AFRICA

Africa is the second largest and popular continent in the World, has 53 countries, is very rich in natural resources and has a wide variety of religious beliefs Islam and Christian are predominant. In Africa there are different ethnical groups, multiple indigenous groups, myriad values and beliefs; Africans tend to be highly collectivist.

The discovery of diamonds in 1867 and gold nine years later brought an influx of “outlanders” into the republics. During the Cold War era, the U.S. and the Former Soviet Union promoted their own political ideologies by supporting various governments and rebel groups in Africa thanks to the economic globalization and free trade markets throughout the world, combatants in resource-rich areas could finance their wars.

When you talk about Africa you can’t generalize, all the regions are very different one from each other, for example when talking about South Africa
Has a long history of exotic people setting in the region, this have created considerable conflicts between the various groups and the indigenous population, it is hard to say that south Africa has a common national culture, because of the conflict and the ethnic diversity caused by migrations. Management practices are strongly modeled on British and the American system. When working with different ethnics it is necessary to work on the understanding.

Kenya and Nigeria are countries of Africa that has high Cultural diversity, cross-cultural influences on management styles, rapid Economic Growth, high Levels of Intra-African Immigration, presence of many indigenous groups and MNC´s Influence (FDI).

Nigeria has more than 200 ethnic groups, 500 dialects, the predominant religion is the Islam and Christianity, is rich in natural resources (oil, gas), and is a country with regulatory openness to foreign direct investment, it is consider an emerging economy and the business opportunities are growing and also with them the migration.

The MEND is the most important revel goupr in Nigeria. This group has 2 basic elements:

1. Ties with preexistent rebel movements.
2. Support of local population in fighting and in logistics.

MEND is not guerilla or terrorist group although they launch several attacks to achieve their most important goal: Weak the oil supply. Other of their goals is to raise international attention on the Delta issue and create an evocative contraposition.

" In January 2006 MEND was introduced to the world with an e-mail via which it intimidated oil
multinationals based in Niger Delta area and threatened the government with reducing the oil
exportation capacity to zero. From that moment, it efficiently orchestrated sabotage actions to
damage the oil wells and a long succession of kidnappings of multinational companies’ staff".

"MEND portrays itself as political organisation that wants a greater share of Nigeria’s oil revenues to go to the impoverished region that sits atop the oil. In fact, it is more of an umbrella organisation for several armed groups, which it sometimes pays in cash or guns to launch attacks".

For further information about this subject please follow the link: http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12267373


In Kenya 95% of the populations are natives, it counts with a ¨quadruple¨ cultural heritage that affects management; Arab-Muslim, Colonial (white), South Asian and Indigenous.

Some characteristics of the African management style are:

• They care about the interest of the group, they are highly collectivist
• Chiefs and elders have the power
• In the selection process they favor their families and friends
• They are a multiethnic culture
• And the seniority prevailed.

Information taken from the class presentations.


What is Ubuntu? How was it applied to support the merging process of the two companies? (3 examples)

Ubuntu means a strong sense of community, ¨Ubuntu¨ is premised on the philosophy that one’s find own humanity in helping others to find theirs, in other words I am a human because you are a human, it is commonly used by companies to create working environment that results beneficial to the company and the employees.

The African Bank Miners Credit had a challenge was to measure the efficacy of what they were doing, and also working for the recognitions and qualifications will bring them credibility to their market.

African Miners Credit has used drums as an important part of the Ubuntu process and every employee has been given a drum that was used to symbolize communication and loyalty. ¨Drums serve as a constant reminder of the importance of good communication and unity within the workplace. People have used drums since the dawn of the time to relay messages and tell stories; the drum unifies the community by moving to the same rhythm¨

The tale of the bird and the badger was used to explain the concept of growth, employees were told like the bird and the badger, we must strive to work together, because Ubuntu teach that what is good for us is good for you, and what is good for us is good for you.

The tale of how the elephant became so big was used to illustrate the concept of equality; employees were told the company was committed to building a workforce that represented the country’s demographics. Employees were told that just like the elephant, everyone has a potential, and though training and hard work, we could be able to achieve their goals.

Ubuntu by Nelson Mandela.