THE NATIONAL Commission on Culture (NCC), and its partners in the private and governmental sectors, has stressed the need for corporate organizations in Ghana and Africa, to incorporate cultural values into corporate management activities.

This, in the stakeholders' opinion, would help assess the levels in which cultural values impinge on corporate performance, in order to harness cultural values in Ghana and Africa, for the continent's development agenda.

To promote this agenda, the NCC, in collaboration with the Konrad Adeneur Stiftung (KAS), organized a three-day National Conference on the theme, “Culture and Corporate Management” for stakeholders in Accra, last week.

Speaking at the conference, Professor George Hagan, Chairman of the NCC, noted that the key to good management lay in understanding the culture of a corporate entity, especially in the mind-set, values, attitudes, norms, regulations and types of behaviour coded, in the vision, mission, and strategic objectives of the enterprise.

He said staff must adopt these elements in consideration with their mind-sets, concepts, and beliefs, modes of communication, expectations and forms of behaviour, which they have learned from birth in their communal cultures.

According to him, when one seeks to develop a culture, within the group, household, business, religious group or the state, to facilitate the achievement of definite objectives, “we also need to recognize that the individuals and things being managed, are steeped in their traditional cultures; the totality of their ways of life.”

He said in the wake of the present self-awareness of Africans, the management class and their staff were culturally of the same background, such that they have a collective mind-set, belong to the same ethnic groups and social network, share same cultural beliefs, ideas, attitudes and behavioural expectations, influenced by their culture.

Prof. Hagan pointed out that these values of Africanization must be harnessed to influence corporate culture and leadership, positively in terms of leadership style and effectiveness, impact on employment practices and management of persons, resources and time.

He stated that such positive values, ought to be promoted, to further impact positively on the modes of communication and decision-making, efficiency, productivity, costs and profitability, and as well influence corporate rules, collective agreement and applications of sanctions.

He expressed hope that, “through this discourse, our schools of business and management, would be made aware of these issues, to begin detailed research to find out more about the cultural dimensions of management in Africa.”

The Chairman of State Enterprises Commission (SEC), Mr. Frank Ocran, also said corporate culture comprised attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values of an organization, as well as the specific collection of values and norms, shared by people and groups in an organization, which controls the way they interact with each other, and stakeholders outside the organization.

He stated that incorporating culture into corporate management was necessary, because culture was recognized by all, in shaping economic fortunes of nations, and culture and leadership were interdependent on each other in shaping society, in areas of cultural change, management and use of culture.

According to him, culture influenced progress, with regards to time and work orientation, while ethical codes tend to be more rigorous in progressive cultures, and “community is broader in progressive societies.”

He added that justice and fair play were universal impersonal expectations in progressive cultures, while authority tends towards diffusion and parallel in progressive cultures and “the influence of religious institution, is small in progressive cultures.”

He mentioned cultural constraints in Ghana and Africa, as highly centralized and vertical tradition authority, a focus on the past and present, rather than the future, rejection of tyranny of time, dislike for work and suppression of individual initiative and achievement among others.

Mr. Ocran noted that to address these problems, there existed a culture of leadership peculiar to the state enterprises in Ghana, which was situational and driven by the framework of government policy, and the national culture of doing business, which must be adopted by corporate entities, especially in Ghana.

He also mentioned that progress depended on following best practices in the global village, and taking advantage of the status quo, stressing the need for, “updating of knowledge in competitive business, improve education, pursue good governance, grow the economy and institute social life.”

On his part, the KAS Resident Representative, Mr. Klaus Loetzer, indicated that in organizations, culture was reflected in structures, systems and symbols, which also exert a strong influence on human behaviour, that consequently affected economic choices and business decisions, as well as social and political behaviours of the individual.

He said there were negative and positive cultural values, saying there was the need to take advantage of the positive ones, to develop good corporate culture, stressing, “we see these cultural influences, as very important to the development of the private sector in Ghana, which is the engine of growth of Ghana.”

In his view, there was also the need for the business community in Ghana, to evaluate effects of culture on business transactions in the country, through deliberation among stakeholders in culture and corporate governance.

This, he noted, required leadership that provides needed direction, in order to achieve needed objectives.

He said, “in the process of developing good corporate culture, it is our conviction that strong corporate cultures, where working systems are in place, and adhered to by both management and staff, the organizations would be in a good position to attract, retain and engage relevant key talent, for the development of the organizations in particular, and the country at large.”
Source: Phyllis D. Osabutey - Ghanaian Chronicle