{"id":2189,"date":"2019-05-18T19:26:17","date_gmt":"2019-05-18T19:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hr4free.web-romandie.ch\/?p=2189"},"modified":"2019-05-18T19:26:17","modified_gmt":"2019-05-18T19:26:17","slug":"adapting-corporate-management-practices-to-the-african-cultural-framework","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hr4free.com\/en\/Economy-and-Labor-Market\/Corporate-Management-and-African-Culture","title":{"rendered":"Adapting Corporate Management Practices to the African Cultural Framework"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the age of globalization, the search for universal corporate management recipes may be regarded as a legitimate approach.\u00a0<\/strong>But can we really expect a given set of management practices to fit into any professional environment \u2013 without ever taking local realities into account? Indeed, even the European and Anglo-Saxon models display significant differences, if only in terms of employee protection…<\/p>\n

Authors: Jonathan Kabr\u00e9, Vincent Held<\/em><\/p>\n

As for the African continent, it has often been observed that companies that exceeded the family circle can very quickly find themselves confronted to important challenges in terms of employee management.<\/strong>\u00a0Our aim here is to explore a few approaches with the aim of overcoming the most frequent challenges facing medium and large companies, such as high rates of absenteeism or a difficulty to have certain norms and procedures enforced.<\/p>\n

But in order to grasp the meaning of such actions, it is first and foremost necessary to investigate the preponderant role played by\u00a0community life<\/em>\u00a0in numerous African societies. An importance that originates in the latter\u2019s essential role for the very survival of its members…<\/p>\n

The community model: advantages and limitations for African societies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sub-Saharan Africa displays true ethnic and cultural diversity \u2013 with most varying customs from North to South, from East to West. From one country to the other, untold numbers of ethnicities and tribes, all of which greatly differing from each other, can be observed. And yet,\u00a0in spite of their diversity, most of these societies share an essential feature: community relationships often pervade the lives of the group\u2019s members.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This preponderant role playede by the community in the life of its members can be explained by the fact that the underlying\u00a0solidarity\u00a0<\/em>allows maintaining a level of\u00a0social assistance<\/em>\u00a0that benefits its most vulnerable members. This advantage is not to be underestimated in societies that are often confronted to harsh economic realities.<\/p>\n

The reverse side of the medal is that each member of the group will have to be available for others, as they themselves enjoy the help and support of the group when needed.\u00a0Community life thus generates diverse obligations for the individuals inside it<\/strong>, who will have to return countless favors and take great care not to offend or neglect other community members, among other duties…<\/p>\n

This is probably the reason why family businesses provide the traditional framework for the exercise of economic activities<\/strong>: being made up of close people who have a converging interest in making the business successful, a family venture indeed allows redirecting a maximum amount of resources towards people who share a strong bond.<\/p>\n

However, the present-day necessity to keep\u00a0public infrastructures<\/em>\u00a0(water and wastewater companies, power plants, fiscal administrations…) and\u00a0industrial companies<\/em>\u00a0(mining and oil corporations, raw material transformation units…) running requires bringing employees from much broader horizons to work together. Quite obviously, the latter\u2019s interest in making the organization successful will be much diluted…<\/p>\n

It can also be useful to introduce the notion of\u00a0“extended family”<\/em>, which goes together with community life in numerous African societies.\u00a0While a nuclear family is organized around a father, a mother and their children, an extended family also closely associates uncles and aunts, nephews and nieces, cousins to its core members…<\/strong>\u00a0It is also important to note that the very notion of\u00a0“family”<\/em>\u00a0does not solely apply to\u00a0connections by blood<\/em>, but also to certain\u00a0close social relations<\/em>\u00a0with which there is a strong relationship of trust \u2013 the notions of “uncles”, aunts and “cousins” being often applied without any direct biological ties.<\/p>\n

It is now time to observe that\u00a0the competition between the interests of the company and those of the diverse communities its employees belong to, can give rise to countless malfunctions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The impact of community life on the functioning of non-family corporations<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is indeed understandable that community life \u2013 with its vital role for the very survival of individuals \u2013 may threaten to encroach on corporate life. This observation may have led some observers to consider that\u00a0“corporations represent a foreign body to Africa […] a body that has never been fully accepted nor completely digested”<\/em>. (1)<\/p>\n

And here is an example that seems to corroborate this point of view.\u00a0The high rates of absenteeism caused by the obligation to attend the funerals of members of the “extended family” represent a reality innumerable companies have come to regard as a fact of life.<\/strong>\u00a0For those concerned, a failure to fulfill this social duty on professional grounds can indeed be misinterpreted as an act of disdain towards the community and lead to a great loss in terms of social status \u2013 to such extent that even the threat of a dismissal can lack any dissuasive power!<\/p>\n

Another aspect of this intrusion of community life into the operations of the organization is linked to the fact that the\u00a0relations of subordination\u00a0<\/em>as stated in the organizational chart can be completely neutralized due to the importance of the interests that link employees to each other outside work.\u00a0It can for example prove difficult to take action against employees who are frequently absent without justification and negotiating the application of certain norms and procedures may be time consuming.\u00a0<\/strong>Indeed, using coercion against a member of one\u2019s own community in a professional context may lead to retaliatory action against oneself and one\u2019s close relations…<\/p>\n

In addition to the absenteeism caused by funerals, the collusion between executives and employees at lower organizational levels may explain the fact that\u00a0“time management \u2013 especially in relation to absenteeism \u2013 is regarded by numerous researchers as a key factor in explaining the low competitiveness of companies in Africa”<\/em>\u00a0(2).<\/p>\n

It may also be noted that in many societies, the traditional importance of showing respect for the given word can make it difficult to control the enforcement of procedures that require written justifications.<\/strong>\u00a0Let us consider the example of an employee who claims to have paid a certain amount in cash on behalf of the company, yet who cannot provide the corresponding receipt. If the systematic issue of an invoice is not part of the local culture, the employee in question may not understand why a proof of payment is required of him and perceive this demand as a sign of distrust. It would thus be useful to replace this practice into the context of\u00a0standardized procedures<\/em>\u00a0the aims of which can be clearly explained \u2013 such as the keeping of books in accordance with the applicable law.<\/p>\n

We will now review a few practices that may be implemented in order to prevent the Board from being short-circuited by the strong extraprofessional relationships that bind managers and their subordinates together at the lower echelons.<\/p>\n

Beyond traditional structures: a few tips to adjust management practices to the African cultural framework<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a work published in 1998, M. Zadi Kessy, managing director of several Bouygues subsidiaries in the Ivory Coast, completely refuted the idea that\u00a0“certain African cultural traits [would be] incompatible with the management of modern companies”<\/em>. (3)<\/p>\n

In his book\u00a0African culture and modern corporate management<\/em>, he outlined diverse steps to be taken in order to allow decision-makers to exert direct control over their subordinates\u2019 activity at all levels of the organization:<\/p>\n