A conceptual model of cultural change for African indigenous organisations

Abstract

Scholars of organisational behaviour have opined that the culture of a work organisation is nothing but a mere derivative or microcosm of the wider national culture. Nevertheless, in this present article, an anti-thesis of the current thinking has been provided by the development of a conceptual model of cultural change for African indigenous organisations. Based on the application of the modernisation theory of cultural change; the model presented a justification for the import of the current spate of globalisation which necessitates that for indigenous work organisations (especially business enterprises) resident in Africa to become globally competitive they must disengage from traditional beliefs and values that are inimical to business performance. This revolutionary shift would help them proactively evoke cultures that are completely different from those of the nations in which they are domestically domiciled; and possibly change the beliefs and values of organisational workers from those that constitute the various cultures of their respective African states. Consequently, a displacement of the existing paradigm in the literature of organisational/national culture interface which refutes the possibility of organisational culture transcending the boundaries of national culture becomes inevitable.