Managing People and Teams: Case Study on MiningCo Operations

This case study examines the HR challenges faced by MiningCo, a mining company operating in remote locations with a fly-in, fly-out workforce. The report addresses three key cases. The first case explores the impact of a performance management initiative on employee motivation, particularly in isolated locations, and recommends strategies for sustaining employee interest through financial rewards, career growth, and addressing Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The second case focuses on the problems of single business entities within MiningCo, highlighting employee retention issues due to location constraints and external threats. Recommendations include developing motivational policies, improving safety and security measures, and fostering a supportive work environment. The third case briefly mentions the need for a crisis management team. The report emphasizes the importance of effective communication, participative leadership, and innovative techniques to enhance employee motivation, improve retention, and ensure operational efficiency within MiningCo.

Running head: MANAGING PEOPLE AND TEAMS
Managing People and Teams: Case study on MiningCo
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MANAGING PEOPLE AND TEAMSIntroduction
MiningCo is one of the well known mining companies that has earned the reputation for
operating in many isolated locations, such as, in the Middle East, some parts of Africa, and in
some regions of Greenland, other than some conventional mining regions. Due to the locational
constraints, the employees are mostly sent to these locations on a fly-in, fly-out basis, on a
rotating two-week roster. Since, there are many such locations and many employees flying in and
flying out continuously, there are many HR issues that arise due to lack of communication and
integration. The following report highlights solutions to the three different cases based on the HR
issues of managing teams and people in the organization.
Case one
Impact of introducing performance management initiative on the motivation of staff in
your location
Performance management initiative is the process in an organization, which is
implemented by the managers to work together with the employees to plan, monitor or supervise,
and review the work objectives of the employees and their contribution towards the
organizational goals (Bach, 2013). This includes not only the annual performance review, but it
is a continuous process of formulating the objectives, assessing the progress and providing a
training and feedback ensuring that the employees are successfully meeting the organizational
goals and objectives and their own career goals (Marr & Gray, 2012).
The fundamental goal of performance management initiatives is to increase the employee
motivation and their effectiveness and productivity. Motivation of the employees is one of the
primary factors for success in any organization. Performance management initiative can enhance

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MANAGING PEOPLE AND TEAMSmotivation among the employees through the positive feedbacks. Efficient performance
management initiatives help the employees to have a good understanding of the goals and
objectives and perform accordingly (Schiuma, 2012). Hence, to address the reducing motivation
of the employees travelling in and out of the remote locations, such as, in the Middle East,
MiningCo has introduced performance management initiative to increase the motivation of the
employees.
The impact of performance management initiative on the employee motivation is as
follows.
 The three major stages of performance management initiative are plan, monitor, review
and evaluate. Through these steps, parameters are set to monitor the performance of the
employees and evaluate those for appraisal, which includes increase in monetary and
other benefits. Thus, it keeps the employees motivated to perform better throughout the
year (De Waal, 2013).
 Increase in employee motivation is reflected in the outcome and hence, measuring and
evaluating the outcome can help the employees to put devotion in their work.
 In the isolated locations, the performance management initiative can be sustained through
the effective communication, since; this system is all about communication among the
managers and the employees, arriving at an attainable objective point through
participating communication (Pulakos et al., 2015).
 This system encourages participative leadership, which is beneficial in increasing the
motivation of the employees, especially in isolated locations. Participative leadership
welcomes inputs by the employees during the decision making, which helps in increasing
the motivation of the employees.

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MANAGING PEOPLE AND TEAMS Improvement in the employee morale can be attributed to the feedbacks, appraisals and
rewards achieved through their contribution. The implementation of performance
management initiatives ensures the appraisals, which helps in retaining the skillful and
loyal employees for productive mining operations and increased profitability.
 According to Jerome (2013), the participative communication among the employees and
managers leads to the motivation generated from the psychological needs, that is,
belongingness and love, from the third layer in the motivational pyramid in the hierarchy
of needs by Maslow.
 Performance management imitative also motivates the employees to involve in effective
team work, which not only increases organizational productivity, but also develops the
coordination and communication skills of the employees. The feedbacks from the
managers regarding team works make the employees feel valued and raises their
motivation towards the job.
 Lastly, appreciations work best to boost the employee motivation. Either certificates or
bonus or any type of financial rewards motivate the employees to increase their
productivity and deliver the best quality performance (Bach, 2013).
The above motivational factors can be achieved through the introduction of performance
management initiative in the isolated locations of MiningCo.
Recommendations
The initiatives can bring about positive outcomes if implemented in the effective manner.
The motivational problems arise more for the employees travelling to the isolated locations for
the companies. Two weeks of staying in those locations take a toll on the employees and difficult

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MANAGING PEOPLE AND TEAMScircumstances of working is another obstacle in the path of motivation. Since, these conditions
cannot be changed; the only way to improve the employee motivation is to implement an
efficient performance management initiative with attractive rewards.
It is important for MiningCo to sustain the factors for employee interest. Among many
such contributory factors, financial reward is one major factor. Along with the performance
bonus and appraisals, there should be increased medical benefits, pension scheme and gratuity
should be given to the employees. There should also be scope for career growth, through
promotions (Marr & Gray, 2012). The growth ladder should be shorter for the employees
travelling frequently to isolated locations, based on their performance.
The performance management initiative should be designed in a way so that it can
contribute in employee motivation by addressing the hierarchy of needs by Maslow. The
outcomes of the assessment should satisfy the psychological needs, safety needs, belongingness
and love needs, esteem needs and self-actualization needs of the employees. Then only, they
would remain motivated to stay with MiningCo and put their best performance.

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MANAGING PEOPLE AND TEAMS
Case two
Problems of single business entities in the isolated locations of MiningCo
MiningCo has many isolated locations for their operations. All of these work as a single
and independent business entity and also do not allow cross-over staff rotation between them.
This is creating an employee retention problem in some locations of the company. Many events
in such locations are forcing the foreign nationals to leave the company, such as, growing
presence of the ISIS movements in the Middle East makes the foreign nations extremely insecure
about staying and working in the Middle East and hence, wants to leave MiningCo. The lack of
flexibility to change or rotate the locations is also adding up to the undesirable situation for the
employees to work with the company. This is affecting the work culture as well as production of
the company. Hence, the HR Department of MiningCo has focused on the problems of operating
as a single entity and how to curb those problems by implementing effective measures.
Single business entity operations are defined as separated official departments and
business units or subsidiaries, which report their financial information to the parent company and
only to the legal agencies and not to other units of the same parent company (Zhang, 2012). In
the modern business world, the single entities are exposed to various types of risk and external
threats and thus, require environmental management. In the single entity business structure, the
risks are effectively allocated, the operational costs are low, along with some legal benefits. The
decision making and controlling is easier for the managers in the single entities. However, it also
poses certain difficulties in maintaining and protecting the assets of the businesses, which
includes both the human and capital resources. Hence, although single entity businesses have
certain benefits, they also face critical challenges of protecting the business operations and

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MANAGING PEOPLE AND TEAMSassets, control management, issues in staff rotation and critical decision making (Ellis, 2016). In
case of the business units of MiningCo, situated in different isolated locations face many such
critical and different challenges in retaining and protecting the assets, majorly, human resources.
As stated above, the single entities of MiningCo in the isolated locations also face certain
critical challenges and external threats, which have a severe negative impact on the business
operations. The economic crisis of Greece or the growing menace of the activities and
movements of ISIS on the foreign nationals in the Middle East are causing serious harm to the
operations of the single entity units of MiningCo, as the employees are not feeling safe to visit
those locations on a frequent basis. Lack of flexibility to change the location demotivates the
employees and they no longer want to stay with MiningCo. This creates a negative impact on the
working environment and productivity of the company. This is a big disadvantage of the single
units of MiningCo.
The locational problem is creating major problems for the internal management of the
company. The biggest internal issue of the of the single entities of MiningCo is the presence of
very small number of employees, who are mostly on a fly-in and fly-out mode for two weeks in
those locations. Thus, the managers have to maintain a roster for managing those traveling
employees. The complexity of staff rotations will increase if number of employee increases too
much or rapidly. Hence, internal management issues and external threats make it difficult for the
single entities of MiningCo in the isolated locations to implement efficient control on the
operations and assets, efficient decision making and retention of skilled employees (Blair &
Marcum, 2015). However, it is all the more difficult to have an effective control on the external
threats. Hence, the company should think about increasing the motivation of the employees to
retain them.

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MANAGING PEOPLE AND TEAMS
Recommendations
In order to achieve effective performances from the employees, their motivation needs to
be improved. It will also help in addressing the critical challenges faced by the employees as
well as by the company. Hence, development of motivational policies and its planning is
essential. New motivational grounds should be developed to satisfy the employees other than
only financial rewards. Following the hierarchy of needs theory by Maslow, the fundamental
issue of MiningCo in the isolated location is the absence of the satisfactory elements of the
physiological needs and safety needs, generating from the external threats and absence of good
employee retention policies. Hence, formulation of potential security plans, which include not
only monetary security and job security, but also environmental security, can ensure the
fulfillment of safety needs of the individuals, and helps to increase their motivation towards the
job in a secured environment (Fernandes, Relvas & Barbosa-Póvoa, 2013). The improvement in
the safety and security measures can lead to a reduction in the uncertainties regarding the
external threats among the employees, and good measures on employee retention help in
increasing motivation as well as productivity of the employees travelling to the isolated locations
of MiningCo.
Along with the above measures, the company must provide a supportive and dynamic
working environment to the employees, including group involvement opportunities, appreciation
to meet the needs of esteem, and values to the opinions of the employees (Aguinis, Gottfredson
& Joo, 2012). Sometimes, the fulfillment of the psychological needs is greater than the monetary
benefit to enhance the employee motivation (Blair & Marcum, 2015). Innovative techniques,

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MANAGING PEOPLE AND TEAMSimproved safety measures, improved communication system across different locations and
coordination is required, which would not only lead to the requirement of more staff rotation
across different units, but also greater integration among the employees of different business
units. This would result in a much better cooperation among the employees and enhanced
motivation towards the job. Lastly, it can be said that, in case of any economic crisis, such as, in
Greece, MiningCo should consider giving rewards, such as, gift boxes or discount vouchers,
which would keep the employees motivated and reduce the attrition rate (Bernstein, 2015).
Case three
Crisis Management Team
Crisis management team is developed essentially to support the business management of
a company during any crisis situation. It provides necessary support to the organization to reduce
the level of issues of the crisis (Johansen, Aggerholm & Frandsen, 2012). Crisis issues can be
internal or external. There is need for a crisis management team to be developed in the MiningCo
to address the issue of substantial talent gap emerging in the individual sites.
Substantial talent gap
The individual sites of MiningCo have been affected by major talent gap that is
prevailing in the industry. The problem identified is the reduction in the rate of employee
retention and shrinking number of skilled and talented workers in the talent pool of the
employees. The older employees are also either leaving the organization or retiring and with that
the knowledge and experience are also becoming nonexistent. Hence, it is evident that, in the
near future, there will be a crisis in getting and retaining the talent, along with the most important
knowledge transfer from the experienced employees to the freshers. Apart from that, the

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MANAGING PEOPLE AND TEAMSformation of collaboration with the external learning and training institutes for the mining job
would require additional cost and longer working hours for the employees. Hence, the talent gap
has becoming substantial and it is growing too. To address this issue, a crisis management team
should be developed, which would control the employee management and retention and improve
the motivational grounds to cover up the talent gap.
Team selection criteria
The most skilled and knowledgeable members of the organization will be considered for
the formation of crisis management team. The criteria for selection will be based on the skills,
qualification, and significant experience of the employees. Past experience of crisis management
will be counted as an additional advantage. Along with that, the ability of critical thinking,
analyzing ability of challenges and spontaneous decision making will be given extra points
during selection. However, the most senior executives will be preferred to develop the crisis
management team. This would give a value to their experience, skills and knowledge and
motivate them by giving a substantial responsibility, at the same time, will highlight the
effectiveness of employee retention. Along with that, the members will be selected from various
regions and will be appointed to visit different isolated locations of the business units of
MiningCo. The selection criteria will provide the opportunity of appreciating the skills,
knowledge and experience of the members and their ability to handle critical challenges in the
most effective manner (Booth, 2015).

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MANAGING PEOPLE AND TEAMS
Regional Crisis Management Team
Manager
Human Resource
Advisor
Security
Advisor
Legal
Advisor
Medical
Advisor
Environmental
Evaluator and
Advisor
HR Training and
Development
Officer
Head of the
company
Team format
Figure 1: Crisis Management Team Format
(Source: Author)
Positions in the crisis management team will include the Regional Crisis Management
Team Manager, Human Resource Advisor and two immediate reporting officers for HR Training
and development and retention, Legal Advisor, Security Advisor, Medical Advisor and
Environmental Evaluator and Advisor, who will be appointed for analyzing the chances of
potential crisis by evaluating the internal and external business environment. All these positions
will contribute in planning and the decision making, implementing the plans and coordinating,
identifying the training needs and arranging the trainings, modifying and updating the training

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MANAGING PEOPLE AND TEAMSplans accordingly and take appropriate actions to mitigate the external or internal threats of
various challenges and environment. The role of Crisis Management Advisor would be to
evaluate the plans formulated and decisions taken and take actions accordingly. Legal Advisor
will look into the legal matters. Medical Advisor will take care of the medical related affairs of
the team and the organization. Security advisor will take care of the matters related to both the
internal and external security. The Human Resource Advisors and the two HR officers will be
responsible for all the HR related affairs. The head of the regional crisis management team will
the Regional Manager, who will supervise the activities of all the concerned departments and
take the final decision to handle the potential crisis situation for the individual isolated locations.
Team structure and function
The structure of the crisis management team will be similar to the organizational
structure of MiningCo. The hierarchy will be same and every member of the Crisis Management
Team should follow that. The members will be providing knowledge and support to the new and
less experienced employees of the isolated locations of MiningCo. The team will manage
specific issues of different locations and overall impact on the employees through effective
communication. To analyze the issues and discuss the solutions, all the members of the crisis
management team should participate proactively. The potential stakeholders with elect the leader
of the team through mutual consent and general voting. The members will exhibit participative
behavior for all the individual locations.
Reward system
Being a member of the crisis management team is a big responsibility to an employee as
it needs high attention and ability to make prompt and necessary decision. The job profile also