South African 'Ubuntu' is New Model for Management Worldwide

Business Wire, Feb 6, 1995

MORRISTOWN, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 6, 1995--South Africa, where change in recent years has been "ubiquitous and unrelenting," is a microcosm of the predicament faced by managers everywhere, writes Nick Binedell in the current issue of Gemini Consulting's Transformation magazine.

The holistic concept of "ubuntu"--"I can only be me through your eyes"--exemplifies the theme of collectivism and sharing that is the key contributor to the country's potential economic success. The term, Dr. Binedell believes, also describes a basic business philosophy that can, in practice, likewise benefit managers around the globe.

"If the social and oral vitality of black South Africans," Dr. Binedell notes, "can be married to northern rationalism, in a 'high performance ubuntu,' a powerful new way to do business could emerge." In tackling their "portfolio of problems," South African managers will "find a new path to the future from which business cultures throughout the world can learn something."

Binedell is the director of Wits Business School at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. His article, "Argument: South African Management," is a central feature in the Autumn 1994 issue of "Transformation," Gemini Consulting's international magazine.

In "Transformation's" complementary "Case Study" on South Africa, three prominent South African industrialists offer thought-provoking reactions to Dr. Binedell's thesis. Michael Spicer, special advisor to the chairman of Anglo American Corp., believes that Dr. Binedell may be too sanguine about prospects for the emergence of a unified and dynamic business culture in South Africa. He emphasizes, for example, the "damage caused by apartheid, especially inadequate education among whites and blacks."

In addition, Dr. Brian Clark, president of the state-owned Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), generally agrees with Binedell's views on the country's cultural fusion, and makes two further points: South Africans have shown a willingness to negotiate with each other which they must take into their business organizations, and too few companies realize how many talented black South Africans there are who are committed to development.

Finally, Trevor Evans, managing director of Nampak, South Africa's largest packaging company, elaborates on the new South Africa's cultural advantages: "If we can marry the black community's collectivism and societal strengths with the business culture," he explains, "we could end up with a culture rather like Japan's." Evans also agrees that South Africa's "rites of passage" to democracy have strengthened the business culture.

"Transformation" is a journal of ideas in which celebrated business and academic authorities present today's most provocative thinking on contemporary management. The publication is published quarterly by Gemini Consulting, the global management consulting firm.

Built on a heritage of more than 30 years of innovation and expertise in managing change, Gemini Consulting is the world leader in helping clients design and implement complex strategic-change programs that penetrate deeply into an organization. With a growing force of more than 1,700 consultants and 16 offices on four continents, Gemini delivers fully integrated Business Transformation(SM) services to create continuous competitive advantage for the world's foremost companies.

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