Dynamic Complexity: Senior Management Skills for the Safety of Present-Day Mining Companies

Abstract

Based on the author’s more than 35 years of experience in mining projects and operations’ management – including the expansion of CODELCO’s El Teniente with rock blasting challenges that threatened its continuity – this article introduces a new way of facing safety in today’s companies. The proposal divides the management process into four stages: i) Adequate context diagnostic; ii) How people perceive reality; iii) An action plan; and iv) A focused and goal-oriented organization, where the key is understanding how people learn and interpret the existing reality. Based on these variables, organizations are challenged with developing a capacity to integrate corporate Dynamic Complexity – with “uncertainties” as a key variable – with their environment, both local and global. The proposal includes the Inverted Pyramid of Corporate Responsibility, where the integration capacity to manage communication and outreach processes as part of the company’s continuous development lies in the Board of Directors and the Top Management, thereby allowing the company to correctly address the cultural, professional, and educational diversity of its work teams, facing an increasingly uncertain environment.