Abstract

In an attempt to understand predominant management systems in African organizations and develop theoretical postulations to explain these management practices, we turn to the concept of hybrid management practices (Adams, Nyuur, Ellis, & Debrah, 2017; Horwitz, Kamoche, & Chew, 2002; Newenham-Kahindi, Kamoche, Chizema, & Mellahi, 2013; Venter, 2012; Yahiaoui, 2015). Hybrid management practices (HMP) is conceptualized as a fusion of Western, Eastern, and Southern management practices shaped by differing cultural, organizational and national institutional contextual influences within African organizations (Chika-James, Zaman, & Yunus, 2018). Researchers have traced back the formation of HMP to different periods in precolonial, colonial, and post-colonial eras, when Western management procedures, practices, and values were introduced into African organizations (Budhwar & Debrah, 2001; Jackson, 2011). The HMP have persisted to date through a combination of factors including the Western management education, the internationalization of multinational firms from Europe, America, and Asia, as well as the entrance of African firms into emerging and developed economies (Imaralu, 2013; Jackson, Louw, & Zhao, 2013; Omokaro-Romanus, Anchor, & Konara, 2019). This insinuates that management procedures and practices in African organizations are neither Western, Eastern, or Southern. Thus, to theorize African management and organization, we argue that scholars explore and incorporate the distinct approaches of HMP within African organizations. In this session, we discuss some aspects of the management practices in the literature on HMP that connotes African values, behaviour, and identity, as well as some other practices that seemingly differ. The aim is to modify or develop indigenous theories to explain African management and organization.