Constraints
[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Constraints ] [ Strategies ] [ Decision-making ] [ Motivation ] [ Principles ] [ Multiculturalism ] [ Training ]

New Workshop
Management Workshop in Cape Town April 2004

New Book
'Management and Change in Africa'

Book order information

New Projects
NGOs in Africa

MNCs in Africa

Entrepreneurship in Africa

New Resources
For the book - 'Management and Change in Africa'

Resources for Management and Change in Africa

About the author of this website

Themes in Management and Change in Africa

Constraints and Opportunities

Developing awareness amongst the management team of the broader operating constraints (political, economic, legislative, social and cultural) within a complex operating environment, and how these may be turned into opportunities

The research is beginning to show a need for management not only to be aware of operating constraints, but also to develop an awareness of how these may be turned into opportunities amongst its management team. Sub-Saharan African countries' original economic development was based on extraction and agriculture aimed at an export rather than a domestic market and the contemporary export ratios reflect this. According to the African Development Report (2000: 136) Africa’s share in global exports fell from 4.5 per cent in 1977 to 2 per cent in 1997 (in US dollar terms 2000) This focus on export-led production had the effects of negating the need to develop a consumer-based economy, leading to the underdevelopment of processing and service industries, and skills associated with the secondary and tertiary sectors.

The inequalities of the past has ensured the under-education and under-skilling of many people who are ill equipped for jobs in a highly competitive global marketplace. Even in South Africa, its 1999 gross national product per capita (GNP) of US$3,170 places it in the upper-middle income group of semi-industrialized economies and one of the most prosperous countries in Southern Africa, yet it performs more in line with the typical lower-middle income countries considering its social indicators (African Development Indicators, 2001:5). A high dependency ratio among the population has been exacerbated by the pandemic of AIDS. The way this issue is being addressed in sub-Saharan African countries by Human Resource departments varies from decreasing expenditure on training (from interviews in Zimbabwe, suggesting that because of the number of employees falling ill after training, money spent on training was largely seen as a waste), to AIDS/HIV testing in countries including Kenya and Botswana (from personal interviews).

Long lists of constraints can be drawn up for other African countries (and through management interviews we are currently doing this), yet it is management who are able to turn these around into opportunities that may make the difference between a mal-adaptive management system and a highly adaptive system (see African Hybrid Management Systems). Organizations do thrive and prosper under adverse conditions. The research is beginning to throw up such examples, and we are developing a number of case studies that will be linked to this page (so keep coming back to this page and keep an eye of the home page for news: these results and implications will also be discussed at the Cape Town Workshop). The ability to draw opportunities from such conditions may involve the capability to include within strategic objectives the multiple interests of a wider stakeholder base. Hence, management will  also have to: Next

Bibliography

Have you registered?

AfricaManagement.org © Terence Jackson 2002