Abstract
M.Ing. (Engineering Management)
The research was conducted at Sibanye Stillwater, a gold and platinum group metals (PGM) mining company with operations in the Witwatersrand Basin, along the platinum belt and in the United States (US). The research was titled “Harvesting mining engineering graduate’s potential for adding value to the organisation” and aimed at producing a framework for mining engineering graduate utilisation and retention within the organisation.
A quantitative study was done by means of a questionnaire with a population of 53 and a sample size of 17 participants. The composition of graduates in terms of their qualifications is as follows: 47% BSc, 35% B Tech, 6% BEng and 12% chose not to specify their qualifications. The composition of their current roles is as follows: 10% miners, 32% production supervisors, 16% other (shadowing production supervisor), 26% chose not to specify their role, 5% other roles, 11% other roles in service departments. The questionnaire was divided into three sections namely; Technical Knowledge Utilisation, Job Satisfaction and Potential to Add Value.
The results generally indicated that when analysed as per individual responses, the result was negative for technical knowledge utilisation. However, in the various groups (per qualification, per role), utilisation was found to be adequate. Job satisfaction was found to be generally dissatisfactory and this being largely attributed to working conditions and company culture, key performance indicators that do not reflect the true performance of the graduates and unattainable targets targets. Potential to add value yielded inconclusive results since equal proportions of the participants responded positively as those who were neutral.
Based on the results of the study obtained, the researcher proposed a theoretical framework as a means through which the organisation can harvest the full potential of its mining engineering graduates such that they add value to the organisation. The framework identified 3 components: Talent Management, Competency Development and Retention as foundational pillars which the organisation can use to aid the organisation in harvesting the full potential of its mining engineering graduates to add value to the organisation.