SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.2 SUMMARY OF MAIN FINDINGS .1 Respondent profiles
The respondents comprised 180 returned South African Antarctic expeditioners, who had overwintered between 1961 and 2015. A wide age distribution saw respondents aged from below 25 up to the age category of 61 or older. The South African Antarctic expeditioners were represented in a ratio of one woman to approximately five men, which is an improvement on the one woman to eight men that represents the rest of the world in the Antarctic community (Sarris & Kirby, 2007).
On average, about 40 per cent of South African Antarctic expeditioners had completed more than one expedition, compared to Australia where 25 per cent of Australians return for another Antarctic winter (Wood et al., 2000). The SANAE teams had the greatest representation in the survey, with expeditioners that overwintered on Marion Island second and those from Gough Island third.
When spending a year at a remote station, an expeditioner has a 65 per cent probability of experiencing an emergency, evacuation, trauma, death, or continuous and aggressive interpersonal conflict, which emphasises the fact that a station leader should be skilled enough to be able to handle emergencies and conflict effectively.
5.2.2 The role of and approaches for an effective station leader 5.2.2.1 Personal relationships
South African Antarctic expeditioners find that a station leader who maintains a personal bond with team members, as opposed to social distance, is more effective. Women prefer a balance between
a strong personal bond and a social distance, where men are more keen on a strong personal bond with their station leaders. The social distance between the team and the station leader becomes less when expeditioners are more experienced in overwintering, and when the team experiences emergencies, evacuations, trauma or continuous and aggressive interpersonal conflict, there is a greater need for a strong personal bond with the station leader.
5.2.2.2 Personal well-being
An effective station leader at a South African Antarctic station maintains a balance between allowing team members to regulate their own emotional well-being and actively monitoring and influencing the personal well-being of team members. More experienced overwinterers prefer a station leader who is more involved in their personal and emotional well-being.
Women prefer a station leader who is slightly more involved in the matter of personal well-being than the men do. This confirmed the findings of Leon and Sandal (2003), who found women to differ significantly from men when it came to interpersonal expressiveness at Antarctic stations. When an expedition is uneventful, the team members have a greater preference to regulate their own emotional well-being than do team members that experienced eventful expeditions.
5.2.2.3 Team climate
A station leader needs to make an effort to create and sustain a positive team climate. Team members on an eventful expedition with emergencies, trauma and conflict occurring, prefer a station leader who actively influences the team climate. Both men and women prefers a station leader who actively influence the team climate, which confirms the findings of Schmidt et al. (2004:685), who also found no evidence to suggest that gender influenced team members’ perceptions of team climate at Australian Antarctic stations. More experienced overwinterers had a slightly higher preference for the station leader’s involvement in team climate.
5.2.2.4 Professional duties
Station leaders should maintain a moderate involvement when it comes to the team members and the fulfilment of their professional duties. Women prefer to be left alone in the fulfilment of their duties, except when they request the station leader’s involvement, whereas the majority of men appreciate a stronger involvement from the station leader.
Expeditioners with more experience, as well as expeditioners who had experienced an eventful year, preferred a stronger involvement from the station leader in their professional duties.
5.2.3 Station leader characteristics and competencies
The three most prominent characteristics and competencies expected of a station leader are trustworthiness, conflict management skills and the ability to communicate. In the absence of emergencies, evacuations, serious illness, death or constant and aggressive interpersonal conflict,
the conflict that might arise from diversity in a multicultural team could become more prominent, and having a station leader, who is comfortable with a diverse team, becomes more important.
Many of the competencies that South African Antarctic expeditioners found important are difficult to gauge at the interview stage, and may only emerge and seen to be present or absent during the course of the year, which makes employing station leaders based on these competencies more challenging.
A station leader who is people-driven, who cares about the well-being of team members and is sensitive to individual needs is more effective than a leader who is task-driven. South African Antarctic expeditioners prefer a station leader who maintains an active involvement and interest in the core business of SANAP, namely science, research and conservation.
5.2.4 Leadership styles
The predominant leadership style that South African Antarctic expeditioners prefer is an extremely participative style, as well as a somewhat authoritative approach. A dissemination of authoritative style preference did not reveal any significant differences in terms of gender, experience or the occurrence of events.
It is also undecided whether a more authoritative or less authoritative station leader is preferred during emergencies. However, when emergencies do occur at South African Antarctic stations, the station leader should retain decision-making autonomy.
5.2.5 The position of station leader and its effect on the team 5.2.5.1 Importance of the position
The study confirmed that both team members and leaders recognise that the station leader is seen as an important position in the team and as playing a decisive role in the success of an expedition overwintering at an Antarctic station.
5.2.5.2 Impact of the station leader on team members
The station leader affects the team members’ adaptation to life at South African Antarctic stations, having a greater influence during the first expedition and less influence on individuals who had completed more than one expedition. A station leader also influences the quality of the overwintering year, but does not play a prominent role in the decision of a team member to go on another overwintering expedition.
5.2.5.3 Station leader appointment
South African Antarctic expeditioners would like to give input into the appointment of their station leader. The autocratic appointment of station leaders, however, had not resulted in an overwhelmingly negative response to this practice.
From 2000, to the most recent teams from 2015, it seems that there has been a decline in the practices of SANAP when appointing station leaders, particularly regarding the level of importance they allocate to leadership qualities. The most recent group of overwintering respondents, those from 2010 to 2015, showed the strongest response to SANAP’s lack of emphasis on the leadership qualities of station leaders.