The experience of European administrators in Nigeria :: Essays Papers

The experience of European administrators in Nigeria The vast majority of administrators had little notion of what to expect in Nigeria. It appears as if their ideas of Nigeria were as vague as the Nigerians' views of England and Englishness, a fact well represented in Mister Johnson. Neither the coloniser nor the colonised had any real insight into the alien cultures they were faced with. A major obstacle to overcome were the huge distances involved. Yet the problem was not just coming to terms with the vast geographical distances involved, but also the huge cultural gulf. Britain and Nigeria were entirely different worlds, with nothing in common other than a history of slavery. One important area of postcolonial studies is establishing some status of relationship between coloniser and colonised, whether the relationship is manufactured, or whether it is naturally present and needing only to be developed. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the relationship between Britain and Nigeria was manufactured to suit British demands. It seems inevitable that Britain achieved more out of the relationship than Nigeria ever would. For European administrators, arriving in Nigeria in early colonial times was like stepping back into European history and encountering an almost medieval society of feudalism and patriarchy. Abdul JanMohamed has noted that it was ''an atmosphere of idealistic, paternalistic despotism'' (Manichean Aesthetics, 18). There was a completely different feel to Nigeria than Europe, and the administrators soon felt their king-like presence in this barbaric land. It seems inevitable that disillusionment would follow such elevated expectations. Due to problems of language and finances, many administrators ended their time in Nigeria disillusioned, isolated, and highly ambivalent in their opinions of both natives and the Imperial project. The language barrier presented problems to indigenous peoples and Europeans alike. It presents a potent reflection of the shortcomings of Europeans administrative training. As Abdul JanMohamed has noted, when Joyce Cary arrived in Nigeria as a colonial employee of the Nigerian Political Service, he understood virtually nothing the natives were saying. Ironically, before leaving England, he had confidently passed all his Hausa language courses. This rendered even simple conversations with the natives an immediate problem. Postcolonialists have often harshly criticised the European employees for making little attempt to interact with the Nigerians. Yet perhaps the language was a major factor in this apparent unwillingness. Achebe's Things Fall Apart is instructive in showing the real difficulties encountered due to language.

Reaction Paper on Management Ethics Essay

Management, when studied and applied has a broad spectrum. Not only do we have to consider the profit of an organization, but we also have to consider whether an organization and their production of goods lead to meeting the needs of the common good efficiently and effectively. Based on Peter Drucker’s Agency theory, â€Å"Management is the organ of institutions; one which converts a mob into an organization, and human efforts into performance. This basically speaks of the skills and competencies of the workers and their effectiveness and efficiency to give an output that meets the desired and quality accepted outcome. During our first meeting, we were asked which one between effectiveness and efficiency will we prioritize provided that circumstances come. Sure, both are significant in accomplishing a goal but in the event that we have to prioritize one, which one will be it? I remember answering efficiency because based on my experience as a nurse; we cannot achieve effectiveness without being efficient with a certain task. We were taught about being efficient in every nursing skill that we do because we are dealing with the lives of the people. In contrast to my nursing background, I further understood that in business, sometimes the priority is effectiveness because in an organization, meeting a deadline is sometimes synonymous to the credibility of the team. On the one hand, in defining skills, it is the application of knowledge to be able to do a job suitable for the goals and concepts one (specifically a manager) has created. To understand the three types of management skills that we’ve learned during the class discussion, which are technical skills, human skills and conceptual skills, it was presented in a pyramid wherein on top is the Top Management who acquires the conceptual skills, next is the Middle Management who acquires the people skills and at the bottom of the pyramid is the Supervisory Management who fundamentally has all the competencies for the technical skills. As I view this model, the top management is the one who comes up with a concept of a project and delegates it to his subordinates. There should always be a captain of the ship in order to move forward and meet the demands of the company. The captain should be able to acquire not only leadership skills but also the ability to plan, organize and come up with ideas that will guide his team in achieving their specific goals. His position does not mean he knows nothing about the technical skills, it just means that he is less required in the technical field; less entailed to do the technical skills because he needs to supervise the organization from his view on top. However, his workers or the people underneath him are in-charge of the technicality of getting the concepts done to provide sustainable and efficient goods and services. On the other hand, the differentiation of Mainstream and Multistream approach as discussed by Dyck in his Management book is a guide for all Managers in handling his organization including his production having the 4 M’s (Man, Machine, Material, and Method) to help him achieve his company’s goals. Basically, in Management, Multistream approach is the more ideal way to lead one’s organization as compared to the Mainstream approach. Multistream comprises the ethics of business that points out to the production of goods and service for the common good. Multistream approach, in relation to SMART goals, means it has to always be meaningful besides being profitable. The goal being significant should appeal to the interests of both the company and its stakeholders. Moreover, it should be decided as a team, giving a chance to everyone involved to participate in the decision-making. I think that a Multistream approach in Management makes a successful company because the Manager considers the entire company, even his manpower, in planning, organizing, leading and controlling the organization. He does not only think of the profit but also think of how it will benefit them and their customers as a whole. The gain of the company is also his gain in a holistic sense, giving meaning to the dignity of all the workers, and giving them credits and rewards for great jobs they accomplish. This particular approach concisely means putting the ethics of business at the center of the goals which are set to meet the standards of customers, stakeholders and the company itself. To add, the Law of the Situation according to Mary Parker Follett states that managers must continuously analyze the unique circumstances within their organizations and apply management concepts to fit those circumstances. A manager should be flexible to changes and adjustments for further improvements. Take for example a company who has had a meeting regarding a concept of a project wherein the team has participatively agreed on certain terms and conditions; and has provided their own inputs in order to achieve their goals. During the intervention of the plans, certain circumstances have occurred and problems have encountered; and maybe things may not be followed according to plan, a manager can still be consistent in such a way that he continuously uses the Multistream approach in accepting and reacting to changes with optimism and set new or additional goals in order to sustain the demands of the concepts. Some circumstances are unavoidable and are out of the team’s control so the best way to manipulate the condition is to improve and be critical in arriving with decisions based on the ethical values of business management. Moreover, despite the pressure of the circumstances involved, re-setting and adjustment of plans in a Multistream perspective will continuously benefit not only the manager himself but the company as whole. It will also drive everyone to succeed on the target profit because the approach made was systematically for everyone and not only for the personal gain of the manager. In relation to the ethical views of business management as perceived in the two short films, Catholic Social Teaching is a very instrumental guide in most corporations. According to Stefano Zamagni, even non-Christians and nonbelievers consult the Social Teachings of the Church. The social teaching involves human dignity wherein each and everyone is a living image of God, recognizing every individual as unique. There is also what we call rights, specifically human rights which are the universal rights. Furthermore, the social teachings involved in Radical Idealism vs. Socialism–union of principles to improve and not to favor—are the justice in the society, adherence to the common good (in which a manager cannot sacrifice the good of a community for the good of one person), solidiarity to the poor, and subsidiarity. The film also defined terms we normally use on a daily basis which we tend to neglect beyond its basic meaning. For example, it defined company as an economic endeavor to produce products in an efficient way. It is not a community of capitals but a community of people. It is also a community of work where people establish relationships and they are responsible for the work they are doing. Furthermore, it is an asset to everyone and not just to satisfy one person. To simply conclude, the principles that the Catholic is teaching are a guide to every business universally. The ethics of business always inspire the managers in decision making towards a good goal. This is also what conspires a company to be led to a Multistream perspective of management. Not only a company’s goal is to profit and receive recognitions and incentives but they also seek to provide its community the goods and services they need and they can enjoy. Companies owe the public a good service so to be able to meet the community’s expectations including that of the stakeholeders, they, in all aspects must abide to the principle of the Catholic Social Teachings and always take note of the rights of every human being has. This will guide the leaders to operate in such a way that it meets the standards of the Multistream approach and be able to help create a community of workers who are equally rewarded, achieving a common and unified goal, and establishing healthy relationships towards co-workers and towards the stakeholders, suppliers, and customers.

Relationship Between Internal Organisation and National...

Relationship between Internal Organisation and National Culture and Institutions Abstract Employing a firm-level research on internal organisation structure, this paper studies the influence of Japanese national culture and institutions on internal organisation design of a Japanese MNEs. I report that some output deriving from features of Japanese national culture and institutions such as collectivism and Long-term orientation have a strong impact on internal organisation, although it does not keep consistency with Japanese national culture and institutions. Introduction Globalisation can be described as the greater movement, which unites the people of the world by combining economic, technological, socio-cultural, and political†¦show more content†¦Low savings for retirement is good example of low LTO. Although there are some criticisms of Hofstede’ cultural dimensions such as Dr. McSweeny’s one, Hofstede’s work has been broadly admitted and employed as a comprehensive framework in the common field of culture and business. (Chapman, 1997) On the other hand, institutions are tidily defined as the social rules and regulations that make human behaviour interactive, while some institutional theorists consider that institutions is a broad concept including laws, regimes, constraints, as well as national culture considered â€Å"informal† institutions (Peng, 2002) Nevertheless, there is another view in reference to the relationship between national culture and institutions. Lewin and Kim (2004) suggest a co-evolutionary perspective, which is that national culture influences on the configuration of institutions by acting as intermediate at national and firm level. 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