Developing a Curriculum on Organisation Behavior Training From an African Perspective

Abstract

The title of this book is: ‘Organisational Behavior from An African perspective.’ Take a close look at the society around you. You would find the existence of several organisations. To mention a few, the business organizations that produce goods or services, hospitals, religious and social institutions like charities, schools, colleges and universities. All these organisations exist to achieve pre-determined objectives. They affect our lives in many ways. Though there are vast differences in their functioning and approaches, they all strive to achieve certain objectives. It must also be noted that organizations cannot achieve the objectives effortlessly. They are achieved through systematic effort. Several activities have to be performed in a cohesive way. In the absence of systematic and cohesive performance of the activities to achieve the objectives, it is no wonder that the resources of organisations would be underutilized. As such, it is the function of the management to facilitate the performance of activities such that the accomplishment of the objectives becomes possible. It is common to hear from managers, CEOs, engineers, and all kind of professionals that organisational behavior (OB) is a key strategic issue and a source of competitive advantages of all organisations. Indeed, issues related to organisational behavior are among the most relevant decisions that managers need to take if they want to answer proactively to the challenges faced by the organisations. Having an MBA can be the answer. However, due to time and money constraints, not always these professionals are able to obtain a MBA. Not only the time and schedule needed to obtain the MBA are not compatible with their professional availability, but also the prices established by the most reputable business schools are not accessible to these professionals. Conscious of this reality, the authors of this book, have developed through this volume, a curriculum of subjects usually presented in an MBA programme, focusing on challenges managers face in their daily activities. The emphasis in this book are subjects related to strategic and operational human resource management, organisational behavior, equal opportunities and diversity management. Based on the core subjects presented in this book, everyone interested will be able to obtain the necessary knowledge that can be applied as a whole to a variety of real-world business situations. We thank all our colleagues who went through the first draft of the book. Dr Emmanuel Innocents Edoun of the Johannesburg University and Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, Dr Polycarpe Feussi of the Johannesburg University in South Africa, Dr Lawrence Kok from the Vaal University of Technology in South Africa, and Dr Florence Nisabwe from the Foundation Lance d’Afrique Burundi were valuable assets during the write-up. We thank them all!