A change navigation-based, scenario planning process within a developing world context from an Afro-centric leadership perspective

Orientation: In the hyper turbulent context faced currently by organisations, more flexible strategic planning approaches, such as scenario planning which take into account a more comprehensive range of possible futures for an organisation, will position organisations better than conventional forecast and estimates that depend only on a single, linearly extrapolated, strategic response. Research purpose: This study aimed to investigate how scenario-based planning (a strictly cognitive management tool) can be combined with organisational change navigation (a practice addressing the emotionality of change) and how this integrated process should be aligned with the prerequisites imposed by a developing country context and an Afro-centric leadership perspective in order to make the process more context relevant and aligned. Motivation for the study: The integration of organisational change navigation with conventional scenario based planning, as well as the incorporation of the perquisites of a developing countries and an Afro-centric leadership perspective, will give organisations a more robust, holistic strategic management tool that will add significantly more value within a rapidly, radically and unpredictably changing world. Research design, approach and method: The adopted research approach comprised a combination of the sourcing of the latest thinking in the literature (the ‘theory’) as well as the views of seasoned practitioners of scenario planning (the ‘practice’) through an iterative research process, moving between theory and practice, back to practice and finally returning to theory in order to arrive at a validated expanded and enhanced scenario-based planning process which is both theory and practice ‘proof’. Main findings: A management tool incorporating the change navigation and the unique features of developing countries and Afro-centric leadership was formulated and empirically validated. This management tool is referred to as a change navigation based, scenario planning process (CNBSPP). Practical/managerial implications: CNBSPP is available for use by organisations wishing to apply a strategic planning tool that fits within a developing country context and an Afro-centric leadership approach. Contribution/value add: The research makes a unique contribution to the current level of knowledge by integrating two disciplines usually practised independently of one another, namely scenario-based planning and organisational change navigation. It also embedded the process into a different context of application, that is, the developed world as viewed from an Afro-centric leadership perspective

A postcolonial and

This article reports on a postcolonial and anti-colonial reading of representations of ‘African’ leadership and management in organization studies. The resulting analysis revealed tensions and contradictions between stereotypical colonial images of ‘African’ leadership and management and proposed counter-images that often reflect the excesses of cultural relativism. Finding alternatives between colonized representations and counter-representations is not an easy project. This article extends existing postcolonial scholarship in organization studies which has relied primarily upon the seminal trinity of Said, Spivak, and Bhabha by incorporating anti-colonial and nationalist thought found primarily in the work of Fanon, Césaire and Senghor.National Research Foundation of South Afric

Constructing self as leader: Case studies of women who are change agents in South Africa

http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/004208591038420

Postcolonialism and organizational knowledge in the wake of China’s presence in Africa: interrogating South-South relations

China's presence in Africa appears to be part of a new geopolitical dynamic that may be affecting the way management and organizational knowledge from the South should be conceptualized and studied. The purpose of this article is to interrogate the adequacy of emerging critical management theories premised on challenging the West’s modernization projects, particularly Postcolonial and Dependency Theories, in the light of a changing geopolitical dynamic. It discusses the need for a new theoretical lens through which to understand and research China’s presence in Africa at organizational and community levels. It points to the lack of empirical knowledge at these levels, and proposes a research agenda based on an interrogation of China’s previous anti-colonial relationship with African countries and the way its present-day motives are played out at organizational level, and with an aim to understanding the extent to which China’s engagement is given voice to African management and organizational knowledge