Resisting global universalistic practices: the endurance of culture and particularism in African HRM

Perspectives on African HRM

It is accepted that a robust human resource system is a key determinant of organisational and national development (Hack-Polay, 2018; Iguisi, 2014; Reilly and Williams, 2016). Thus, since independence from colonial rule mostly in 1960s, countries in Africa have been striving to generate sufficiently qualified human resources both at the macro level of the state and at the micro level of the organisations (Iguisi, 2014; Hanushek and Woessman, 2007; Ziderman, 1997). Vast programmes of human resource development (HRD) through the education systems and training institutions have been put in place to this end (Eynon, 2017; Bloom et al., 2014).

However, HRM in Africa, like in many parts of the developing world, still lacks substantial empirical and theoretical research (Abdul-Kahar and Sulaiman, 2017; Budhwar and Debrah, 2010). HRM still lacks strategic focus, having greater emphasis on the administrative and clerical functions and is more akin to social policies (Abdul-Kahar and Sulaiman, 2017; Okpara and Wynn, 2016; Kamoche et al., 2004). Several aspects of the African management literature address the development of human capital but few focus on comparative labour and employment relations, particularly from the perspective of the region's colonial past (Adeleye, 2011). Consequently, the ailments of African organisations are partly due to the malfunctioning of the HRM function and the failures in the effective articulation of labour relations in addition to political mismanagement (Abdul-Kahar and Sulaiman, 2017; Kamoche, 2002). Besides the paucity of publications generally in the field, the HRM literature emanating from African scholars themselves is relatively limited. The shortage of input from African scholars is not due to the lack of interest in the field of HRM scholarship but in most instances, the situation can be explained by the funding and the opportunity to be exposed to international audiences (Bendana, 2019; Ngongalah et al., 2018; Dudnik, 2017).

This article, thus, examines developments of African HR practices at work from various perspectives. For example, the practice of “labour democracy” varies from industry to industry, from trade group to trade group and from region to region (Koçer & Hayter et al., 2011). The first enjoys freedom of association and collective bargaining; the second faces restrictions but allows independent trade unions; the third faces further restrictions. The paper reveals that employees do not necessarily seek freedom of association, traditionally pursued by the unions, but long for recognition, which comes from understanding their orientation. They therefore wish their minds and hearts to be won by their employers, which is beyond “filling their pockets” and sometimes beyond the roles of trade unions and collective agreements. In addition, there has been significant literature on employee voice but understanding employer voice provides even a better platform for effective workplace participation (Kaufman, 2014).

Industrial relations in Africa generally centres on a tripartite arrangement of government and its agencies, workers and their organisations and employees and their associations (Opute, 2010). This convolution impairs human resource planning, which is the patchiest area of HRM in African organisations. It is less often talked about and applied in practice. Few commentators and books will specifically mention this critical area of human resource practice. However, its importance is not arguable. Stewart and Rogers (2012) contend that human resource planning is about forecasting to ensure the right people in the right position at the right time. This suggests that planning is the starting point of the HR activity. It enables the development of a clear view of how HRM policies and procedures are aligned with the organisational strategy. Depending on the business strategy, HR planning ascertains the type of skills and people required, the training and development needs to be met, reward levels that are motivating and retention strategy as well as succession plans.

Human resource planning has predictability and forecasting function, which is essential if organisations, and indeed African nations themselves, are to reduce risks as they venture on new avenues and leap into the unknown. Horwitz et al., (2004) contend that the formulation of critical HRM strategies sits at the heart of both organisational and country strategic imperatives. The lack of human resource planning in sub-Saharan Africa diminishes the strategic dimension HRM in the region. HRM in many such organisations becomes administrative rather than strategic and reactive rather than pursuing proactive actions to anticipate change and reduce the consequences of uncertainty. Consistent scholarship acknowledges that African HRM continues its close association with the traditional personnel function, largely concerned with operational administrative tasks (Kamoche et al., 2004; Budhwar and Debrah, 2010). The persistent question then is as follows: are HRM departments solely to blame for the status quo? The answer within the emerging literature is that African organisations bear significant responsibilities for the lack of human resource planning (Abdul-Kahar and Sulaiman, 2017; Eynon, 2017; Ngongalah et al., 2018). For instance, if there is no explicit business strategy, as may be the case in many African organisations, this renders the need for HR planning superfluous. If no clear strategic goal is established, the HR planning is a worthless endeavour.

HRM and culture

In emerging countries, there has been much debate about possible alternative approaches to examining development and participation such as classic accounts of development and participation, contemporary institutional approaches, cultural accounts and dominant models but it is still recognised that allowing for the periodic emergence and diffusions of alternative models cannot be ignored (Hollingsworth, 2006; Wood, 2010). Aycan et al. (2006) alluded to the fact that the model of culture fit suggests that organisational culture is shaped by multiple forces external and internal to the organisation which are unrelated to societal culture, albeit paying attention to selection of organisation (and by implication, country) is paramount.

A group of social scientists and management scholars from several cultures working in a co-ordinated long-term effort to examine the interrelationships between societal culture, organisational culture and organisational leadership identified the human-oriented approach as a management orientation based on cultural studies. This initiative, termed The Globe Project, identifies such a leadership style as supportive and involving compassion and generosity towards subordinates (Javidan et al. 2006). However, The Globe Project does not provide factor(s) that drive this perspective, other than culture in a wider perspective. Furthermore, the work of some scholars (Besamusca and Tijdens, 2015), in comparing contents of collective bargaining agreements for developing countries, mainly Africa, is quite revealing but it does not elucidate the appropriateness of the contents in the challenging environments of many developing countries; neither does it anticipate any emerging scenarios and the required pragmatism. However, the findings of Hayter et al. (2011) allude to good practice with regard to the applications of collective bargaining and the role of stakeholders. Such good practices are ignored in the limited literature on African HRM.

Several investigations (Wood, 2010; Besamusca and Tijdens, 2015; Lamarche, 2015) have underscored the importance of collective bargaining but there is still a shortage of theoretical and empirical research that investigates workforce cultural orientation as concomitant to workforce expectations in the developing world. At the same time, Western employment practices do not represent appropriate theoretical paradigms to ponder the socio-economic context inherent in employment relations in developing countries (Khan and Ackers, 2004; Wood, 2010). This research highlights the challenges of the institutional settings (e.g. lack of pro-labour policies, law providing social protection, expanding collective bargaining converges and lowering the threshold for collective agreements) as important “ingredients” in the sustenance of collective bargaining (Kocer and Hayter, 2011).

HRM and its socio-economic challenges

There is considerable influence of the socio-economic situation on the process of employee engagement. Black (2005) concluded that the fact that countries with individualistic orientation display low collective bargaining is relevant factor in this research, as it stresses that employee engagement is important, above collective bargaining, owing to the fact that it represents a core channel for making individual and “collective indirect demand”.

Most HR processes (from the primary sources) cover a variety of employee benefits. The intention is to demonstrate the commitment of the company in addressing various issues that are relevant to employment relationship. For example, it is common to indicate items such as utility, education support, housing loan, meal subsidy and vehicle loans (to name a few) in conditions of employment. This strong paternalistic approach to management helps to explain the reason the employee views the employer as an extension of family.

For NECA (Nigeria Employers Consultative Association) survey on remuneration practices across member companies, all eight of the identified best remuneration practices of participating companies relate to non-financial compensation (Opute, 2010). Evidence of this emerging trend is confirmed by the HR practitioners interviewed by Wan et al. (2002). In their empirical study of compensation system in Singapore, Wan et al. (2002) explain that more companies are offering family- friendly conditions which place less emphasis on the payment of wages and salaries.

From the perspective of key trends of the total reward system in the 21st century, Chen and Hsieh (2006, p. 66) emphasise that the “modern reward system embraces everything that is valued by employees in the employment relationship”. They further stress the need for a holistic and integrated approach to compensation. Therefore, welfare-driven benefits are essential in managing compensation frameworks, a consequence of the socio-economic challenges that is difficult to ignore in any analysis at this level.

Enduring particularistic practices in African HRM

The findings point to a particular perception of the organisation among the HR managers. The majority of the participants viewed the company as an extension of the family thus supporting Hofstede's (1980) findings that located African societies within collectivistic cultures.

The thought that organisations represent an extension of the family is further reinforced by the views of the participating HRM managers. Most participants revealed that they often feel considerable pressure from their locals and relatives to employ people who are close to them, e.g. kinship and those from the same tribal group. There appears to be strength in this normative social pressure, with 80 percent of participants reporting this issue.

In addition to the normative social pressures, the African HR managers experience intense political pressure to do “favours” to people in political office. These pressures can often be coercions and threats to the positions of the HRM managers. The percentage of participants who strongly agree that they have experienced this practice is very significant which denotes significant interference of political life with organisational realities.

The results show that the managers attested to being uncomfortable with political interference and normative social pressure. This compares to limited number of managers who feel comfortable and accept these practices. Most of the participants are neutral on the issue. The small proportion of managers who are uncomfortable with these practices may attest to the cultural embeddedness of African organisations and managers. This lack of vigorous rejection of favouritism contrasts sharply with the managers' awareness of the negative consequences of potentially employing people who lack qualifications and skills and who may not fit into the organisations. Table III shows that the overwhelming majority of HR managers are aware that such employees can have lower performance and drive down the overall performance in organisations.

Political and normative social pressure: managers' resistance

There is however, a growing movement towards resisting external political and social pressures in order to maintain the autonomy of the organisation. Table III shows that a significant majority of the managers believed that strategies could be developed to curve the weight of these potentially damaging particularistic practices. It is not clear what these strategies might be but it is clear that there is some willingness on the part of the African managers. However, the efforts and strategies geared at dealing with nepotism, favouritism and political interference may be limited in scope due to fear of political punishment and cultural constraints (Table III).

This study applied analysis of variance (ANOVA) to compare differences of means by categorising between groups and within groups (Table IV). The results indicate positive F values for the factors with 0.00 significance level. Mean square of between groups is higher than the mean square of within groups for all elements.

Discussion

One of the key findings of the research suggests that collectivism is inherent in organisational processes and African HRM practices. The research validates the culture-boundedness of HRM practices Wan et al. (2002). This indicates that there is little separation between organisation and the communities in which they are established (Iguisi, 2014; Mamman et al., 2018). The corroboration of this can be seen through the opinions of the African HRM managers who accept that the organisation is an extension of the family. With globalisation and the dissemination and spread of so-called universalistic practices, one would assume that most African HRM managers would espouse the view that perceives a strict separation of organisations and society. The plausibility of this argument is heightened owing to the fact that more and more managers are undertaking their management education in the West and are, therefore, exposed to global practices (Madimutsa and Pretorius, 2017; Budhwar and Debrah, 2010). The HRM managers showed support for the intertwining of work and family. This indicates the temerity of African cultures and the way in which they “refuse” to give way to “global” “universalistic” perspectives. This leads us to pose the question of the integration of culture with HRM (Madimutsa and Pretorius, 2017; Chen and Hsieh, 2006). Researchers, such as Mamman et al., 2018; Briscoe et al., 2012; Iguisi, 2014; Wan et al. (2002), contend that HRM practices differ from one socio-economic and cultural sphere to another. Thus, we see the need to work with culture and not to mount an assault against it. Decades of attempts to westernise African HRM practices (Kiiza and Basheka, 2018; Abdul-Kahar and Sulaiman, 2017; Kamoche, 2011) have shown limited suggestion that there has been metamorphosis of African HRM practices and greater convergence with Western approaches or so-called universalistic practices. Such a near status quo signifies that it is possible for culture and modernity to coexist and work in synchrony to engender dynamic capabilities within organisation and, by extension, within the state.

It is clear that companies' and HRM departments' efforts must coalesce to bring about meaningful and positive integration between culture and the direction of the organisation to make use of creative aspects that can enhance the organisations more organically and be more competitive (Briscoe et al., 2012). For instance, social pressures on HR managers to recruit local people may not be asymmetric with strategic HRM whose direction is constructed by rationalities that are, in themselves, dynamic. In an African economic context dominated by unemployment and high levels of wealth disparities, local recruitment can soothe inequalities (Hack-Polay, 2018) and bring improvements in the vitality of the locality. From a strategic HRM perspective, there is a plausible cost-saving dimension to be considered. In fact, employing people from the local area could cost the organisation less and enable the company to deploy its surplus of profit for further investment, e.g. expansion, addressing social responsibilities, etc. This demonstrates that there are elements of culture that fit strategic HRM perspectives that are able to revitalise organisations for competitive advantage (Kiiza and Basheka, 2018).

Despite the potential positive view of some cultural patterns, a different dimension of particularism in HRM practices in sub-Saharan Africa, political interference, is not favoured by HRM managers. That is the aspect concerning political interference. Political pressure is about asking HR managers to hire unqualified or underqualified people. The politically recommended employees are often a politician's family members or mistresses; such recommendations do not necessarily come from the locality. There is therefore no argument to suggest that the recommended employees would add to the vitality of the area. Thus, there is no business case for such practices. Politically recommended employees could be less useful because in some cases they can attempt to take control and be the eyes and ears of the recommenders. This then seeds fear and suspicion in the organisation and inhibits innovation and creativity (Hack-Polay, 2018; Abdul-Kahar and Sulaiman, 2017; Kamoche, 2002; Onodugo, 2012; Ayittey, 1992). This is largely why the majority of the African HR managers in their survey rejected political interference and showed willingness to develop strategies to combat the practice. However, their fear about vigorous action in the fight against political interference attests to the potency of this practice and its resilience. Political interference diminishes the power of the trade unions, which are often the organisms that are capable of putting up meaningful resistance to the presence of political powers in daily organisational life, as Kamoche (2002) found.

Limitation of the research and future perspectives

The study has some limitations that impact the generalisability of the findings. The sample size could be widened to provide more perspectives. A key limitation of the present research is linked to the fact that the data was collected in single country; in fact, though some of the participants were from different nationalities, the majority of the HR managers surveyed were Nigerians. A systematic sampling strategy covering several sub-Saharan African countries could increase the validity and generalisability of the research. For instance, potential differences between Eastern, Western, Central and Southern Africa could be explained by socio-economic, cultural and political determinants that further studies could help unveil. Future research could also consider the differences between Anglophone and Francophone countries due to the different colonial experiences which can have significance for how current African HRM practices are articulated generally. In addition, the researchers believe that there are some good practices in African HRM that are often obfuscated by fierce negative criticisms; further studies could focus on identifying those good practices and demonstrate their value as well as ways to disseminate them.