Understanding African perspectives and their influence on the business world - presentation for business people already involved in doing business in Africa or about to begin doing business in Africa. Cross cultural values which impact on work and the business world.

1. Understanding African perspectives

2. • “An amazing experience almost all
western businesses face whenever
doing business with Africans is that
although they dress and talk as
Western people do, they are deeply
influenced by their own cultural and
traditional values” – Culture
Africaine et Gestion de L’enterprise
Moderne Marcel Zadi Kessy

3. Overview
• In global business planning, Africa is the
forgotten continent
– Outside South Africa there are few
investment opportunities
– Subsistence farming is continent’s main
source of livelihood
• In the short term, a bleak view prevails
– Poverty, illiteracy, disease, political instability,
corruption and tremendous foreign debt
– Long term is much brighter as Africa is a
major source of natural resources
– Chinese have discovered Africa in a big way!

4. cont
• Belief systems
– Islamic, Christian and traditional tribal beliefs
– Most Africans are caught in a mix of Western
values and tribal loyalties
•Many
of the cultures were formed by colonialism,
but the cultures correspond to traditional kingdoms
or tribes
VS

5. A Cultural Model
Environment
Thinking
Structure
.10
.9
.1
.2 Time
CULTURAL
.3 Action
ORIENTATION
TO 10
Competitiveness
.8
Individualism
VARIABLES
.7
.4
.5
.6
Power
Space
Communication

6. Environment
• Dominant mode: constraint, even fatalism
• People see their lives governed by external elements: the
climate, foreign governments, internal, often authoritarian
governments
• Reasons for this are minimal educational opportunities
and infrastructures, dependence on foreign aid
• Change has been mostly externally driven but this is
changing as the West leaves Africa to its own devices
SO…

7. Fatalism and the burden
of the sacred
•
•
•
•
In the Western world, the management of a modern
enterprise rest mainly on rational considerations – clear
standards of performance and productivity
For many Africans, their progress depends on hidden and
mystical forces. Their promotion is a result of the work of
a magician or their chief – it is linked with magical powers
Important decisions can be postponed or rejected as a
result of fear or suspicion of hidden revenge that cannot
be avoided
Fatalism is used to explain economic failure of a company
instead of checking real factors of inappropriate
administration or lack of competition

8. Guidelines
• Be realistic – don’t raise
expectations too high
• Don’t try to force change. Facilitate
change by persistence

9. Time
• In most of Africa, time is fluid, not
linear
• Relationships are more important
than time lines and schedules
• Business is postponed by sitting and
talking until comfort is established
and relationship built
• Patience is a survival skill, not just a
virtue

10. Time (cont) - Elderliness is not a
disease, but a wealth
• Time is abundant
• The concept of future is foreign to much African
thinking.
• Actual time is the present and the past – time
moves backwards, not forwards
• Christianity and Western concepts are changing
the concept of time, creating concern for the
future, for education and for growth
•
SO…

11. Guidelines
• Don’t show impatience or try to
hurry – you may be seen as trying to
cheat
• Slow down – don’t fight against local
time
• Show respect for traditions
• Be flexible. Put your watch in your
pocket
A patient man will eat ripe
fruits.

12. Time is not money – The African
hour
• In traditional society, time is measured by
seasons, harvests, special events like
births, deaths, funerals and other rituals
• This improvised vision of time and the
incredible African patience is in contrast
to Western thinking
• The employees arrive late and leave
earlier to attend different rituals
• Wasting time for rituals is normal and
natural

13. Action/Being
• In general, Africa is more being than doing
oriented
• Work gets done only after trusting relationships
have been built
• Urbanization is lessening this only slightly
• Work is not the central component of life, leisure
and family are
• Aggressive focus on the task at hand may seem
like a demonstration of superiority

14. Some guidelines …
• Spend time developing relationships. Be sincere
• Don’t appear too task oriented – be sure never
to seem condescending
• Expect to conduct serious business on a one-onone basis only
• Always keep your promises
Because friendship is pleasant, we
partake of our friend's
entertainment; not because we
have not enough to eat in our own
house.

15. Communication
• Often high-context, indirect and
unexpressive
• Politeness and protocol are highly valued
and hospitality is generous
• Forms of address are often related to
status and seniority

16. Guidelines
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Communicate formally and respectfully
Soften your directness and listen for indirect meanings
Be open to receiving and giving hospitality
Always use titles
Be assertive but avoid arrogance
Avoid political discussions
Show genuine interest in African culture and don’t
compare Africa with your own culture

17. The Oral Tradition
• Very old tradition of spoken communication
• “In Africa, when an old man dies, it is as if a
whole library has been burnt”
• In the modern business this can cause many
problems:
– Imprecision of management and
administration objectives
– Lack of readiness to read relevant documents
– Difficulties in writing
– Difficulties in filing systems

18. Space
• Personal space is closer than the West
• Space is seen as more public than
private which fits in with the collectivism
and sense of trust
• Friendly touching is common

19. Guidelines
• Be warm and genuine when greeting
others
• Expect to shake hands a great deal
• Don’t refuse hospitality and remember to
return it
• Show respect by professional dress

20. Hierarchy
• Home to authoritarian leaders “Big Man” – authority is
rarely questioned and free expression is not highly valued
• Developing relationships with top officials will help
business, as connections are the key to success
• Loyalty is highly valued and important in decision making
• Age can be an asset as it is connected to wisdom
If you refuse the elder’s advice, you will walk the whole
day”

21. The obstacles of compliance
and submission
• In traditional Africa, an apprentice wouldn’t ever
doubt the knowledge of his master because they
were supposed to preserve the knowledge the way it
was transmitted to them
• In modern companies in Africa, it is becoming more
common to see younger executives occupying higher
and more responsible positions than their elders
• This causes a double problem:
– The younger person may have difficulty in
exercising authority over the older employees
– They may not be promoted despite their
competence

22. The Lion King- The myth
of the boss
•
Hierarchy is so strict that in some cases, you cannot address
yourself directly to the chief or EVER go against his ideas
•
In the modern African enterprise, the myth of the chief is felt
by a strong submission of the employees and a strong
hierarchical order
•
There are deep barriers of communication – an employee
generally will not maintain his own point of view
•
There are privileged forums to attain decisions
•
The managers and directors will cultivate this myth by
numerous practices, behaving like demigods and building an
organization with many hierarchical levels

23. Guidelines
• Show respect at all times
• Whenever possible, work through a thirdparty with high level connections
• Expect centralized decision making
• Don’t try to “equalize” people and be a
friend to all

24. Individualism
•
Mostly collectivistic; extended family and tribes shape
behavior of the individual. Nepotism and kinship ties are
encouraged
•
Pressures of family/tribe obligations have been associated
with the widespread corruption in many Afr8ican countries.
Much of the bribe money may go to relatives in rural
areas
•
Tribes provide guidelines for most aspects of life. Laws
derived from tribal customs may be more powerful than
laws of a nation
•
City is growing fast – people from collective rural tradition
meet head-on with urban life and its more individualistic
values

25. Home Sweet Home- Workplace as a
community
•
The main focus is to maintain the social equilibrium and to
distribute justice and not the consideration of individual
economic performances
•
Relations between employers and employees are similar
to those between an individual and his clan
•
They are based on moral and emotional considerations
that generate moral obligations
•
This mentality has the tendency to transform the African
enterprise from the administration of producing wealth to
the administration of redistributing wealth

26. Shhh… The cult of secrecy
• The most important issues of the community are
always conducted in a very small and secret
forum
• This is true even when it concerns transmission
of professional knowledge and skills
• In the business world this will lead to the
retention of information and the concentration of
information in the hands of a few

27. Guidelines
• Show respect for kinship and
obligations
• Pay attention to tribal/family as well
as national loyalties
• Expect rules to be applied in a
particularistic rather than
individualistic manner

28. Competitiveness
• In parts of Southern Africa, rapid change is
increasing the emphasis on material success
• Elsewhere in Africa, competitiveness varies from
low to moderate
• Guidelines
• Be competitive, but avoid being seen as
exploitative
• Expect to be asked for concessions and favors

29. Structure
• Life in most of Africa is neither rigid nor highly
regulated
• Bureaucracies on the whole are large and
inefficient, with much red tape
• Guidelines
• Build connections to navigate through the
complexity
• Expect to work from a broad agreement rather
than a detailed plan or contract

30. Thinking
• Decision making is sometimes made on symbolic
and mythological thought
• This encourages superstition and causes diffusion of
symbol and substance: a world of “virtual reality” that
Western business people may have difficulty relating
to
• Guidelines
Withold your critical judgement
Present arguments in small chunks in clear, concise
language
Expect decisions to be made on more than just data
and facts