This assignment consists of two parts. Part A is a team assignment and should be completed in teams of three (3) students. (Marks will be deducted if the team does not have 3 members). You can choose your own team, but members need to be in the same tutorial session as you will be working on the assignment in the tutorials.
Part B consists of an individual component. All students need to submit a paper copy (to the assignment dropbox level 3 WS building) and one electronic copy on Blackboard of their individual assignment. Students will receive individual marks for Part B.
Read the Pike River case study (Anderson, 2014) as well as the article Independent, dependent and employee: Contractors and New Zealand's Pike River Coal Mine disaster (Lamare, Lamm, McDonnell & White, 2015) as background to the assignment.
PART A
Write a report investigating the key management issues that contributed to the poor safety culture at the Pike River Mine and resulted in the disaster that occurred on 19 November 2010 in which 29 people lost their lives.
Your report should contain the following sections:
Executive Summary (400 - 500 words) - brief overview of the key points covered in the report
1. Introduction (300 - 400 words) - briefly explain the context and the main points that will be addressed in the report.
2. Discussion (2100 - 2300 words) - Analyse the key management issues that contributed to the mining disaster. Include the following topics in the discussion:
i. Define the concept of a ‘safety culture' and discuss its importance for an organisation such as Pike River Mine
ii. Analyse how the extensive use of contractors impacted on the safety culture at the mine
iii. Analyse the impact of communication, team diversity and trust issues (eg. between mining managers and staff; contractors; mining management and the Pike Board of Directors) on safety at the mine
iv. Discuss how the safety reporting and possible safety accountability issues contributed to the disaster
Draw on management literature to support the discussion citing at least 6 high quality management sources.
3. Conclusion (400 - 500 words) - summarise the key findings / points from your analysis
4. Recommendations (800 - 900 words) - Identify at least 4 practical suggestions for managers based on the lessons from the Pike River Mine disaster. Also refer to how legislation (eg. the Health & Safety at Work Act, 2015) can help prevent similar disasters.
PART B
Write a reflection of your INDIVIDUAL experience of the team work to complete this assignment. The reflection should analyse what went well in your team process as well as identify areas for improvement. Some topics you may want to address in the reflection:
- Team development (stages)
- Team roles and allocation of tasks
- Communication (including virtual channels)
- Conflict
- Lessons for future team work
However, you do not need to discuss ALL the topics listed above. It will be more effective to select a few topics and address these in greater depth.
You need to integrate literature on group dynamics and teamwork into your reflection, citing at least 4 high quality sources in your discussion.
Attachment:- Pike River Case study.pdf