UBUNTU

The philosophical thought system known as UBUNTU can be defined as humaneness, a pervasive spirit of caring and community, harmony and hospitality, respect and responsiveness that individuals and groups display for one another; which most important attribute is the high degree of harmony and continuity throughout the system.

So it’s really important to stand out the quantity of positive characteristics of this humanist philosophy that can contribute to the improvement of work environment and efficiency of organizations and managers. So it would be a good decision for cross-cultural managers to go deeper in knowing this culture, to learn all the aspects of their way of live and work and be able to apply that bunch of attributes for their personal growth and in consequence the growth of organizations; as they say: a team can accomplish more than if each individual works alone, the creation of a whole is larger than the sum of the individual parts, but in order to accomplish this, managers and employees should internalize and agree with this notion of synergy.

Like this one, there are some other attributes that should be consider for example in the decision making process, that diversity of vision is not only permitted but also protected and encouraged and that the goal of decision making is to preserve harmony and achieve consensus, this differs from some vertical companies in which the decision is made by one, and diversity of vision is not even considered, but companies mostly differs from the goal of the decision making that is primarily generate incomes, increase utility instead of preserve harmony and ensure a consensus in the decisions; like they say: a decision supported is considered superior to the “right” decision that is resisted by many. Another characteristic to consider is how UBUNTU is aware of the communication between workers to ensure the establishment of relationships that improves effectiveness and decreases antagonistic feelings toward the organization.

To conclude UBUNTU helps in affirming universal human values, like humaneness, dignity, empathy, respect, responsiveness and compassion for others, and organizations that apply this set of values will enjoy more sustainable competitive advantages.

Based on "building competitive advantage from UBUNTU: management lessons from South Africa" (Mzamo P. Mangaliso)

1. Image retrieved from:http://www.ihousephilly.org/ubuntu.htm

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