Effective People Management in Africa

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.

Aloysius Newenham-Kahindi is an Associate Professor of Organizational Strategy and International Management, and a Hanlon Scholar for International Business at the Edwards Business School, University of Saskatchewan, Canada. His research focuses on organizational theory and strategy, sustainable development, comparative management within the context of international business, and the role of corporate languages and knowledge appropriation within multinational enterprises (MNEs) in subsidiaries' context. He has published in journals such as International Journal of Business Studies, Journal of World Business, Journal of Business Ethics, Global Strategy Journal, and the International Journal of Human Resource Management, and teaching cases in International Management at Ivey Publications and Harvard Business Review Publications.

Ken N. Kamoche is Professor of HRM and Organization Studies at Nottingham University Business School, UK. He previously taught at Birmingham University, City University of Hong Kong and Nottingham Trent. His research interests include international HRM, Africa-China business relations, organizational improvisation, and knowledge appropriation. Ken's research has appeared in journals such as the Journal of Management Studies, Organization Studies, Human Relations, Work, Employment and Society, British Journal of Management, Journal of World Business, and International Journal of Human Resource Management.

Amon Chizema is Professor of International Business and Strategy at Loughborough University, UK. He holds a PhD from Loughborough University. His research interests lie in international corporate governance, boards of directors and executive compensation. His research has been published in leading journals such as Journal of Management Studies, Journal of World Business, Corporate Governance: An International Review and International Business Review.

Kamel Mellahi is a Professor of Strategic Management and is Head of Group for Strategy and International Business at Warwick Business School, UK. His research focuses on organisational failure and renewal, business ethics and sustainability, and international business strategy with particular emphasis on emerging economies and MENA region. He has published three books and over 70 papers in top strategy and international business journals such as Strategic Management Journal, Journal of International Business Studies and Journal of Management Studies.