Organizational management: Analyzing your management structure to improve underground mine supervisory training programs

Abstract

Management science in mining is coming of age. More individuals are becoming aware of the social nature of organizations and how they affect the work output in employees. One of the most critical areas in mining management is the faceboss, or frontline supervisor. Research has now shown that his behavior has a large impact on how well a production unit works, therefore, the effective training of this individual has become a key to improving productivity and lowering costs. However, past and many current training programs have produced inconsistent results. Something was missing in the development of the program. New insight into why the training area has not been a success has revealed a flaw in the development process. In their rush to obtain a program and save “visible dollars,” a mining company often turned to a “canned” program available through an outside firm. The company did not complete two simple analyses of their operation which provide the essential facts to the training program. This paper discusses these two diagnostic techniques and how they influence the development of an effective supervisory training program. The conclusions show two important points about these diagnostic techniques. First, they bridge the information gap to allow a training program to focus on the specific problems occuring at the mine, and secondly, that by using these analyses, mine management will ensure better and more consistent results in their training programs.