Africa: Ubuntu a philosophy

This post is going to be different from the rest in the sense that I find more useful to answer the proposed question for this topic and then present the class contents, because it is all going to be about a philosophy: Ubuntu.

So before the post I would like to present a video taken from Pedromusicman's channel in You Tube that shows some traditional African dances which carry with them the concept o Ubuntu, feel free to just watch a few parts so you can get an idea of what this is about, I will refer to this video later on.



To give an introduction to this topic let’s begin by answering; according to the case study: African Bank Miners Credit: what is Ubuntu? How was it applied to support the merging process of the two companies? (Provide 3 examples)

According to the case the ubuntu is based “on the philosophy that one finds one’s own humanity in helping others to find theirs” (African Bank Miners Credit – Case Study) meaning that one person’s been is because he/she belongs to a community. This concept can be understood as well as a group of teachings; the ones that I consider the most interesting are:

“What is good for us is good for you and what is good for you is good for us” (African Bank Miners Credit – Case Study)

“When we help each other, we always end up helping ourselves” (African Bank Miners Credit – Case Study)

I chose the first one because it represents the aspect of the ubuntu which states the need for the individual’s responsibility towards the group, but also the responsibility of the group towards the individual. The second one states for the need that the individual helps the group because as a part of the group he/she will receive the benefits of the wellbeing of the group.

These two principles are fundamental for the ubuntu philosophy since its center is the life of the individual as a part of the community, and how these two social structures complement each other so they can be successful.

The case has several examples on how did the company “African Bank Miners Credit” did use the concept of ubuntu to generate the needed cohesion with the acquired company “National Union of Mineworker’s”.

The first thing it must be said is that the use of the ubuntu philosophy was cleaver since the case recalls: “Irrespective of which ethnic group they belonged to, we knew all South Africans understood the concept of uBuntu, and they would therefore, be able to identify with the concept very easily” (African Bank Miners Credit – Case Study). So how did they use the philosophy? Here are three examples:

To support the implementation of the Investors In People Standard (IIP): they gave the employees a drum (a symbol of the ubuntu philosophy that represents communication and unity) and at the same time they added a drum under the IIP plaque to make sure the employees understood that the two processes were inextricably linked.

To control the fraud within the company: this problem was solved thanks to the teaching of the ubuntu that states that “one person is dishonest, this impacts negatively on the entire company” (African Bank Miners Credit – Case Study). So the employees were told that it was everyone responsibility to eradicate dishonest practices.

To achieve company growth: the employees were told the history of the bird and the badger and it taught them that “like the bird and the badger, we must strive to work together, because ubuntu teaches us: what’s good for us is good for you, and what is good for you is good for us.” (African Bank Miners Credit – Case Study).

This was how the case was presented in class. Now is time for me to explain the concepts that we saw in class and apply them to a real case, here is a clue: Linux.

As we saw in class the main expression of ubuntu is commonality:

I am because we are, and we are because I am

The concept of ubuntu relates to humanness, compassion, interdependence and suppression of the self, meaning the life as a community.

So since companies are a group of people is barely understandable that this philosophy is especially important at the workplace. The main features of the importance in this environment is that for international managers it is useful to understand the Africans, especially when taking into consideration the concepts of family and kinship, because this will relate on how the employees will trust the managers and how they will work as a team.

Also when relating to the African people the concept of authority is useful for the international manager, because according to ubuntu the authority resides on the people to whom it is directed, so you have authority as long as the people who are below you accept it, not just because the company says so.

Finally the last feature I want to point out because I consider it to be important for the understanding of the African culture is that decision making is a circular process, so consensus is very important as well as negotiation.

So time for the real case which even though is not African in nature it embodies the concept of community and consensus, does this image rings a bell?

Taken from: Ubuntu Help, 2009

Yes, is Ubuntu the open source OS (operative system) which you can download for free. This OS was born as, to put it in simple words (even though is a little more complex than this), an evolution from the Linux OS, and with the objective of developing an OS which is free to use and to share and more important to modify freely, since it gives you access to the source code (something like the recipe for making a pie).

The name was chosen specifically to denote all the principles of ubuntu; “as a platform based on Free software, the Ubuntu operating system brings the spirit of ubuntu to the software world.” (Ubuntu Help, 2009)

But definitively here is the one that embodies the concept of community:

“Ubuntu core applications are all free and open source. We want you to use free and open source software, improve it and pass it on.” (Ubuntu, n.d.)

For further references check:
African Bank Miners Credit – Case Study

Ubuntu Help. (2009). Ubuntu - Linux for Human Beings! Retrieved April 20, 2010, from Ubuntu documentation: https://help.ubuntu.com/9.04/about-ubuntu/C/index.html

Ubuntu. (n.d.). Home Page. Retrieved April 20, 2010, from http://www.ubuntu.com/
You Tube. (n.d.). Ubuntu Music. Retrieved April 20, 2010, from Pedromusicman's channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYt1okhcS3E&feature=related