The development of a comprehensive, practical and integrated management method with specific reference to the South African mining industry

Abstract

This research focused on the past to the present theoretical development of the management discipline and the practical application of it in the South African mining industry. The perceived deficiencies of the theoretical and practical management methods were identified and discussed. The role of the mining industry as one of the major contributors to employment, wealth creation, national gross product and national development was discussed. Existing and future challenges were highlighted. A motivation why the existing available theoretical management practices being utilised were inadequate to enable management to manage comprehensively was identified. The management practices utilised or still being utilised in the South African mining industry were investigated and evaluated. The Mine Manager’s Certificate of Competency, as a legally compulsory suitable qualification for a manager to be appointed as a competent person to manage a mine, part of it or works, was also investigated and evaluated. The ideal management method should, at all times, provide in all the present and future theoretical and practical management needs of the total labour force on all the levels of the organisation. It should enable management to efficiently cope with the demands of rapid change and the efficient management of the future. It should ensure that all activities necessary for the efficient functioning of the organisation are totally integrated and coordinated. This management method should facilitate the optimisation of the collective skills, loyalty and dedication of all the employees on all the levels of the organisation. It should primarily optimise the desired planned results. Such a management method could not be ascertained from the literature and practice. It was concluded that the South African mining industry is in dire need of a comprehensive, practical and integrated management method that would, at all times, provide in all the present and future theoretical and practical management needs of the total labour force on all the levels of the organisation. A sustainable, comprehensive, practical and integrated management theory and an implementation procedure, suitable to apply the management theory equally efficiently on all the levels of the organisation, was developed, discussed and proposed in this thesis.