Role Play Discussion - Escalation of Commitment Role-Play

Explain the scenario based on the current event that you chose to analyze

Escalation of commitment is the consequence of something that is failing and not gaining reward but we continue to invest time, money, and energy in it by justifying our commitment to the cause (Johnson, C.E. 2018) An example of this was XFL. This football league was founded by professional wrestling executive Vince McMahon.

Describe what happened, why the group continued in a failed course of action, and the de-escalation process (if any)

This football league was relaunched in 2018 from 2001 when they hoped it would compete with the NFL. The second time around was worse than the first. In the first five weeks of the 2020 season they closed due to COVID and in April finally filed for bankruptcy. Dwayne Johnson AKA the Rock and his business partner bought it for 15 million right before the auction. It will return to the field in 2022 under new ownership.

The group continued in the failed course of action because they believed in it. As mentioned in the text this week, t "Risk seeking is a third-factor driving escalation" (Johnson, C.E. 2018). They continued to pour money into this in hopes that the viewers would start to adapt to an alternative league outside the NFL. The de- escalation process began in 2020 when they made the hard decision to file for bankruptcy.

Identify what lessons can be learned from this scenario.

Out of the seven steps recommended in this week’s text to help with the de- escalation process, the ones that would have been most useful in this scenario would be "Don’t be afraid to withhold further funding” and “Look for opportunities to redefine the problem” (Johnson, C.E. 2018). This would have saved them time and a lot of money. Another lesson learned could be more changes needed to be made in the relaunch.

References:

Johnson, C.E. (2018). Meeting the ethical challenges of leadership: Casting light or shadow (6th ed). Retrieved from https://www.redshelf.com (Links to an external site.)

Russell, J. (2020, May 26). Vince McMahon says he won’t try to buy back bankrupt XFL. The Washington Post.

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