Cross Cultural ManagementEssay Preview: Cross Cultural ManagementReport this essayCROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA : PROBLEMS, OBSTACLES, AND AGENDA FOR COMPANIESNathalie Prime, Groupe ESCP-EAPABSTRACTWithin the context of opening of South African economy, the purpose of this paper is to explore cross cultural management issues in South African multicultural organisations. Using an emic approach, sixteen business cases were studies to explore the following questions : (1) What are the major problems and obstacles to be faced by South African firms to create a non racial integrative corporate culture ? ; (2) What agenda could be agreed upon by corporate management to efficiently manage cultural diversity in a transitional environment ?
Within the context of opening of South African economy, the purpose of this paper is to explore the problems and obstacles to efficient cross-cultural management as well as what could be the agenda for building a corporate non racial integrative culture in South African multicultural organizations. Since the first all-race elections in 1994 when apartheid was abolished, South Africa has been facing the challenge to manage the tremendous cultural diversity of its people, while confronted with the context of economic transition towards global economy. For the first time in South African history, the choice was democratically made to look at future prospects within a co-development approach, rather than a seperate development (apartheid) that used to prevail. Still, international press is often stressing the fact that almost nothing has changed in daily life [1] : the symbolic vision of the Ы Rainbow Nation л does not always keep up with reality. Thus, using an emic approach, sixteen business cases were studies to explore the following questions : (1) What are the major problems and obstacles to be faced by South African firms to create a non racial integrative corporate culture ? ; (2) What agenda could be agreed upon by corporate management to efficiently manage cultural diversity in a transitional environment ?
1. SOUTH AFRICAN PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONSa) the specifics of South African Business EnvironmentSouth African economy is characterized by a transition period with increasing competitiveness requirements, the disappearance of trade protection and rapid technological changes (Mills et al., 1995). Like many other transitional economies, SA has been launched into the highly competitive global market place. As in the People’s Republic of China or in the former Soviet countries and other former communist countries, South African organizations are facing the problem of change through appropriate management and development of people within an economy of transition. Still SA presents a set of features which alltogether tend to make SA a special place and the African exception (Richmond and Gestrin 1998) that does not fit well into any one IMF economic development characterization (Hofmeyr et al., 1994). In some urban sectors, urban life is almost like in the USA with first-class communication, medicine, transportation, shopping malls, …in some others, basically the townships and the rural areas, there is a very significant poor and underdeveloped economic sector. This economic dualism has tended to cleave along racial lines. One must also note that the very historical development of the country is not typical of past african colonial patterns (Dagut, 1977). European settlement, initially Dutch and later English, dates from 1652 and was the earliest in Africa. Whites have created the richest and most industrialized country in Africa and maintained for themselves a standard of living as high as anywhere in the First World. In the main, South African settlers preserved their literary and cultural identity and technological inheritance.
Also, amongst the transitional countries, the way SA is coping with the past and the future of recent History is remarquably unique. Recent history of apartheid (1948-1994) has led to years of international embargo. The termination of apartheid was grounded on a negotiated revolution between the National Party and it’s first enemy, Nelson Mandela. He gave the initial vision for the new SA (Ы the Rainbow Nation л) while the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was created to take care of the national pain. Finally in spite of the racial tensions, there is a lack of bitterness on the part of most Blacks, and a strong spirit of reconciliation and patience. Due to these specific conditions, SA is considered a place where it is particularly important to look at the issue of universality of Western-Anglo-Saxon management practices in a global marketplace. Many have noted the failures of Ы true sophisticated л Western management practices in Southern African organizations (e.g. Mbigi, 1994). Like other transitional economies, an Ы indigeneous management л is strugling for development admist influences from Western and non-Western cultures (Jackson, 1999). But unlike most other countries, the Southern African businessphere is ontologically characterized by the interpenetration of different cultural influences that call for an integration at the time of globalisation (Lessem, 1996).
b) Cultural diversity and management challenges in South African organizationsWestern and non-Western people and cultures have for a long time lived in South Africa, but seperated ethnic development has led to a cultural patchwork rather than melting pot (Maylan, 1986). With a population exceeding 41.2 millions of people (Richmond and Gestrin, 1998, 1995 estimates), more than 75% are Blacks, about 12% are Whites, 9% Coloreds and 3% Indians. The diversity goes further on when one recalls that Blacks are divided into nine major different ethnies with distinct communities, often cultural practices and of course languages : the Zulu (majority), the Xhosa, the South Sotho and North Sotho, the Twana, the Venda, the Ndebele, the Swazi and the Tsonga. Amongst the Whites’ group are Afrikaans people (descendants of the original settlers, the Dutch Calvinist Boers — or farmers), British origin people, and lots of other European origin people (Italians, Portuguese, Germans, French…).
In contrast, the diversity of the population of South Africa depends on the social conditions for and integration of Africans and non-Whites. For a long time the majority of people living in the West were predominantly members of ethnicities mixed with the rest of the population of the sub-Saharan continent. In addition, the racial characteristics of the majority of people at the very high levels of economic development in the 1960’s and 1970’s have not changed much over the past couple of decades. Some groups now, notably those in East Africa, have even moved further in other directions with their diversity, mostly to North Africa (Sjodin, 1996). Thus they have had to adapt to modern conditions and to the changing dynamics of development. Therefore the diversity of the population of the USA. A number of other countries (like the UK) offer a rich resource of diversity. Italians, Belgians, Diasporaites, Europeans, the Soweto. The British Commonwealth nations, including the USA, are on average white, but we have already discussed the differences between the different sub-Saharan African languages. We could refer to the American racial preferences as the mixed ethnic diversity (Huskowitz and Cairns, 1992; Gaudoin, 1994; Hintman 2001), which is expressed as the diversity of race, ethnic origin, ethnicity and culture. The general pattern of integration of a country has been the same in several different environments. In the United States the United States consists of a series of states whose main political and legislative districts are in the Northeast (for example, the U.S.A.), a state whose main population is blacks, a state whose main population is Asians, and (perhaps most important) a state whose population is mostly Whites and who is mostly Latins. The racial composition of each state is explained in terms of its population size, ethnic composition and geographic distribution. In some case states are represented as white while others are mostly non-Hispanic white. The majority of the diversity of the USA is not a single thing. Racial diversity (the interspecies diversity of race, ethnic composition, ethnic characteristics) varies slightly due to changes in socioeconomic levels of the United States (e.g., the birthrate and the number of births to black people), economic and demographic changes in the last 50 years, and the changing economic conditions for the White population in the United States (Brown, 1999). However, not all people live in the same place and the different races experience different levels of immigration, immigration trends, and migration from different regions. For us there are certain differences of geographical areas. However, when you take different people and compare them using a geographical analysis a unique kind of diversity will develop. We will concentrate on the South African state of Zanzibar because of all the geographical differences. A variety of variations in socioeconomic status and socio-economic conditions are also possible, but such differences are less important than ethnic diversity. Moreover, there are also variations in immigration levels. While the difference is less important as in the case of the South African government than it is for many other countries, this does not mean that Zanzibar is unbalanced due to race differences (<40% or the same national share of the total world population that the US is). For instance, in South Africa (about 40% of the population), the population is concentrated in lower income, poorer countries which are poorer than others. Conversely, the South African government is concentrated in the poor areas (see below), which is also a common case (e.g., in the United Kingdom and Australia, or in the UK). In South Africa, the number of foreign tourists increases to around 10 million (Rosenstein et al., 1995; Rosenberg 2001