Abstract
M.Ing. (Engineering Management)
Since the beginning of the knowledge era, individuals powered their ideals on the
20th century’s industrial knowledge age, also defined as “the power of knowledge”. The
modern day knowledge era will use the collective intelligence of diverse groups to
collaborate for specific purposes and objectives. Society and education developed from the “know what” and “know how” age to “what is the best way”. (NZCER, 2010)
Leading into the 21st century, organisations are forced to adapt to a new state of mind and
use a diverse knowledge spectrum to solve the problems of the future. This mind-set is
being challenged by a recent recession and cautious investment future. The recession
initiated a negative impact on the global markets and forced most organisations to become
innovative and use their collective knowledge. (NZCER, 2010)
This investigation is based on an increment of the global corporate environment. The
collective thinking principle can be used to achieve success in an organisation based on a
first and third world country, i.e. South Africa. The concern, Hall Longmore (Pty) Ltd. opened
its doors to a 21st century strategic solution in respect of its maintenance department.
Maintenance at the concern is currently a decentralised employee structure, where the
current culture of the group impacts negatively on the performance of the department.
During the industrial age this would have been solved by implementing autocratic structures and strict discipline on employees. This management style is feasible in the short term, but how do employees stay motivated, creative and innovative over time? World class maintenance programs need a clear vision to become a unified labour force functioning with an innovative and creative approach. The key aspects of the initial state need to be investigated and understood before decisions can begin towards reinstating the desired culture and behaviour. The aim of this dissertation is to change the paradigm of the autocratic 20th century management style relating to the maintenance function, which aims to decrease cost and increase reliability and availability to a more performance driven culture and integrated workforce, which will create a high performance concern through its actions.