Search results

This paper aims to carry out a thematic review of literature on ethics, governance and sustainable practices with regard to workforce engagement and development in the Nigerian hospitality industry.

The review covered the available conceptual and empirical research articles along with a number of alternative sources containing helpful information, such as industry reports and news articles. The review suggests that, for the Nigerian hospitality industry, extant research on ethics, governance and sustainability with regard to workforce management can be categorized into five themes adapted from the categorization of ethical constructs in the work of Tucker et al. (1999) on codes of conduct. These five themes are integrity, equality, economic efficiency and equivalence, distributive and contributive justice and environmental concern.

There appeared to be a high incidence of unethical behaviour in the industry, the most common being maltreatment by employers and dishonesty of employees.

Impressions derived from the study could be inaccurate, given the dearth of research publications in this regard in Nigeria. More empirical research must be done to better understand where industry players need help to be more responsible and sustainable in their business practices and in the way they engage and develop their workforce.

A number of recommendations were made regarding how to entrench ethics and sustainability in hospitality organizations and to develop the workforce in line with this.

The paper is important because of the high reliance on people for competitive advantage in this industry.

This chapter explores African indigenous wisdom and its orientation to the common good in the practices that characterise responsible leadership and entrepreneurship. Traditionally, a wise leader was grown from the community and steeped in its communitarian traditions which led the leader to apply practical wisdom in seeking the collective good. These considerations of such wise practices are central to responsible management. Based on a qualitative literature review that is complemented with a micro-study (semi-structured interviews) of African sages and on the analysis of wisdom found by chapter contributors to this volume, insights indigenous to Africa are presented and then discussed. The countries referenced across the two studies are Kenya and Uganda (Eastern Africa), Ghana and Nigeria (Western Africa), Egypt (Northern Africa) and South Africa (Southern Africa), thereby providing some geographical spread though far from being exhaustive.

Ecology is a word commonly used in many circles with a focus on the environment and human interactions with it. Human ecology as a concept studies human interaction with the environment in different cultures. Human cultural backgrounds differ and the way the traditional beliefs influence human activities varies from place to place. In entrepreneurship, traditional values can play a role as they often shape the character of practitioners. In the quest for sustainable development, one cannot underestimate the influence of these cultural tenets in shaping the dynamics of the practitioners’ activities. This chapter explores the role of African cultural beliefs, philosophies in cultivating principled entrepreneurship. It presents some traditional values that influenced the mindset of entrepreneurs in the past towards ethical work. These tenets guided the dynamics of trade and responsible management of resources for the benefit of one’s community and of oneself.

This chapter examines the common good orientation of (i) African indigenous wisdom about responsible management in the light of (ii) Aristotelian epistemic architecture of phronesis and (iii) Catholic Social Teaching. Looking at what the chapter contributors found in Ghana, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, South Africa, Lesotho, Uganda, Cameroon, and Egypt, the authors compare and contrast what common good means in these three great traditions that have done much to shape the world into what it is today and that can continue to help redirect humans into more responsible and sustainable domains of flourishing. The results show that the three traditions have much in common albeit with some nuances due to the disparity in their contexts and cultural settings. The expectation that the wise business leader should judge rightly and act ethically in pursuance of the common good is common to all three. The communitarian element of African indigenous wisdom stands out as the polis where wise leaders are taught and groomed for their responsibilities to the community. Where the person is disconnected from this reality of community, it could become more difficult for him or her to attain and maintain moral uprightness.

Wisdom from Africa comes in different forms: proverbs, adages, folktales with moral lessons, the use of figurative speech which transmit deep messages, a variety of wise sayings, songs, etc. Such wisdom guided many interactions including those relating to trade, entrepreneurship and other activities that drive the dynamics of economies. African communities are well known for a sense of communal living and a concern for others often manifested as solidarity. Aggregating the combined data from the preceding chapters, this final chapter in Volume 2 of Responsible Management in Africa explores the role of these two realities that are part of the African cultural heritage in promoting solidarity and inclusion. Four themes emerge: values-based education, mutual trust, personal social responsibility and sustainability factors. Beyond these four, since responsible businesses ought to have inclusive growth among their goal, they can also apply the knowledge of traditional values such as Ubuntu and Omoluabi for tackling challenges to sustainable development and contributing to attaining an ethical economy.

Responsible management (RM) is a topic of interest in the western world. Contemporary scholars explore ways of integrating responsible management education (RME) within curricula of business school. With the growing interest in the factors that contribute to attaining RM practices, one looks to communities, institutions and whole civilisations in order to learn from them. Such information would be helpful not only for the context from which they originate, but also for institutions with similar goals in different locations around the world. As one of the notable centres of ancient civilisation, Egypt was known for its diversity of occupations including trade. The Egyptian civilisation guided by traditional values flourished in many aspects. This chapter explores the traditional tenets that nourished growth and development of management practices in ancient Egypt as a way of discovering what factors can contribute to RM today. There are attempts to integrate the principles of RM into business practices and education especially into the curricula of business schools. This chapter provides insight to the principle of RME as is seen in contemporary Egypt but also provides knowledge of ancient wisdom that contributes to our understanding of RM in Africa. It attempts to draw from Egyptian heritage while exploring the deeper understandings of RM in Africa.

The new post-pandemic normal reveals challenging features of living through a crisis, including a heightened sense of fear and the awareness of one’s limitations. Some of the challenges have been identified as relating to shifts in employer–employee interfaces or doctor–patient interactions; to increased effort to embrace rapid digitalisation while maintaining interpersonal relations; and to increased pressure to adapt flexibly to financial and structural changes. These are embedded in a greater (and mostly positive) consciousness of human and organisational interconnectedness.

This chapter looks at the parallel experiences of business and health systems as they endeavour to thrive during and beyond a pandemic. The authors recognise the intricate relationship between businesses and health as they feed each other’s overall growth directly or indirectly. Businesses create wealth through a healthy regard for the well-being of their stakeholders while healthcare systems are affected by their own business structures. In both cases, responsible leadership and fairness help to avoid an unhealthy prioritisation of profit.

This chapter reflects on the various routes businesses and health care can take to preserve fairness through ethical leadership. The authors focus on six stakeholders (employee, customer, shareholder, society or community, environment, and creditors) who need to be appropriately cared for and prioritised. The authors consider how promoting human competencies can affect skill acquisition, emotional intelligence, spiritual, and moral growth in both spaces. At the core of our discussion is the concept of self-leadership, which boosts the organisational leadership that in turn determines the kind of future we will have in the new normal.