What is it about?
As with many other aspects of leadership studies, the issue of leadership development and its impact remains highly contentious especially if discussed within the context of non-Western cultures.
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Why is it important?
Ubuntu is a philosophical thought system and a doctrine of African culture that informs a leadership approach emphasizing teamwork, attention to relationships, mutual respect and empathy between leader and followers, and participative decision-making (Nkomo, 2011). It incorporates East and Southern African indigenous worldviews as well as Western management concepts. It has been particularly valorized in South Africa, and it is often associated with the saying: Umuntu ungumuntu ngabantu, which means, “A person becomes human through other people.”
Perspectives
Further extensive research to identify and appreciate the underlying processes, nuances, dynamics and interactions that inform both leadership and leadership development within organizations and communities in South Africa needs to be conducted. This research should move beyond just generating generic descriptions of what is being done, to a greater understanding of how effective is the hybrid approach of using both Eurocentric and Afrocentric Leadership principles in generating the expected outcomes of leadership development.
Prof. Robert M Yawson, PhD
Quinnipiac University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Leadership Development in South Africa, January 2017, Nature,
DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-58003-0_6.
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