Effective People Management In Africa

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Description

For many decades, unheard indigenous business leaders and entrepreneurs in Africa, drawing from their ground-level experience, have intuitively felt that organizations and management of people in Africa needs a different approach; one that must be deeply embedded in the African context. These business leaders constantly advocate for home-grown solutions, or at least engage in selective adaptation with foreign management practices, for a number of reasons.

First, there has always been the sense that any management of organizations which fails to embrace the dictates of the local contexts with deep-rooted knowledge and experience is bound to fail. Second, indigenous business leaders believe that local context knowledge and experience would inspire and empower people to seek 'best practice' initiatives, that would then work as a catalyst to generate local ideas and values that are crucial to effective people management, organization and national development-resilience.

Such an approach would also promote self-reliance, confidence and social cohesion. This volume therefore suggests approaches to managing people and organizations that reflect and satisfy the objectives and interests of multiple stakeholders in Africa. Review: 'This book provides an excellent perspective on human resource management in Africa.

While the main focus is on new directions, the editors and their outstanding contributors also provide a great deal of information about current human resource management practice in Africa as well. The editors have done a superb job of organizing their chapters into two main sections: the first examining human resource management issues and topics in specific countries, and the second examining human resource management issues and topics in multinational enterprises operating in Africa today.

As the editors suggest, this is the perfect time for this book to be published and the perfect time for HR scholars and practitioners around the world to be reading it!' Professor Randall S. Schuler, Strategic International Human Resource Management, Rutgers University, USA 'Effective People Management in Africa is a useful introduction to the subject and an outstanding resource for all researchers, practitioners and students focusing on Africa.

Readers of this text will learn about the key development in the field, the core research themes being pursued by researchers and future themes expected to shape the debate on this topic. Whether new to management in Africa or a seasoned professional or researcher, this book is an essential and useful resource to help better understand human resource issues in the African context.' Professor Pawan Budhwar, Aston Business School, UK 'This book contains a much needed compilation of chapters that illuminate both the challenges of and approaches to effectively managing people and organizations in Africa.

It is a must read for scholars as well as business people who wish to be successful in Africa.' Professor Stella M Nkomo, University Pretoria and President of the Africa Academy of Management 'This book by some of the leading experts in the field addresses key issues in HRM in Africa. Although the text adds significantly to our limited knowledge of this under-researched topic, a key strength is that the book goes beyond information provision to take an unashamedly theoretical view of developments in this important region at a time of considerable change and, perhaps unusually, optimism.

The book is therefore of interest not just to scholars of HRM in Africa or even in emerging economies generally, but to all researchers interested in the relationship between change and context.' Professor Chris Brewster, Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK; and Nijmegen University, the Netherlands. 'This book provides an excellent perspective on human resource management in Africa.

While the main focus is on new directions, the editors and their outstanding contributors also provide a great deal of information about current human resource management practice in Africa as well. The editors have don