Mount Everest 1996 Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

Question 1
What caused this tragedy?
On May 11, 1996 a major tragedy had occurred on Everest and among the two top expedition leaders, 5 of the leaders had lost their lives. The first leader was the New Zealander, Rob Hall and he was the leader of the Adventure Consultant and the second leader was from Colorado who was Scott Fisher. He was the team leader of Mountain Madness and they also accompanied three other climbers that included the Andy Harris, Yasuko Namba and Doug Hansen.
Both of the leaders were experienced climbers but the tragedy that happened is marked as the deadliest in the history of Everest. According to the analysis of the situation and based on the decision making of Hall, I think that Hall failed out to adhere to the decision for the turnaround at the 1pm time. This was very important as some of Hall’s partners such as 2 sherpas, Kasischke, Taske and Hathison decided to strictly follow the rule and they had made the u turn despite the fact that they were all so close to the summit and as a result all of them survived the expedition.
Secondly, the decision of Hall to go ahead and accompany the climber Doug Hansen had caused him to lost the focus for all the other members in terms of priority. The leadership style of Hall was dissent and not tolerating therefore, nobody was able to question all the wrong decisions made by Hall. This could be seen when Hall had allowed Boukreev, the Russian guide to climb without oxygen and later he had to descend faster. In addition to this Fisher also made many mistakes such as climbing the summit without sufficient oxygen and as he was competing against Hall therefore, he disregarded many safety aspects such as allowing Lobsang to climb without oxygen. All of these factors contributed to the 1996 Mount Everest Tragedy.
Mount Everest 1996 Harvard Case Solution & Analysis
Question 2
What is your assessment of Hall and Fischer as leaders?
Hall and Fisher both have a different leadership style. The strengths of Hall include confidence and positive attitude. He had climbed Everest around 4 times and has also guided 39 clients to the summit. He is a detailed and oriented character and a caring personality. He is also well respected by the clients and the staff. However, as a leader he is highly dependent on the clients and has to specific turnaround time. He also fails to follow his own principles during the turnaround time.
On the other hand, the strengths of Scott Fisher include that he was able to climb the Everest with the minimum supply of the oxygen. He had high confidence and a positive attitude. He was charismatic and energetic. He provided his clients with more self-reliance and confidence by giving them more freedom during the acclimatization. However, he also had certain weaknesses being a leader such as he had no previous experience of climbing Everest or guiding a team. He was poor to judge the capabilities of his own clients. There was a difference in the wages of the staff members and poor management due to no clear hierarchal organization...........

This is just a sample partial work. Please place the order on the website to get your own originally done case solution.

Share This

SALE SALE

Save Up To

30%

IN ONLINE CASE STUDY

FOR FREE CASES AND PROJECTS INCLUDING EXCITING DEALS PLEASE REGISTER YOURSELF !!

Register now and save up to 30%.