UBUNTU

"............GOD GAVE AFRICANS TIME AND
THE WESTERN A WATCH..........

A manager needs to have a good understanding of the cultural background of their workers and this is done by having a close relationship with their workers and interacting with them. By interacting and sharing time with the workers, the managers can understand their culture , uderstand why they act the way they do, understand their believes, and avoid misunderstandings or misinterpretations. In the Case of South Africans, it is of great importance to understand this Ubunto believe in order to create harmony in the work place. Managers should reinforce the importance of time ( for Africans time is a blessing, a healing process) , equity, respect towards seniority, communication, kinship, and human interdependece, when working with African Americans. This is important in order to obtain better results in the work field, obtain the respect from workers, enhance efficiency, and even save money( avoid strikes like that mentioned in the reading). A good example of this was the company that decided to use the importance of isangoma in order to obtain the confession of the workers, who before with the use of police refused to speak, however when their spiritual belief was used the confession was easier to obtain. They give more credibility to their spiritual believes.

A manager needs to do the following in order to be aware of such philosophies:

• *Research cultural backgrounds of employees
• Interact with workers
• Have Face to Face reunions with them
• Never make workers feel inferior, doing this will make them close up to you and be less efficient
• Time- Spend time with workers. Is not only important for workers to get to know manager but also for managers to get to know their workers.