'Hidden messages' emerging from Afrocentric management perspectives

H Van Den Heuvel

doi:10.4102/ac.v8i1.62

Abstract

Purpose: This paper aims to examine how 'African management' discourse has emerged in South Africa. Altogether, it has stimulated debates - sometimes in controversial ways - on 'taboo issues', e.g. relating to 'cultural diversity' and 'ethnicity'. The stimulation of such debates within organisations is probably a more valuable contribution than a static, essentialised 'African identity' that it proclaims. Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper draws on a qualitative research project conducted in South Africa in 2003-2004. Its relevance lies in gaining in-depth insights into ('non-western') local management discourse. It seeks to contribute to the body of knowledge on political and cultural contexts in which South African organizations operate, and how they impact on local management perspectives, and vice versa. Findings: The research findings make clear how and under what circumstances 'African management' discourse has come about in South Africa, and how it could be interpreted. Implications: 'African management' advocates allegedly attempt to revise dominant management thinking and promote 'humane-ness' and participatory decision-making in South African organisations, in search of a contextualised management approach. Amongst others, it has produced new meanings of 'Africanness' and has opened up space for 'hidden messages', resentments and aspirations to become openly articulated. This throws another light on phenomena such as cultural diversity and ethnicity that usually tend to be 'neutralised'. This may turn out to be far healthier for blooming organisational cultures in South Africa than relentlessly hammering on prescribed 'corporate values'. Originality/Value: This paper informs the reader in detail about the emergence and evolvement of 'African management' discourse in South Africa. It is a unique attempt to develop an interpretative viewpoint on this intriguing phenomenon that offers a potentially valuable contribution in reading cultural and ethnic identities within organisations.

Highlights

This research paper describes the emergence of ‘African management’ discourse in South Africa, which has evoked a debate to revise dominant management thinking and promote ‘humane-ness’ in organisations, in search of a contextualised management and leadership approach
Introducing ‘ubuntu’ as a key concept, simultaneously the discourse has opened up space for debates that were previously unheard of, in which a long history of ‘coercive labour’ and its impact on managerial conventions and organisational cultures tend to be asserted
A balanced analysis of the ‘African management’ and ‘ubuntu’ concepts should be critical of their strategic use, the commodification aspect, and the emphasis on stereotypical representations of national and ethnic ‘cultures’

Summary

Introduction

This research paper describes the emergence of ‘African management’ discourse in South Africa, which has evoked a debate to revise dominant management thinking and promote ‘humane-ness’ in organisations, in search of a contextualised management and leadership approach. The facility to stimulate such dialogues on controversial issues in formal organisational contexts is possibly the most valuable contribution of ‘African management’ discourse to South Africa’s business, probably more than the proclamation of a static, essentialised ‘African identity’. At the end of the 1980s, a transformative strategic alliance was formed between a visionary business elite and leaders from African resistance movements. From this initiative, an ‘African management’ vision arose, with a strong Afrocentric orientation. An attempt is made to develop an interpretative perspective, with a specific focus on addressing issues around cultural diversity and ethnicity in South African organisations

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Conclusion