Ernest Shackleton’s Epic Voyage of the Endurance A Successful Failure

Background Ernest Shackleton wanted to make a name for himself by leading two ships and two crews on a Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Despite the weak reputation that preceded him and a nation preparing for war, Shackleton was able to gather the funds necessary to make the trip. During the journey, Shackleton had to deal with issues amongst his crew, harsh weather conditions, and eventually sickness among his crew members. In the end, Shackleton’s persistence paid off and he was able to lead every last man to safety. Depending on which context is used to evaluate this case, Shackleton’s expedition can be viewed as a successful failure. The first problem that Shackleton endured was funding the expedition. Not only did he have to fund one ship and crew, but two. Shackleton overcame the reputation that he gained from the Discovery as being weak as well as a nation preparing for war and gathered enough funding for everything he needed for his expedition. The next problem was among his crew. Shackleton had to restructure his command and crew of the other ship in hopes to regain control. He also had to continually keep the crew busy throughout the journey to keep that control as well as their respect. The majority of the rest of the problems that Shackleton and his crew encountered were because of weather. Beginning with delays in Georgia until they finally abandoned ship and camped on the ice, the weather was relentless. After leaving the ship the crew had to hunt for food as rations were being depleted. Even after camping on the ice and deciding to hike the weather was against them. Shackleton eventually made the decision to man the two boats in hopes of reaching the islands and the weather continued to be their enemy. When the crew finally reached the island there was a small dispute about Shackelton still being their leader until he agreed to pay them until they were back home. By this time the crew had grown tired and many were ill and their hope was dwindling. The last problem that Shackleton endured was getting every last crew member to safety. He made several failed attempts before finally reaching the stranded men and bringing them back to safety.

SWOT Analysis Positive Negative Strengths: Strong assistants Flexibility Decisive Pride Confidence Weaknesses: Funding Stamina Crew Control Morale Internal Factors Opportunities: Restructure Reschedule Refinance Threats: Time Weather Withdrawal of support External

Alternatives Put off the expedition until a better time Use an alternate route Leave the ship within sight of land 1) Put off the expedition until a better time: When Shackleton reached South Georgia Island on the way to the Antarctic, there were already indications that the expedition would be at risk. The case states “… local seamen warned that his ship might get trapped...”, and yet Shackleton decided to proceed. Putting off the expedition would threaten financial and personnel arrangements Shackleton had made. Shackleton had already struggled to gain financial backing for the expedition. Securing the funding had already taken a long time. His backers were the British government and wealthy industrialists. The fact that they were expected to embark on the expedition while the country made preparations for war indicate that patience was not there for delaying the journey. Shackleton had already arranged for the logistics and personnel to make the journey. On the one hand a delay at South Georgia Island would mean the men and sled dogs would be idle. The men would expect reimbursement for that time and this would put a drain on the limited finances of the expedition. On the other hand, the leadership and crew could use the time to become more familiar with each other. 2) Use an alternate route: Shckleton had the option to use an alternate route when they came upon the Dawson-Lambton Glacier. Since the ship had already struggled with ice floes and had almost sunk once, choosing to land here would reduce the risk of the pack ice trapping the ship. Instead, Shackleton chose to avoid adding 200 miles to the planned route. This is where the flexibility he showed once stranded could have benefited Shackleton. If the expedition had landed at the glacier they could have off loaded the necessary supplies and the sled dogs and began the trek that was the objective of the expedition. What the case document does not tell is what happened to the Aurora and her crew on the other side of the Antarctic. Shackleton did not have a way to know if he and his group had made it to the other side of the continent, if the supplies would be there to sustain them for that half of the trip. 3) Leave the ship while they were within sight of land: One might wonder why when the case intro states that the Endurance was within sight of land when it became stuck in the ice, they did not leave the ship and move to land. The map in exhibit 1 and the case narrative provides some answer. The land the Endurance was in sight of was 80 miles away. Disembarking here meant traversing 80 miles of ice, and at this point, there was still some expectation that the Endurance would be free of the ice. From the narrative, it appears a wait was expected, and the initial situation was not dire enough to be a concern. Even if they had chosen to leave the Endurance at this early stage, there was no guarantee it would improve the situation. The case tells of the difficulty experienced in moving the smaller boats even over a short distance, and moving toward the continent would move them further from any possibility of rescue.

Conclusions/ Recommendations Ontario Ministry of Education has come up with five leadership developments: ideas into action. Ideas Into Action focuses on the five core leadership capacities: 1. Setting goals 2. Aligning resources with priorities 3. Promoting collaborative learning cultures 4. Using data 5. Engaging in courageous conversations. In ways we think Shackleton followed this model, but like all leaders there is always room to improve. We believe that his goals were strong at first, but his pride and confidence got in the way. Once he got all of his resources together he was so excited about the expedition, that he did not follow his initial goals and rushed into the expedition.