weather report, and she didn't
know that she can actually forecast the weather for the next day as well. This happened because
of lack of information sharing. The photographer decided to achieve her personal goal by staying
at the camp 1 for two days, and this showed that there was a lack of coordination among the
members as they were working to achieve their individual goals. The team leader stayed at camp
1 in order to bring the whole team together. This helped the team to some extent as they again
started climbing to the next camp in coordination in order to achieve the success. But still, there
were leadership issues in the team like lack of coordination and sharing of information.
(Section 3) SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ISSUE: LACK OF SUPPORT AMONG
TEAM MEMBERS
1. DESCRIPTION OF PROBLEM
Our team could have gained a better overall score if there was a complete support among the
team members from the base camp. As when the environmentalist's health became critical, and
she needed an inhaler, that time it was decided by the team to give her a gamma bag in order to
keep the inhaler for marathoner as she has a problem of asthma. That time we took the risk for
the health of environmentalist and we failed as her health became more critical. We left the
environmentalist at the camp 2 and started climbing further to achieve our aim. The
photographer stayed at camp 4 in order to take photographs, and he doesn't support her team to
complete the summit further. Finally, the summit was completed by 3 members of the team only.
The health of the environmentalist became more critical because of the wrong decision made by
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MGST1301 Introduction to Management
Written Analysis of Everest Simulation

Jia Jia Lau
43989906
the team, and it was my fault that I didn't keep the extra inhalers and other medicines in order to
protect the health of the team members.
2. MANAGEMENT RESEARCH EVIDENCE
The first article described social responsibility as an ethical framework and an entity, whether it
is an organization or an individual, has to work for the benefit of society and others at large.
Social responsibility helps in motivating the individuals. This article discusses the issues which
the individual faces in order to achieve the group goal. Nowadays, people have become so
competitive and selfish that they think about their desires first, and then they think about helping
others. The issues in social responsibility adversely impact the performance of the entire group
as they think about achieving personal goals rather than the group goal. And because of this the
team members starts avoiding the decision-making process and doesn't participate in the group
discussion. They make their own strategies in order to achieve their personal targets. If the
person is not socially responsible, then he is not able to work in a team. And it is very important
for the team leader to be socially responsible in order to lead the team towards the success.
Therefore, this article has proved that the team leader should be socially responsible in order to
lead the team. (Quatro et al; 2007)
The second article discusses the issues the team faces when there is the lack of social
responsibility among the team leader and the other members. The team members would think
about themselves only and as a result, they fail to achieve the group target. The article stated that
if there is an issue of social responsibility, then the team members will not support each other
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MGST1301 Introduction to Management
Written Analysis of Everest Simulation

Jia Jia Lau
43989906
and will not sacrifice for the benefit of the other member. And this will further give rise to the
problem in the decision-making process as the members will not agree with each other on a
common point, and there will be more arguments among the members. This will impact the
performance of the team in a negative way. Therefore, the article showed the importance of
social responsibility in order to achieve the group targets and provide support to other team
members. (TIM et al; 2016)
3. APPLICATION OF EVIDENCE TO A PROBLEM
Based on both the articles, it is being observed that the issue in the team was that there was a
lack of support among the team members, and the evidence is sufficient to prove this. The team
members preferred not to take any risk for the group. Instead, they completed their individual
goals. It is very important for the team to support each other completely in order to complete the
group task with flying colors. From both the journal articles, it has been cleared that the issue of
social responsibility adversely affects the performance of a team. And in the competitive world,
people are becoming more selfish and doesn't want even to think about the benefit of others and
the society. The effective team is the one which focuses on the social responsibility issues and
works accordingly in order to overcome the issue. Therefore, it has been proven by both the
journal articles that the team members should support each other in order to achieve the success
as a team, not as an individual.
According to me the team should have realized earlier that the fear of failure is essential and is
not guaranteed, and if the team had overcome the problem at the earlier stage only then it would
have become more confident while climbing to the next camps. The team should have supported
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MGST1301 Introduction to Management
Written Analysis of Everest Simulation

Jia Jia Lau
43989906
the other team members in order to complete the summit. Whereas, only Marathoner supported
her team in spite of bad health. As she has a problem of asthma, she completed the summit with
me (physician) and the team leader. The photographer didn’t support the team as she stayed at
the camp 4 in because she wanted to take the photographs and the environmentalist decided to go
back as her health was critical. As the wrong decision was taken by the team while giving her the
treatment. It took time for the team to realize the value of team support in order to reach the
summit.
(Section 4) REFLECTION ON HOLISTIC LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
The different elements of the course have contributed so much in order to develop the four
domains of holistic leaders. The lectures, tutorials, and simulation helped me to think logically as
we were supposed to work in a team during simulation and we were supposed to make strategies
in order to compete with others and complete the summit. And this helped me in developing the
quality of decisiveness. During the simulation, we were supposed to choose one alternative over
the other most of the times. This helped me in developing the analytical domain of holistic
leadership.
The lectures, tutorials, and simulation helped me to do the brainstorming activity more
frequently in order to find the ways to solve the problems. I have become more creative by
managing complexity and facing challenges. During the simulation, we were supposed to find
the solutions immediately in the case of problems, and we had to approach the solution
differently. This helped me in developing the conceptual domain of holistic leadership.
The lectures, tutorials, and simulation helped me to become emotionally strong. Earlier, I was
very weak in taking decisions because my heart didn’t allow me even if it was not for my
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MGST1301 Introduction to Management
Written Analysis of Everest Simulation

Jia Jia Lau
43989906
benefit. During the simulation, the environmentalist became iller because of our wrong decision
and she was forced to go back to the camp 1 and I wanted to stay with her because of her bad
health, but I decided to support my team and completed the summit. It was very difficult for me
to take the decision but I did it. This helped me in developing the emotional domain of holistic
leadership.
The lectures, tutorials, and simulation helped me to become more spiritual. I have learned how to
do the self -assessment of my own decision, and the group goal is much more important than the
individual goal. During the simulation, the photographer achieved his individual goal by staying
at the camp 4 and even he didn't get support for this from the team. Whereas, I decided to leave
the environmentalist behind and supported my team in order to complete the summit. And even I
got support from my team. This helped me in developing the spiritual domain of holistic
leadership.
Therefore, the simulation helped me the most in developing the qualities and skills of holistic
leadership. And now I am able to understand my current situation better and deal with it
accordingly. And next time, I will participate in the simulation, my team will get the highest
score as compared to other teams.
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MGST1301 Introduction to Management
Written Analysis of Everest Simulation

Jia Jia Lau
43989906
REFERENCES
Christensen, L. J., Mackey, A., & Whetten, D. (2014). Taking responsibility for corporate social
responsibility: The role of leaders in creating, implementing, sustaining, or avoiding socially
responsible firm behaviors. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 28(2), 164-178.
House, R. J. (1996). Path-goal theory of leadership: Lessons, legacy, and a reformulated
theory. The Leadership Quarterly, 7(3), 323-352.
Quatro, S. A., Waldman, D. A., & Galvin, B. M. (2007). Developing holistic leaders: Four
domains for leadership development and practice. Human Resource Management Review, 17(4),
427-441.
Tim, B.., Walzel, S., Anagnostopoulos, C., & van Eekeren, F. (2015). Corporate social
responsibility and governance in sport:“Oh, the things you can find, if you don’t stay
behind!”. Corporate Governance, 15(2), 254-273.
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MGST1301 Introduction to Management
Written Analysis of Everest Simulation