Abstract
The maintenance foreman occupies a critical role in a process industry. He is at the focus of two strong, sometimes conflicting, sets of influences, top-down from senior management, and bottom-up from the maintenance workload and tradesmen. It is a complex and ambiguous role both to the foremen themselves and to their managers. This paper explains why such ambiguity is likely to arise.
A novel matrix is developed comprising four key interrelated domains of the maintenance foreman's role, and into which all the duties he is normally expected to perform can be categorized. The resulting supervisory grid clarifies both the wide scope of these duties, and identifies the two differing personal characteristics which maintenance foremen require in order to succeed in performing them.
The grid has many practical applications. In particular it provides a sound basis for examining the new specialist and diversified roles for maintenance foremen which are now emerging in the process industry.
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