• There is an inherent trust and belief in the
fairness of those in leadership, hence a lack of criticism;
• African moral standards are based on ancestral precedents and, thus history plays a prominent role in guiding future conduct; • Society is a structure in which an inclusive system of hierarchy plays a role. This inspires orderliness and acceptance of authority; • Perpetual optimism and a belief in superior
forces underlie the African sense of being and attitude towards life. This explains the ease with which fanatic allegiance is instilled into the minds of young people who become guerrilla fighters; and • There is a tacit expectation that those
who are in a supervisory position will display sound leadership and not let their subordinates down. Subordinates expect their leaders to display a heightened sense of ethics, fairness, transparency and accountability. Unfortunately, most leaders today fail to uphold these values if we measure it against the fact that Ubuntu imposes both negative duties and positive obligations upon human beings. A person living the Ubuntu values abstain from, for example, killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, verbal infractions, substance abuse and participating in money- generating activities
Proposed Cultural Integration Framework
harmful to other beings. In other words, a person practising this philosophy avoids unethical conduct, cultivates good deeds and trains the mind to embrace good qualities such as generosity.
The question is how do we integrate aspects of the African and business culture? Changing culture is a complex matter and we can conclude from the above that it is definitely not for the impatient, uncommitted leaders that do not believe culture is a critical component of business success. The model (left) provides a possible framework of five building blocks for the integration of social and business culture and is discussed in more detail below.
Framework Building Block - Cultural Sensitisation Globalisation has created a world of business where leaders and managers are forced to focus only on managing their businesses or functions to drive the aspects that are visible and measurable. If they do not, they are penalised by both their short- and long-term incentive schemes. These schemes often foster greed and self-centred leadership in which personal ambition among leaders “tend to” override the interests of either or both the business and that of the people they lead.
Cultural Sensitisation
Living the Shared Values
Continuous
evaluation of the attainment of the framework’s building block goals
Investigating Culture Studying of cultures and determining the shared value / belief system
94 Management Today | January 2012
Embedding the culture
Establish the shared value / belief system
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