Challenges in the Era of Globalization - iaabd

Challenges in the Era of Globalization
Edited by Emmanuel Obuah
The present research project focuses on motivation and leadership and how these are affected by culture,
specifically in Africa and the African Diaspora. The research project is designed to avoid many of the
western biases that have been attributed to previous projects. To this end, an emic research approach is
used to develop measurements of leadership and motivation that will be appropriate in African and people
of African descent in Canada.
In this paper, we present the results of the focus groups in Canada. The participants defined the concepts
of leadership and motivation in their own terms, and there was agreement between all three focus groups.
There was also agreement between the results of the focus groups and earlier results using the delphi
technique.
The responses from the focus groups as to what motivates leaders and what motivates people were in
some ways different than that in western societies. The response that “passion” motivates both leaders
and people from all three focus groups is not a term that is usually used in the literature when describing
what motivates people. It was an unexpected response, and thus different from what would have been
anticipated from a general Canadian sample
The highest single response from any of the focus groups was that the “heart of the people/empathy” is
what motivates leaders. This is another example of an unanticipated response. Western literature
generally does not include empathy as to what motivates leaders. Thus, that which is perceived to
motivate leaders, by African and African descendents may be different than from the general population
Incentives/financial gain were seen to be less important in motivating leaders as opposed to motivating
people in general. Many in the west would argue that incentives/financial gain are as important in
motivating leaders as they are to the people they manage. If this is the case, then it is another finding that
would indicate that there are differences in using incentives in Africa than when be applied in the west.
These results support the contention (Obiakor, 2005) that further research needs to look at specific
cultural elements and preferences before developing motivational tools for African people. This study
supports the research by James (2008) and McFarlin, et al. (1999) that effective African leadership, as
well as training and development for leaders, needs to include local culture and values.
The existing literature shows that leadership and motivation have been studied extensively in the west, but
that relatively little is known about Africa and the African Diaspora. Because of this, we believe that this
study adds substantially to knowledge in the field. The implications of the results have social, economic,
and cultural implications. The research results will contribute to “good management” by improving
understanding of how cultural factors interplay with effective motivation and leadership. Improving
management across countries is important to the social environment, and in turn, increases productivity
and contributes to economic wellbeing. This study is believed to be particularly relevant and significant in
today’s increasingly global business world, where economies are interrelated. The partners believe that
our focus on the African Diaspora emphasizes particular groups that have been ignored in past research,
and that this adds to the important contribution of the project.
References
Baruch. L. (2001). Intangibles: Management, Measurement, and Reporting. Washington, D.C.:
Brookings Institution Press, pp. 150.
Bolden, R., & Kirk, P. (2009). African Leadership – Surfacing new understandings through leadership
development. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 9(1): 69-86.
Jackson, T. (2004). Management and change in Africa: A cross cultural perspective. London:
Routledge.
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