MINE MA LESSON 1

Management

is the process of achieving organizational goals through people by planning, organizing, leading, and controlling resources and activities.

2 types of  Operational Planning and Engineering

Long-Term Planning & Short-Term Planning

Safety and Risk Management

Safety is the absolute priority. Managers enforce strict protocols to handle critical hazards like slope stability in open pits, ground control underground, heavy equipment collisions, and toxic gas/dust exposure. This relies heavily on the Hierarchy of Controls (eliminating risks first, rather than just relying on PPE).

Operational Planning and Engineering

 Operations ensure a steady, optimal flow of material from the ground to the processing plant.

Long-Term Planning

 Setting the overall sequence of mining to maximize the deposit's financial value over its entire lifetime (Life of Mine).

Short-Term Planning

 Managing daily shift schedules, equipment dispatch, and ore blending to meet mill requirements.

 Financial and Resource Control

Mining requires massive capital expenditure (CapEx) to build and operational expenditure (OpEx) to run.

Cut-off Grade

The lowest grade of mineralized rock that can be mined and processed at a profit. Anything below this is treated as waste rock.

Stripping Ratio

 In surface mining, the amount of waste rock that must be moved to access one unit of economic ore. Higher ratios mean higher operating costs.

 ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance)

Modern operations require a Social License to Operate—the continuous approval from local communities and governments. This includes securing Tailings Storage Facilities (waste dams) to prevent environmental spills, practicing progressive land rehabilitation, and honoring local frameworks (such as securing Free, Prior, and Informed Consent from Indigenous Peoples).

FUNCTIONS OF MANAGEMENT 

Planning & Decision-Making, Organizing, Staffing, Directing/Leading, Controlling,

Planning & Decision-Making

 Involves selecting goals and objectives, as well as the actions to achieve them; it requires decision-making, that is choosing the “best” from among alternatives.

Organizing

Involves establishing an intentional structure of roles for people to fill in an organization. The process of allocating and arranging human and non-human resources so that plans can be carried out successfully. 

Staffing

Involves filling, and keeping filled, the positions in the organization structure. Process by which managers select, train, promotes, and retires subordinate.

Directing/Leading

 Influencing people so that they will contribute to organizational and group goals.

Controlling

Measuring and correcting individual and organizational performance to ensure that events conform to plans. Facilitates the accomplishment of plans. The process of regulating organizational activities. 

Managerial Functions and the Organizational Hierarchy

TOP, MIDDLE, FIRST LINE 

TOP

Strategic Managers who are ultimately responsible for the entire organization. Typical titles include CEO, COO, CFO, “President”, “Executive Vice President”, “Executive Director”, “Senior Vice President”, or “Vice President”. 

MIDDLE 

Tactical Managers located beneath the top levels of the hierarchy who are directly responsible for the work of managers at lower levels. Titles include “Manager”, “Director of”, “Chief”, “Department Head”, and “Division Head”.

FIRST-LINE 

Operational Managers at the lowest level of the hierarchy who are directly responsible for the work of operating (non-managerial) employees. Often have titles that include the word “Supervisor”.

MANAGEMENT SKILLS 

Conceptual Skill, Human Skill, Technical Skill 

Conceptual Skill

The cognitive ability to see the organization as a whole and the relationships among its parts.

Human Skill

The ability to work with and through other people and to work effectively as a group member. 

Technical Skill 

The understanding of and proficiency in the performance of specific tasks.

Unrelenting Pace

Managers began working the moment they arrived at the office in the morning and kept working until they left at night. Rather than taking coffee breaks they usually drank their coffee while they attended meetings, and lunches were almost eaten in the course of formal or informal meetings.

Brevity, Variety, and Fragmentation

Managers handled a wide variety of issues throughout the day. For example, awarding a retirement plaque to discussing the bidding on a multi-million-dollar contract. 

Verbal Contacts and Networks

Managers showed a strong preference for verbal communication and relied heavily on networks.  A network is a set of cooperative relationships with individuals whose help is needed in order for a manager to function effectively. 

Is Management a Science or an Art?

Definitions according to Webster'sCollege Dictionary: Art - "skill in conducting any human activity"

Science - "any skill or technique that reflects a precise application of facts or a principle"

Adam Smith (18th century economist)

• Observed that firms manufactured pins in one of two different ways:

Craft-style - each worker did all steps.

Production - each worker specialized in one step.

• Realized that job specialization resulted in much higher efficiency and productivity- Breaking down the total job allowed for the division of labor in which workers became very skilled at their specific tasks.

Frederick Winslow Taylor

"Father "of Scientific Management (systematic study of the relationships between people and tasks for the purpose of redesigning the work process for higher efficiency") in the late 1800's to replace informal rule of thumb knowledge.

Frank and Lillian Gilbreth

• Refined Taylor's work and made many improvements to the methodologies of time and motion studies.

• Time and motion studies

• Breaking up each job action into its components.

• Finding better ways to perform the action.

• Reorganizing each job action to be more efficient.

• Also studied worker-related fatigue problems caused by lighting, heating, and the desian of tools and machines

Max Weber

Developed the concept of bureaucracy as a formal system of organization and administration designed to ensure efficiency and effectiveness.

WEBER’S FIVE PRINCIPLES OF BUREAUCRACY

1. Authority is the power to hold people accountable for their actions. 

2. Positions in the firm should be held based on performance, not social contacts. 

3. Position duties are clearly identified so that people know what is expected of them. 

4. Lines of authority should be clearly identified such that workers know who reports to who. 

5. Rules, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and norms guide the firm’s operations. 

Henri Fayol

Synthesized various tenets or principles of organization and management. He published "The Principles of Scientific Management" in the USA in 1911.

MANAGERIAL ROLES

Interpersonal Roles

Informational Roles

Decisional Roles

Interpersonal Roles

grow directly out of the authority of a manager’s position and involve developing and maintaining positive relationships with significant others. 

Informational Roles

pertain to receiving and transmitting information so that manager can serve as the nerve centers of their organizational units.

Decisional Roles

involve making significant decisions affecting the organization.