Shackleton

Conflict & Making Hard Decisions

During their voyage, the Endurance party faced what seemed to be fatal situations; yet each time, they beat the odds and survived. While some of their success could be because of luck, Shackleton's leadership is widely credited with making the essential difference. Some reasons why the party was able to survive the unfortunate trip was because of the way Shackleton dealt with conflict and making hard decision's.

Conflict

Although everyone understands the importance of optimism, Shackleton recognized that being optimistic was most important when it was most difficult. When setbacks occurred, he had to remain outwardly optimistic, despite his own feelings, to prevent a growing despair among his men. He knew that such despair could, in the face of adversity and conflict, lead to disagreement, defiance, or simply giving up. Day after day, to counter the morale-sapping effect of the miserable cold, wetness, fatigue, hunger, and boredom of their life on the ice, he summoned the strength to remain optimistic Ð'- despite suffering the same conditions himself. As the crew witnessed their ship being crushed by the surrounding ice, they were all very discouraged with the thought that survival would be difficult now that their ship was lost. On October 27th, after the ship had received its first real damage from the ice, Shackleton wrote, "The position was lat. 69Ð'o5'S, long. 51Ð'o30'W. The temperature was -8.5Ð'oF, a gentle southerly breeze was blowing, and the sun shone in a clear sky. After long months of ceaseless anxiety and strain, after times when hope beat high and times when the outlook was black indeed, we have been compelled to abandon the ship, which is crushed beyond all hope of ever being righted, we are alive and well, and we have stores and equipment for the task that lies before