It also explains why employees find it hard to break out of divisional or functional silos: People become attached to their closest associates.
In a study by Nohria, Groysberg, and Lee, they surveyed 385 employees of two global businesses, a financial services giant and a leading IT services firm and 300 employees from 500 companies to define overall motivation. They focused on four commonly measured workplace indicators - engagement, satisfaction, commitment, and intention to quit. Engagement represents the energy, effort, and initiative employees bring to their jobs. Satisfaction reflects the extent to which they feel that the company meets their expectations at work and satisfies its implicit and explicit contracts with them. Commitment captures the extent to which employees engage in corporate citizenship. Intention to quit is the best proxy for employee turnover.
Both studies showed that the organisation’s ability to meet the four fundamental drives explains on average about 60% of employees’ variance on motivational indicators. It was also found that certain drives influence some motivational indicators more than others. For example, fulfilling the drive to bond has the greatest effect on employee commitment, whereas meeting the drive to comprehend is most closely linked with employee engagement (Nohria, Groysberg, & Lee 2008).
4.3. The need to integrate social and business culture In essence we are social beings, the need to bond and culture at various levels, coherently form part of the integrated whole that we are as humans. The integration of social culture with business culture is not an African phenomenon, but it is maybe more prevalent in the African context. Africa is home to 26% of the world’s languages, and South Africa
has eleven official languages although there are many more spoken in the country. It is however when we study the South African ethnic groupings and/or sub-cultures that we are able to begin to understand the impact this could have on our business cultures and the way we lead/manage our businesses. This complexity is further enhanced by the First World businesses in Africa, where the majority of leaders have adopted the Western and European value systems while the largest portion of their workforces is made up of unskilled and basic/semi-skilled employees. These employees in majority, value and live the traditional African values. The confusion and havoc created by the Western and European value systems in business and society, destabilises their cognitive and interpersonal world, causing major conflict within the self, their families and communities.
The need for African managers to develop a
greater appreciation and understanding of the social culture, and purposely managing the integration of the core African social values into the business culture, is therefore critical for business success.
The recognised basis of the African culture is vested in Ubuntu, and the core principles of the African value system can be summarised as follows (Shonhiwa, 2006; Khoza, 2005; Mbigi, 2005; Van Rensburg, 2007): • The African prefers spiritual collectivism to individualism. Spiritual guidance is expected and respected; • There is an inclination towards consensus
in problem-solving, rather than dissension; • Humility and helpfulness are expected, instead of wanton criticism. The spirit of Ubuntu (the concept of fellowship, loosely translated as ‘you are who you are through other people’) is greatly valued and each person is very conscious of this philosophy;
Our ultimate goal as African leaders and managers should be to guide business and society to enable Africa to reach its potential, so promising and prominently highlighted by the McKinsey’s survey of 2010.
January 2012 | Management Today 93
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