Understanding
organizational behavior in
Africa :
3 dimensional model
Patrick Bakengela Shamba
Professor at Protestant University of Congo
Visiting Lecturer at Frankfurt School of Finance and
Management/ Germany
Programme Director of Joint Master Programme
Congolese German Centre for Microfinance/ DAAD
Outline
1.
Introduction : Overview of the literature about
management in Africa
2.
Research problem
3.
Methods used
4.
Findings
5.
Conclusion
Introduction

Managing business for the first time in Africa, for many
western managers, may be like the experience of Alice in
the wonderland (Harvey, 2002)

One of the central question in literature when analyzing
management’s practices in Africa is the extent to which
most common universal models (tools) fail to really take
in account the reason why African personnel seem to act
beyond the universal economic rationality.
Introduction (Continued)

Kamoche (1997) notes that the literature is dominated by
the external environment paradigm.


The lack of efficiency, in some african organizations, is explained as
influenced by cultural (Kamdem,1996 ; D’Iribarne, 1997, 2003;
Bourgoin, 1984 ) or institutional constraints ( Harvey, 2002;
Khan and Ackers, 2004 ).
The internal dimension has received less attention
relative to the external dimension in organizational
analysis in Africa (Kamoche, 1997 :543).
Introduction (Continued)

The use of the general (external) environment paradigm as a
way to explain employee behavior in Africa has three
consequences:

a) First, we have relatively little empirical confirmation of
observations made out about organizational environment in Africa.

b) Second, because the general environment has only diffuse and
indirect influence on organizations, we are unable to tell how
precisely african organizational environment affect organizations on
the continent.

c) Third, researchers have neglected to study the task environment
(internal context) which would provide at least a description of the
exchange relationship between organizations and environments in
Africa.
2. Research problem

This paper aims to understand the diversity and
complexity of rationalities evolving within african
organization as explained by actors themselves.

Key question :
“Why do African manager and employees behave in a way
that seems to beyond the western rationality ?”


Is the “external environment paradigm” relevant to
explain and help understanding African behavior within
the organization ?
2. Research problem
External
environment
Acheiving
Organizational goals
Internal
environment
Hypothesis 1: The internal context is merely determined by the nature of
management leadership in the enterprise. This leadership is linked to the nature of
“power relationship” between actors in the organization
Hypothesis 2 : The relevance of the external context within the organization (the
organization’s porosity) depends on the nature of management’s responses to
employees uncertainties vis a vis of the external environment
3. Methodology

Comparison between two public enterprise in Congo (managed by
Congolese and depending to the Government for nomination of managers)


1° Public enterprise being able to apply western methods
2° Public enterprise with instability of management, strike, etc.
Aim: to understand the elements of the differences between actors’
practices and management rules in the enterprise.

Qualitative investigation was based on in-depth semi-directive interviews
with several categories of workers and members of management, at various
levels of the hierarchy.

The interviews with workers and management were carried out on the
workplace during a period of 60 days

The data gathering was based on the multiplicity of testimonies and cases
inside the same space of action in order to compare different points of
views.
3. What theoretical framework to use ?

Three criteria have been adopted as guidance for
choosing a relevant theoretical framework in this study.

First, the theoretical framework must be suitable to take in
account concrete problem observed in the organizations studies.

Secondly, the framework must be able to deal with the diversity
and complexity of observations on the ground and

finally, it must be able to take in account both external and internal
environments in order to understand the rationality of different
employees and managers behaviors within the organization.
Results and discussion
Stories from employees:
1. The use of the company’s small refrigerator in the office
to sell soft drink and sandwiches (personal business),
during working hours
2. Difficulty to get reimbursement of their medical invoice
by the company when they deal with the emergency
3. Using mobile telephones as a public cabin by putting an
advertisement (poster) in the corridor of the building
(in the enterprise) indicating that in such room or
office, an agent places at the disposal of the public his
mobile telephone by invoicing the cost of call per
minute.
Findings
1° When the enterprise is not able to garuantee access to internal
resource (salary, satibility) Rules are not respected
2°When employees are not able to satisfy minimum needs from the
external environment (paying house rent, school fees for kids) they
bring external activities in the enterprise
3° When the relationship in the organization is based on the informal
rules (The organization is « porous »)
1b. If the enterprise can satisfy its obligations toward employees
(internal environment ) and help employees to satisfy minimum
needs (from the external environment): Western methods can be
applied
2b. 3 dimensions must be taken in account to manage with success
organization in the African context
3 DIMENSIONAL MODEL
Actor A
1
Nature of
« power »
relationship.
Access to internal
resource
Access to external
resource
2
Actor B
Access
to
internal
resource
3
Access
to
external
resource
Rules applied in
the Organization
Results

Our results indicate that understanding management’s practices in
Africa by opposing universal and cultural models is a partial
approach because both universal and cultural models can be
successfully applied in Africa.

Our research develop a three dimensional model that helps to
understand the complexity of organizational behavior in Africa:
1.
2.
3.
The resource dependency between employees and the
internal environment (organization); How do employees
have access to the internal resource (salary, stability) ?
The resource dependency between employees and the
external environment : How do employees are be able to
satisfy basic needs of the external environment (paying school
fees, house rent, etc. ) ?
The power’s relationships between employees within the
organization: Are formal and common rules applied to every
body in the organization ?
Conclusion
Having a better understanding of management in Africa
requires the analysis in three dimensions :
1. The actor relationship with the internal and external
environment in terms of control of resource
(constraints);
2.
The interaction between actors (individual) within the
organization and and
3. The synergy the two previous factors.
Our model has to be tested in other countries. We think
that the 3 dimensions are universal and can be applied
all over the interconnected world.