Analysis of Mt Everest

Analysis of “Mount Everest – 1996”

Analyze Mount Everest 1996 in terms of:

1. Tuckman’s theory of stages of group formation (1965; 1977)

* What stages does each climbing group progress through (Adventure Consultants and Mountain Madness)? Provide evidence of your assessment for each stage.

* What is the final developmental stage of each group? What are the implications of this?

Forming Stage – group comes together and gets to initially know one another and form a group. Typically members of the group start to understand their roles, goal of the group, and task that the group demands of the group.

Adventure Consultants met for the first time at Kathmandu, Nepal. Then they traveled by helicopter to Lukla. They hiked as group from there to Base Camp. So during this hike to base camp the group gets a feel for each other and can see each other’s abilities. This allows each to see what the others skills are and how that may impact the ascent to the summit. (Came into this stage sooner than Mountain Madness due to the early hike they did together.)

Mountain Madness all met at base camp. Because they did not all meet in a central location and get to base camp together there was no real sense for each team member’s abilities or climbing skills. Also their leader was not able to focus on the team’s plan of action due to logistical problems.

Problem that happened with both teams is that there was no initial meeting or discussion prior to the climb. Look at this like a project….going right into development without having a kick off or discussion of roles and responsibilities, who is the lead, what are the rules, what are contingency plans, etc…Neither group did this, and we think this was the start of all the problems.

Storming Stage- in this stage group members realize that their individual expectations and those of other members may not be the same. This is the stage where frustration/conflict can develop.

Adventure Consultants starts...