Psychology of Management in African Organizations

Few managers of African organizations are trained in managing people. They may be technically proficient in their jobs, but there is a prevailing certainty that because they have lived among other people, they know instinctively how to manage them. Not true, says psychologist and organizational behavior specialist Ugwuegbu. Moreover, not only do the new African states suffer severe shortages of managers of any kind, they also lack resources to give those they do have the skills in human behavior management they need. Dr. Ugwuegbu's book seeks to improve management effectiveness and efficiency by providing a better, more comprehensive understanding of African work systems and the behavior of Africans at work. His book, the first of its kind, introduces the science of human behavior into the management of African organizations. It challenges the reign of colonial management practices and blames them for the failure of African managers to adopt modern management techniques. Although it absolves African cultures of the responsibility for the poor performance of African workers, it holds management rigorously responsible, and agrees with existing opinion that not only should leadership effectiveness be measurable, but it should be measured. Human relations, as practiced in African firms, is only one aspect of human resource planning, and in fact, African organizations should learn from human conflict, not try to fight it--all of which makes his book essential for professionals in African organizations and for those elsewhere who want to do business with them, as well as for scholars and graduate students in various fields of the social, behavioral, and administrative sciences. Dr. Ugwuegbu sets out to broaden the African manager's concept of the organization as both a pyschological and physical entity, and to do this he integrates knowledge of human behavior from psychological perspectives into the management of African organizations. He also shows that African governments are responding positively to calls from the international financial community for the commercialization and privatization of government-owned African companies. In nine chapters he covers such topics as the colonial management legacy; the psychological problems of African organizations; problems of motivation, leadership, and power; decision making; conflict and conflict management; and performance evaluation and training and development. The chapters are unified by one common objective: to explore the dynamics of the African workplace and to help African professionals make use of it, and then to enhance the understanding of Africa's management problems among managers and executives in other countries worldwide.

DENIS CHIMA E. UGWUEGBU is Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology and Chair of the Department of Psychology, which he founded, at University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Currently a visiting professor at the University of Michigan and the Center for Afro American Studies, both in Ann Arbor, he is an internationally recognized psychologist with more than 100 highly regarded publications in books and journals, both in the United States and Nigeria. Dr. Ugwuegbu is a recipient of several prestigious awards and fellowships and serves as a consultant to various organizations and government ministries abroad.