Wesley is an MBA Student with 20 years+ experience in the UK military and most recently three years’ experience in wildlife conservation in Africa.
As part of his research methods module Wesley developed a research proposal that focused on observing and reflected on Leadership.
During his MBA studies Wesley had completed a Leadership module, during which he and the other students had worked in groups of five in a simulation event where they trekked to the summit of Mount Kilamanjaro in Tanzania (Morrow et al. 2021). Wesley decided to utilise the simulation as observational research on Leadership and Team Dynamics. Wesley utilised his knowledge of Leadership Theories and Team Dynamics to design his observational research. Early theories on leadership argued that leaders were born with characteristics and behaviours that made them special people able to guide and influence others.
One of these theories was called ‘great men’ and remained popular until the nineteenth century (Bass 2008; Yukl 2008).
Trait theory began to be contested in the mid-twentieth century (Northouse 2018). Subsequent research evidenced that other elements such as organizational and situational context, readiness of the followers, and interpersonal relationships, among others, are also key factors for good leadership (Bass 2008; Northouse 2018).
Experiential models offer techniques for the development of leadership. Computational and non-computational models have been proposed based on the idea that participants must experience situations involving the abilities or skills required for the exercise of leadership.
These models are used in teaching and learning environments and have as their main feature the presentation of real-world situations that enable the participant to intervene, plan, make decisions, and evaluate the results of their actions (Faria et al. 2009).
Wesley’s simulation used the dramatic context of a Mount Kilimanjaro trekking expedition to reinforce student learning in group dynamics and leadership. Students played one of five active roles on a team of trekkers attempting to reach the mountain summit. Each team had a sixth member (Wesley) who did not take an active part in the simulation. For each team the roles were as follows:
• Trek Leader and Guide (planning and evaluate roles based on Wesley’s observations)
• Trek Doctor (decision-making and intervention role based on Wesley’s observations)
• Trek Cook (intervene and evaluate role based on Wesley’s observations)
• Marathon Runner (planning role based on Wesley’s observations)
• Meteorologist (planning and interventionist role based on Wesley’s observations)
• Observer (Wesley).

Wesley observed the trek leader and team members (participants) for 10 teams (10 different simulations).
During each round, of the simulation each team collectively discussed whether to attempt the next camp en route to the summit. Ultimately, each team had to hike over seven simulated days from Limosho Glades across the Shira Plateau and the Baranco Valley to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, their discussions and deliberations totalling approximately seven actual hours of real time. Team members analysed information on weather, member health conditions, supplies, goals and walking speed, and determined how much of that information to communicate to others in their team. Along the journey, the team also had to respond to two additional challenges that affected their ability to cope with altitude, trekking speed, health and overall success.
Drawing on the literature Wesley focused his observations on interpersonal interactions between all the team members. Within this he was particularly interested in:
• the common information effect (Gupta 2020), where information held by more members before team discussion has more influence on team judgements than information held by fewer members, independent of the validity of the information.
• discussion bias (Wu et al 2019), where shared information is judged as more important, accurate, and decision-relevant than unshared information.
During each round Wesley observed and made scratch notes. These he worked up into a fuller account after each round for each of the ten simulations.

Questions
1 a What observational role has Wesley adopted in his research?
b Why do you think he has done this?
2 a If Wesley hadn’t utilised the simulation, what problems could he have faced in gaining physical and subsequently cognitive access to participants?
b How did he manage these access issues?
3 What are the advantages of Wesley’s approach of utilising a simulation for observational research?
4 What are the disadvantages of Wesley’s approach of utilising a simulation for observational research?