FACTORS RELATED TO HUMAN RESOURCES AFFECTING THE MAINTENANCE EFFECTIVENESS IN TANZANIAN INDUSTRIES

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET)
Volume 7, Issue 3, May–June 2016, pp.150–160, Article ID: IJMET_07_03_014
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FACTORS RELATED TO HUMAN
RESOURCES AFFECTING THE
MAINTENANCE EFFECTIVENESS IN
TANZANIAN INDUSTRIES
Joseph N. Mkilania
Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology,
P. O. Box 2958 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
ABSTRACT
The study on factors related to human resources affecting maintenance
effectiveness have been carried out for the purpose of investigating them and
their effects on maintenance effectiveness, which in turn affect industrial
output in terms of quality and capacity for Tanzanian industries.
The methodology used to attain the study objectives was synthesis of
literature and analysis of identified factors. The identified factors related to
human resources affecting the maintenance effectiveness were: qualification,
experience, motivation, wages, attitude and human error of maintenance
personnel.
Furthermore, the employed method analyse and formulate the relationship
of factors through Ishikawa`s fish bone diagram, tables of attributes
investigation and ranking by means of descriptive statistics. The paper also
summarises the impact caused by these factors on quality and quantity of
products offered by Tanzanian industries.
Key words: Maintenance Effectiveness, Human Resources, Maintenance,
Tanzania.
Cite this Article: Joseph N. Mkilania, Factors Related to Human Resources
Affecting the Maintenance Effectiveness in Tanzanian Industries.
International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology, 7(3), 2016,
pp. 150–160.
http://www.iaeme.com/currentissue.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=7&IType=3
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background Information
The Technology in industrial sector is developing so fast compared to our human
resource technological development. Today industries are more automated,

Factors Related to Human Resources Affecting the Maintenance Effectiveness in Tanzanian
Industries
computerized and with a lot of electronics facilities than before. With continuous
development in technology, the industry and industrial systems have become
complex, the fact which make their availability to be more critical (Kumar and
Ghodrali, 2005) [1]. This condition dictates the capability requirement for human
resource that should be responsible for taking care of these facilities.
Factors related to human resources affect maintenance effectiveness in the way
that maintenance personnel are unable to attend the technical problems due to lack of
attributes, which are needed in modern industry.
Furthermore, the trend in developing countries, Tanzania inclusive now receives
more facilities from developed countries, some are new and others are second hand
and at a stage of maintenance intensive need, on the other hand our technical
personnel are not equipped with skills necessary to achieve the maintenance
effectiveness.
Mjema and Munanu, 2008 [2] argue that every time the vehicle comes out from
workshop for repair, comes with a new problems rather than those registered for. This
entails more investigation on our human resources knowledge base. In view of the
above, it is the intension of this study to investigate on factors related to human
resources affecting the maintenance effectiveness in Tanzanian industries.
1.2. Objectives
The main objective of the study is to investigate the factors related to human
resources affecting maintenance effectiveness
1.2.1 The specific objectives are as follows:
• To identify factors related to human resources affecting the maintenance effectiveness
in Tanzanian industries
• To analyse factors related to human resources affecting the maintenance effectiveness
in Tanzanian industries
• To formulate conceptual frame work for factors related to human resources affecting
the maintenance effectiveness in Tanzanian industries
2. LITERATURE REVIEW ON MAINTENANCE
Tanzanian industries still suffer from economic losses due to low rate of capacity
utilization due to low availability of equipment, which results from poor maintenance
management of production facilities Mjema and Mweta, 2003) [3]. And this is due to
factors like: poor maintenance strategies, lack of spare parts and materials, inadequate
human resources, and lack of facilities as well as poor working environment (Mjema
and Kundi, 1992) [4].
Inadequacy of human resource factor is considered as important factor than all;
hence, maintenance personnel will plan, manage, supervise and execute all
maintenance activities (Cholasuke et al., 2004) [5]. So as to have an efficient human
resource, one needs to have; well organized, adequate trained, motivated, and
disciplined staff.
There is a need to organize the maintenance human resources for the purpose of
attaining maximum availability. Through literature review, factors can be classified
into six groups as shown in Figure 1.

Joseph N. Mkilania
Figure 1 Factors related to human resources
Human resource is the most valuable resource in maintenance process and hence
in achieving maintenance effectiveness. In the literature review it was mentioned by
number of authors including Nakajima (1998) [6]; Groote (1995) [7]; Kelly (1997) [8];
Jonsson (1997) [9]; Mjema and Munanu (2008) [2], that effective management of
human resources is one of successful tool in achieving maintenance effectiveness.
The identified factors related to human resource during interviews and literature
review were: qualification (Gupta, 2000[10] ; Mjema and Munanu, 2008[2]; Taha et
al., 2003[11]; Tay and Goh, 1995[12]: Mann, 1998[13]; Nakajima, 1988) [6], experience
(Mjema and Munanu, 2008[2]; Tay and Goh, 1995) [12], wages (Raaum et al., 2008)
[14], motivations (Cholasuke et al., 2004[5] : Raaum et al., 2008) [13] , attitude
(Raaum et al., 2008[13] ; Taha et al., 2004[15]) and human error of maintenance
personnel (Dhillon and Liu, 2006[16]; Dhillon, 2006[17]; Dhillon, 1986[18]; Hwang et
al., 2007[19]; Cracker, 1999[20]) as shown in Table I: whereby the study has
established the most common factors that were mentioned frequently by many
authors.
ATTITUDE
QUALIFICATIONS
HUMAN ERRORS
MOTIVATIONS
EXPERIENCES
WAGES
FACTORS RELATED
TO HUMAN
RESOURCES

Industries
Table I Name of author and year of publication for Factors related to Human resources affecting
maintenance effectiveness
S/NO
Factors related to Human
Resources affecting maintenance
effectiveness
Name of author and year of publication
1 Motivation of maintenance
personnel
Cholasuke et al. (2004) [5]: Raaum et al. (2008) [14]
2 Wages/salaries of maintenance
personnel
Raaum et al. (2008) [14]
3 Work attitude of maintenance
personnel
Raaum et al. (2008) [14] ; Taha et al. (2004) [15]
4 Human error of maintenance
personnel
Dhillon and Liu (2006) [16]; Dhillon (2006) [17];
Dhillon (1986) [18]; Hwang et al. (2007) [19];
Cracker (1999) [20].
5 Qualification of maintenance
personnel
Gupta (2000) [10]; Mjema and Munanu (2008) [2];
Taha et al. (2003) [11]; Tay and Goh (1995) [12];
Mann (1998) [12];Nakajima (1988) [6]
6 Experience of maintenance
personnel
Mjema and Munanu (2008) [2]; Tay and Goh (1995) [12].
3. METHODOLOGY
The methodology used to attain the study objectives was through literature review and
survey, whereby the identified factors are further subjected to ranking through use of
descriptive statistics and causal and effects methods which included: table of
attributes, sub-factors investigations, Ishikawa’s fishbone diagram, and relationship
among factors diagram were used for investigation of the factors.
Analysis of factors:
Table II. Factors related to human resources that influence the maintenance
effectiveness. The table shows sub factors on human resources

Joseph N. Mkilania
Table II Factors related to human resources that influence the maintenance effectiveness
The following in Table III were identified as influences from the sub-factors on
human resources factor influencing the maintenance effectiveness: ability of
maintenance personnel to do maintenance action right for the first time and always
doing right, being pleasant with work, to have right mind set toward maintenance
S/N
Sub-factors
affecting
Human
resource
Things leading to
factors related
Human resources
Effect caused by
lack of
qualification
Consequences Remarks
1 qualifications skills unable to do
maintenance actions
uncompleted work
or work with errors
low performance and
faults
knowledge unable to trouble
shoot and diagnose
faults
wrong decisions
leading to wrong
actions
faults and unnecessary
expenses
attitude dislike of
maintenance work
low performance faults and increase of
down times
2 experiences skills unable to do
maintenance actions
uncompleted work
or work with errors
low performance and
faults
knowledge unable to trouble
shoot and diagnose
faults
wrong decisions
leading to wrong
actions
faults and unnecessary
expenses
efficiency unable to do
thorough work
incomplete
maintenance
actions
faults and down times
3 Motivation incentives lack of drive toward
work
poor work
performance
faults and increase of
down times
recognition lack of drive toward
work
low output faults and increase of
down times
4 attitude dislike
maintenance work
lack of right mind-
set toward work
poor work
performance
down times
poor relationship
with others
lack of right mind-
set toward work
poor work
performance
down times
5 human error poor work
environment
possibility of error
on maintenance
work
poor work
performance
down times
inspection errors possibility of error
on maintenance
work
poor work
performance
down times
design errors possibility of error
on maintenance
work
poor work
performance
down times
maintenance errors possibility of error
on maintenance
work
poor work
performance
down times
operating
procedure errors
possibility of error
on maintenance
work
poor work
performance
down times
installation errors possibility of error
on maintenance
work
poor work
performance
down times
6 wages low wages demoralized to do
maintenance actions
poor work
performance
down times
delay in salary demoralized to do
maintenance actions
poor work
performance
down times
salary paid not
with respect to
qualifications
demoralized to do
maintenance actions
poor work
performance
down times

Industries
work, being familiar with maintenance procedures, not making mistakes during
maintenance work and having drive towards maintenance work.
Table III The influence of factors related to human resources on maintenance effectiveness
Influencin
g factor
Sub-factors of
the
influencing
factor
Attributes
of the sub-
factors
Influence on the sub-factor to
maintenance effectiveness
Attributes to
maintenance
effectiveness
caused by influence
factors
related to
human
resources
qualification high Ability of maintenance
personnel to do maintenance
action right for the first time and
always doing right
high
medium medium
low low
wages high Ability of a maintenance
personnel being pleasant with
work
high
medium medium
low low
attitude high Ability of maintenance
personnel to have right mind set
toward maintenance work.
high
medium medium
low low
experience high Ability of maintenance
personnel of being familiar with
maintenance action procedures
high
medium medium
low low
Human error high Ability of maintenance
personnel of not making
mistakes during maintenance
work.
low
medium medium
low high
Motivation high Ability of maintenance
personnel of having driven
towards maintenance work
high
medium medium
low low
Figure 2 is the Ishikawa’s causal and effect, fish bone diagram. The figure shows
the sources for Lack of maintenance effectiveness caused by factors related to human
resources. The maintenance effectiveness shows impacts on products by influencing
the quality and quantity of products which consequently gives higher yield in terms of
financial implication.
Figure 2 Ishikawa’s causal and effect diagram showing factors related to human resources
influencing maintenance effectiveness.

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Factors related to human resources were found to have influence on maintenance
effectiveness as well as the interactive relationship among themselves as shown in the
figure 3.
Figure 3 The interrelationship
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSI
The study involved 20 sampled industries that were surveyed for the purpose of data
collection. The research design included data collection,
and observations, whereby
68 were returned and analysed
Table IV shows the results of ranking
through descriptive statistic
wages, qualifications, motivation, like attitude, experience and human error respectively.
is in line with Cholasuke et al.
personnel with good incentives are the pre requisites for attaining the maintenance
effectiveness.
Table IV Ranking of factors related to human resource affecting the
Factors related to Human resources
Qualification of maintenance personnel
Experience of maintenance personnel
Attitude of maintenance personnel
maintenance work
Motivation of human resources towards
maintenance w
Wages of maintenance personnel
Human error in maintenance
Joseph N. Mkilania
IJMET/index.asp 156
he interrelationship effects among the human resource related
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The research design included data collection, questionnaires, interviews
whereby 100 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents and
68 were returned and analysed.
shows the results of ranking the identified factors. The ranking was done
through descriptive statistical method, whereby the most influencing factor
wages, qualifications, motivation, like attitude, experience and human error respectively.
et al. (2004) [5] that qualified and well experienced maintenance
good incentives are the pre requisites for attaining the maintenance
Ranking of factors related to human resource affecting the maintenance
effectiveness
Factors related to Human resources N. Mean Interpre
Qualification of maintenance personnel 68 4.3 Very High
Experience of maintenance personnel 68 4.1 Very High
of maintenance personnel towards 68 4.2 Very High
Motivation of human resources towards
68 4.2
Very High
Wages of maintenance personnel 68 4.4 Very High
Human error in maintenance 68 3.4 High
editor@iaeme.com
related factors.
questionnaires, interviews
questionnaires were distributed to the respondents and
identified factors. The ranking was done
al method, whereby the most influencing factors were;
wages, qualifications, motivation, like attitude, experience and human error respectively. This
qualified and well experienced maintenance
good incentives are the pre requisites for attaining the maintenance
maintenance
Interpretation Rank
Very High 2
Very High 5
Very High 4
Very High
3
Very High 1
6

Industries
DISCUSSION
The wages of maintenance personnel
Adequate wage influence the ability of maintenance personnel to be pleasant with
maintenance work. If personnel are not pleasant with work, there is possibility of
delays or unnecessary excuses which contributes to low maintenance effectiveness.
Adequate wage is an important motivation for maintenance personnel to meet their
basic requirements such as food, accommodation, transport and other social needs.
Without enough wages, some of untrustworthy personnel can steal and sell genuine
parts, tools or fix used parts in their place in order to meet their basic requirements.
Shortage of maintenance tools leads to delay in accomplishing the maintenance work.
Such practices affect the maintenance effectiveness. It is for this reason that
experience is ranked high in the influence to maintenance effectiveness.
The qualification of maintenance personnel
Qualification of maintenance personnel enables them to do maintenance actions right
for the first time and always right. This contributes highly to the maintenance
effectiveness. Likewise, low qualified maintenance personnel will not be capable of
always doing maintenance action right on the first time; in fact they will require a
number of trials, which subsequently gives low attributes to the maintenance
effectiveness.
The qualification of maintenance employees influences the maintenance
effectiveness in the way that qualified personnel will perform more quality
maintenance work compared to the unqualified ones. Qualification is defined as the
totality of capability and skills, which personnel has acquired through education,
training, and/or through work experience for fulfilment of the work requirements.
This indicates that qualification is the outcome of education, skills and experience.
Education enables a person to acquire knowledge and creativity.
The motivation of maintenance personnel
Motivation to maintenance personnel drives them toward maintenance works. The
personnel who have the right drive do not require frequent follow ups or reminders on
what to do. This has positive influence on maintenance effectiveness. Likewise,
unmotivated maintenance personnel would require frequent follow ups and would
have high possibility of committing errors, and thus creating delays and downtimes
which contributes low attributes to maintenance effectiveness.
Work motivation is very important in terms of incentives. However, it is more
preferable if motivation would be related with work performance. Motivation
influences the maintenance effectiveness by timely attending the failures and meeting
the maintenance objectives. Most of maintenance works are manual and personnel
intensive. The maintenance works includes, diagnosis, inspections, cleaning,
overhaul, repairs, replacements, lubrications and methods. If the personnel are not
willing to do manual work, the maintenance task would be delayed or ineffectively
done, and this would affect the maintenance effectiveness.
Maintenance personnel should be motivated to do maintenance. Maintenance work is
different from production work, maintenance work in most occasions is done
manually, this involves, fatigue and working morale. If maintenance personnel are not
encouraged to do manual work, the maintenance performance will not be attained.

Joseph N. Mkilania
The attitude of maintenance personnel towards work
The low attitude of maintenance personnel towards works affects the ability of
personnel to have the right mind-set towards maintenance work which subsequently
contributes to low maintenance effectiveness. Higher attitude of maintenance
personnel affect the ability to have right mind set toward maintenance work and
contribute highly to maintenance effectiveness.
The experience of maintenance personnel
The experience of maintenance personnel influences the ability of being familiar with
maintenance procedures pertaining to certain maintenance actions. The familiarity
influences the ability of making correct judgment on doing maintenance actions,
which influence the maintenance effectiveness. On the other hand, lack of experience
affects the ability of maintenance personnel being familiar with maintenance
procedures, which consequently affect the maintenance performance.
Experience is gained from performing the maintenance work for a long period.
For so doing the personnel get used with the maintenance process requirements and
the types of faults that are particular to a certain type of machines. However,
experience can be counterproductive when it happens that employees are not willing
to change and cope with new technology. Most of the maintenance faults are
repetitive in nature while few are abrupt, for that case experienced personnel would
know exactly what to do in terms of resources, time required in order to timely rectify
the faults
The human error
Human error, affect the ability of maintenance personnel to do a thorough job without
mistakes. If a maintenance personnel commits mistakes in maintenance actions, this
has low attributes on maintenance effectiveness. Likewise, if human errors are
minimized, there is a higher possibility of attaining work with few or no mistakes.
Human error in maintenance was ranked low in influence to maintenance
effectiveness in most industries. Human error in maintenance cannot be avoided.
Nevertheless, human error can be minimized if maintenance personnel are well
trained have good attitude, adequate wage, incentives and motivations. For that case,
human error would have low influence on maintenance effectiveness.
5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusion
The paper has used literature review to identify factors related to human resources
affecting maintenance effectiveness. These factors are: wages, qualifications,
motivation, like attitude, experience and human error of maintenance personnel. The
analytical method has been used to analyse the attributes of these factors. The
methods for analysis of these factors are the causal and effect diagram, the Ishikawa’s
fish bone diagram and the tables of attributes investigation. Finally descriptive
statistic method was used to rank the identified factors.
Recommendations
The paper further observed that there is neither maintenance policy, nor national,
regional, or other maintenance bodies that deal with maintenance of equipment. It is
recommended that, the government should:

Industries
• Establish maintenance policy;
• Establish national maintenance board (authority);
• Institute specialized maintenance curriculum at technician level; undergraduate and
post graduate.
The established maintenance management system should monitor maintenance
knowledge accumulation and the process of learning, which in turn build human
capital and skills in industries. Moreover, the body should be capable of advising the
government, ministries, industries and other bodies on issues related to the acquisition
of technologies and its maintenance.
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operating environment- based spare parts estimation approach, A case study in
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[2] Mjema, E.A.M. and Munanu, J.P. (2008), Factors affecting the quality of
Maintenance of GSE- A case study at DAHACO, 6th International conference on
the role of engineers in meeting millennium development goals in lesser
economies. The Institution of engineers Tanzania–Arusha.
[3] Mjema, E.A.M. and Mweta, A.M. (2003), An analysis of economics of investing
in IT in the maintenance department. An empirical study in a cement factory in
Tanzania, Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering. 9 (4).
[4] Mjema, E.A.M. and Kundi, B.A.T. (1992), Maintenance Management the
Tanzania Aspect, Faculty of Engineering Printing Unit, University of Dar es
Salaam.
[5] Cholasuke, C., Bhardwa, R. and Antony, J. (2004), The status of maintenance
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of Quality in Maintenance Engineering 10 (1).
[6] Nakajima, S. (1988), TPM an Introduction to Total Productive Maintenance,
Productivity Press, Cambridge, MA.
[7] Groote, 1995; Maintenance performance analysis: a practical approach
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[16] Dhillon, B.S. and Liu, Y. (2006), Human error in maintenance: a review, Journal
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