Pike River Coal Mine Essay

Introduction

Pike River Coal Mine was established in 1982 and was the largest underground coal mines. In the 19th and 24th of November 2010, two methane explosions took place. Twenty nine men lost their lives in these explosions. Emergency services were put in place and mine crews from various places got involved. The absence of information provided about the conditions underground interrupted the rescue pursuit. This caused the Pike River Coal Mine to lose millions of dollars. In this report outlines why outsourcing was used and the problems associated with it, poor management decisions, influencing in the decision making processes and failure of those decisions and factors that impede communications.

Question 1

THE STRATEGY OF PRCM MANAGEMENT

Strategy can be defined as ‘a set of actions whereby an institution through design, develops resources and uses them to deliver products and services in a way which is deemed to be valuable, whilst meeting financial and other objectives set by key stakeholders’ (Haberberg & Rieple, 2008). The aim of strategic management is to develop above average revenue and gain a competitive advantage over other similar businesses. Outsourcing is contracting or subcontracting of secondary activities such as manufacturing, designing and operations. The Pike River Coal Mine (PRCM) employed various consultants and experienced managers from both New Zealand (NZ) and Australia. This provided advice in, ventilation, electrical safety, strata control, geotechnical engineering and methane management. For example Douglas White, former deputy chief mine inspector of mines in Australia. Who in his time at PRCM attempted to apply health and safety programs (Pikeriver.RoyalCommision,2010).The main benefits of using this management strategy is a reduction in cost, with respect to employees (cheaper labor), time to focus on other business processes, faster production, maximum resource utilization, financial aid and added expertise in specialist fields. All these benefits were greatly needed by PRCM in order to make the business successful and profitable, as well as achieving goals set and following the strategy that was