MT Everest Disaster Case Study

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Student’s Name
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Leadership Style of Hall/Fisher
In 1996 Rob Hall and Scott Fischer lead a commercial expedition team trying to climb to the Summit of
Mount Everest. Each of these teams had a leader, several guides and eight clients. Despite reaching the
summit, the teams encountered grave dangers during their descend leading to the loss of lives of five
persons including the two leaders. Many mountaineers who made it down pointed out that the two
leaders made a number of poor decisions during this tragedy.
There is s significant difference between Rob Hall and Scott fisher in the leadership styles employed.
Hall’s leadership style compares to be considerably more stringent the Fischer’s. Hall poured over reams
of computer print put detailing logistical minutiae. This shows how planned out Robs group was. This is
also showed from the statement, “Hall runs the tightest, safest operation on the mountain. Bar none.”
His company is referred tom as the safest on the mountain which cannot be obtained without strictly
enforced regulations. This makes Rob an autocratic leader. On the other hand Fischer had a dynamic and
easy going leadership style. Fischer believes in giving clients free reign to go up and down the mountain
alone in acclimatization periods. I believe that he had good intentions but when dealing with climbers of
low experience, more control in necessary.
Based on the behavioral perspective of leadership, Hall’s leadership would be described as task-
oriented. This is as opposed to people-oriented as his focus was on setting goals and deadlines, clarifying
procedures, and activity planning. He also controlled his team and directed their entire schedules. He is
described as meticulous in planning and attention to detains. Moreover, Hall is a charismatic leader with
a sense of humor combined with intensity and focus. His group is informed that his word is the law in
the mountain. He expressed expert and referent power in his leadership.
On the other hand, Scott Fisher is described as physically impressive with a magnetic personality. Unlike
Hall, Scott is more people-oriented. While hall controls the peoples training, scheduling, and involved in
every planning detail, Scott is more flexible with the schedules of his team members. His colleagues also
state that he is charismatic. Despite his company not being well known, he also demonstrates expert
and referent power.
Cognitive Biases That Characterized Hall and Fisher Decision Making
1. Sunk Cost Bias
Members of the Mount Everest expedition invested an upward of 65, 000 dollars each to reach the top
of Mount Everest. With the unwritten rule that you cannot reach the peak by the final push of 2 o’clock
of the final push you should head back. Having invested a lot of money the mountaineers could not turn
back having not reached the summit and were only 300 feet from the summit at 2 o’clock and they
continued to push forward. This poor decision lead to loss of lives as some ran out of oxygen or froze
while getting down to the base camp. The sunk cost bias made the mountaineers to go beyond the
established turnaround time. After having invested so much money they that they could not give up on
the quest to make it to the top of the mountain. They made a bad decision because of their sunk cost
bias.
2. Overconfident Bias
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The guides if Mount Everest expedition often boasted that they could guide anyone with average fitness
to the summit of Mount Everest. They were so confident that that ignored that 2 pm return to base rule.
Eventually that paid the ultimate price as they lost several team members including the two leaders.
3. Recency Bias
The previous years had offered an above average weather pattern during the month of May, this is
when most expeditions plan to reach the summit of Mount Everest. The guides became complacent and
made assumption that the May of 1996 would have the same good weather pattern. This decision
should have been made on the overall weather probability. A typical pattern settled on the May of 1996
catching the guides off guard. This resulted to death of some mountaineers by freezing to death.

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Leadership Style of Hall/Fisher

Cognitive Biases That Characterized Hall and Fisher Decision Making

1. Sunk Cost Bias

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