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Social and Organisational Structures in East Africa: a Case for Participation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Peter Blunt
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Extract

For some time, the general enthusiasm for viewing organisations as ‘open systems’ subject to a wide number of influences has had something of a hollow ring. This is shown by the way in which many scholars continue to concentrate their attention on certain selected parts of an organisation and its environment, and to ignore others.1 In 1970 this tendency was described as follows:

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The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , September 1978 , pp. 433 - 449
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

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References

page 433 note 1 For example, the focus on technology as an independent variable – begun in earnest by Woodward, J., Management and Technology (London, 1958),Google Scholar and developed by others, like Pugh, D. S. and Hickson, D. J., Organisational Structure in its Context (Farnborough, 1976)Google Scholar – may have encouraged researchers to play down the potential of such basic influences as culture. As D. F. Gillespie and D. S. Mileti have suggested, there will be instances when technology can be most usefully seen as a dependent or mediating variable; ‘Technology and the Study of Organisations: an overview and appraisal’, in Academy of Management Journal (Atlanta), II, 1, 1977, pp. 7–16.Google Scholar

page 433 note 2 Clark, P. A. and Ford, J. R., ‘Methodological and Theoretical Problems in the Investigation of Planned Organisational Change’, in Sociological Review (Keele), XVIII, 1, 1970, p. 42.Google Scholar Similar sentiments have been expressed by Roberts, K. H., ‘On Looking at an Elephant: an evaluation of cross-cultural research related to organisations’, in Weinshall, T. D. (ed.), Culture and Management (Harmondsworth, 1977).Google Scholar

page 434 note 1 David Court described the concept of social justice held by Kenyans in much the same terms, and suggested that their aim is ‘less at the equalisation of wealth and status than at the equalisation of the opportunities to compete for the most privileged positions’; ‘The Education System as a Response to Inequality in Tanzania and Kenya’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies (Cambridge), XIV, 4, 12 1976, p. 662.Google Scholar

page 434 note 2 Wober, M., ‘Some Areas for the Application of Psychological Research in East Africa’, in International Review of Applied Psychology (Liverpool), XXII, 1, 1973, pp. 41–53.Google Scholar

page 434 note 3 For example, Grillo, R. D., African Railwaymen: solidarity and opposition in an East African labour force (Cambridge, 1973),Google Scholar and Henley, John S., ‘Employment Relationships and Economic Development – the Kenyan Experience’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies, XI, 4, 12 1973, pp. 559–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 434 note 4 Henley, loc. cit. p. 588.

page 435 note 1 Grillo, op. cit. p. 66.

page 435 note 2 Ibid. p. 80.

page 435 note 3 Saul, John S., ‘African Socialism in One Country: Tanzania’, in Arrighi, Giovanni and Saul, , Essays on the Political Economy of Africa (New York and London, 1973).Google ScholarMapolu, H. has also expressed some doubts in The Organization and Participation of Workers in Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, Economics Research Bureau Paper 72.1, 1972, p. 30:Google Scholar ‘It follows therefore that when one reaches the factory level, participation can only be minimal in substance. Essentially, the tasks of “management” belong to the managers, and the workers can come in only occasionally to “help” in certain fields and to quench their thirst for information on what is going on in the factory as a whole. This seems to be the only explanation of the preponderance of managers in the workers’ council and the council's mere advisory powers.

page 436 note 1 Dresang, D. L. and Sharkansky, I., ‘Sequences of Change and the Political Economy of Public Corporations: Kenya’, in The Journal of Polities (Gainesville), 37, 1975, pp. 163–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 436 note 2 Bienen, Henry has suggested, in Kenya: the politics of participation and control (Princeton, 1974),Google Scholar that this tendency has been reinforced from the apex of political power, where President Jomo Kenyatta himself has sought to enhance his own influence through the control of the civil service, described as perhaps the most extensive and efficient bureaucracy in Africa.

page 436 note 3 Bowles, S. and Gintis, H., Schooling in Capitalist America: educational reform and the contradictions of economic life (New York, 1976).Google Scholar

page 436 note 4 Court, loc. cit. p. 664.

page 436 note 5 Ibid. p. 670. W. R. Nord has criticised most modern management theories for being too individualistic in orientation; he used a Marxian perspective to illustrate the advantages of a more collaborative approach in ‘The Failure of Current Applied Behavioral Science – a Marxian Perspective’, in The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science (Washington), X, 4, 1974, pp. 557–77.Google Scholar

page 437 note 1 There are other dilemmas as well: for example, Tanzania, like most developing countries, needs technical and administrative skills of a high order which can only be acquired through formal education. The almost inevitable consequence of this is the formation of a technocratic and bureaucratic élite, which runs counter to Tanzania's declared ideals. Another concern is the extent to which it is possible to disengage from familiar educational practices (such as those inherited from the colonial era), without undermining general faith in the process of education itself. As Court, loc. cit. has pointed out, problems of this kind have already been encountered in Tanzania where it is proving difficult to find alternatives to (irrelevant) western forms of examination.

page 437 note 2 Unfortunately, the Government itself is in an awkward position: on the one hand, it must be seen to fulifil the popular demand for rapid Africanisation, while on the other it must protect its own fragile position by, inter alia, not encouraging participatory democracy in organisations.

page 437 note 3 Blunt, Peter, ‘Managerial Motivation in Kenya: some initial impressions’, in Journal of East African Research and Development (Nairobi), VI, 1, 1977.Google Scholar This evidence was derived from a study of 127 black Kenyan managers working in the Nairobi-located subsidiary of a multinational organisation, where hostility towards the senior white managers was particularly strong owing to the fact that the blacks were members of the Kikuyu tribe, which has been dominant since independence. Moreover, comparisons with other studies of managerial job satisfaction that used the same measuring instrument in Africa showed that this group of Kenyans were substantially more dissatisfied than managers in other African countries. See Blunt, Peter, ‘Cultural and Situational Determinants of Job Satisfaction Amongst Management in South Africa’, in The Journal of Management Studies (Oxford), 10, 1973, pp. 133–40,Google Scholar and P. Howell, J. Strauss, and P. F. Sorensen, ‘Cultural and Situational Determinants of Job Satisfaction Among Management in Liberia’, in ibid. 12, 1975, pp. 225–7.

page 438 note 1 See Henley, loc. cit. and Dresang and Sharkansky, loc. cit.

page 438 note 2 Rouyer, A. R., ‘Political Recruitment and Political Change in Kenya’, in The Journal of Developing Areas, IX, 1975, pp. 539–62.Google Scholar

page 438 note 3 Although this is by no means an invariable rule. For example, Grillo, op. cit. p. 81, in his study of the East African Railways and Harbours, described the dissatisfaction of a shift foreman who complained ‘about “the younger, less experienced men” being promoted over the heads of the older staff like himself’.

page 438 note 4 Henley, loc. cit. p. 575.

page 438 note 5 Economic Survey (Nairobi, 1972).Google ScholarMiller, R. A. has also remarked on these problems in The Journal of Modern African Studies, ‘Elite Formation in Africa: class, culture, and coherence’, XII, 4, 12 1974, p. 536:Google Scholar ‘In dealing with generational conflict we are specifically dealing with highly educated young Africans who have already attained élite status because of their educational qualifications, and often, in addition, because they have been admitted to the administrative stratum of the bureaucracy. Their frustration arises from the fact that “super-grade” positions are blocked to them by individuals who often possess less formal qualifications than they do themselves.’

page 439 note 1 Saul, op. cit.

page 439 note 2 Crozier, M., The Bureaucratic Phenomenon (London, 1964).Google Scholar

page 439 note 3 Blumberg, P., Industrial Democracy: the sociology of participation (London, 1968),Google Scholar and Balfour, C. (ed.), Participation in Industry (London, 1973).Google Scholar

page 439 note 4 Emery, F. E. and Emery, M., Participative Design (Canberra, 1975),Google Scholar and Emery, F. E. and Thorsrud, E., Democracy at Work (Canberra, 1975).Google Scholar

page 440 note 1 See Gyllenhammar, P. G., ‘How Volvo Adapts Work to People’, in Harvard Business Review (Boston), 55, 1977, pp. 102–13.Google Scholar

page 441 note 1 Emery and Emery, loc. cit. p. 2.

page 441 note 2 The latter question is one which can be legitimately raised, but whose detailed answer falls outside the scope of this article: the approach the writer would recommend is that of Emery and Emery, loc. cit.

page 441 note 3 It is acknowledged that in some organisations this particular problem will not arise as the majority of employees will be Kikuyu anyway.

page 442 note 1 Once again Grillo's account of the East African Railways and Harbours is illuminating here. He found that workers wanted to distinguish between juu kwa kazi, those who speak English, and who because of their jobs are wealthy, well dressed, with big houses and cars, and juu huku nyumbani, the important old men in the rural areas with many cattle and wives – op. cit. p. 93. This clearly illustrates the dislocation which the majority of workers from the rural areas must experience when they go to the city.

page 442 note 2 Johnson, G. E., ‘Notes on Wages, Employment and Income Distribution in Kenya’, Nairobi, 1971.Google Scholar

page 442 note 3 Feraro, G. P., ‘Kikuyu Kinship Interaction: a rural urban comparison’, Ph.D. thesis, Syracuse University, 1971.Google Scholar

page 442 note 4 Elkan, Walter, ‘Is a Proletariat Emerging in Nairobi?’, in Economic Development and Cultural Change (Chicago), 24, 4, 1976, pp. 804 and 696.Google Scholar

page 443 note 1 Popper, K. R., The Poverty of Historicism (London, 1961), pp. 20–1.Google Scholar

page 443 note 2 Leys, Colin, Underdevelopment in Kenya: the political economy of neo-colonialism (London, 1975),Google Scholar and Werlin, H. H., Governing an African City: a study of Nairobi (New York, 1974).Google Scholar

page 444 note 1 Coward, E. W., ‘Indigenous Organisation, Bureaucracy and Development: the case of rrigation’, in Journal of Development Studies (London), XIII, 1, 1977, p. 102.Google Scholar The Sonjo of Tanzania also have a system of government which is primarily designed to administer scarce resources, particularly water. All matters relating to the frequency of irrigation and the allocation of work are dealt with by the Wenamiji, which is quite democratic because ‘the authority possessed by this council of ruling elders resides with the group as a whole, not with the members as individuals’. Furthermore, and unlike most bureaucracies, ‘in enforcing their orders and decisions, the Wenamiji rely strongly on the fact that the law commands the assent of the people, that their authority is regarded as valid, and that public opinion is usually behind them’. See Gray, R. F., The Sonjo of Tanganyika (London, 1963), pp. 139 and 144.Google Scholar

page 444 note 2 Middleton, J. and Kershaw, G., The Central Tribes of the North-Eastern Bantu (London, 1965), p. 23.Google Scholar

page 444 note 3 Ibid. p. 25.

page 444 note 4 There were no indigenous chiefs among the Kikuyu according to Dundas, C., ‘The Organisation and Laws of Some Bantu Tribes in East Africa’, in Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (London), 45, 1915, pp. 234–306,Google Scholar and Middleton and Kershaw, op. cit. Present-day chiefs are appointed by the Government.

page 444 note 5 Hobley, C. W., Bantu Beliefs and Magic, with Particular Reference to the Kikuyu and Kamba Tribes of Kenya Colony (London, 1938), p. 212.Google Scholar The Kamba councils behave in much the same way: ‘among these elders are often young men, and some old men are not elders’; Middleton and Kershaw, op. cit. p. 75.

page 445 note 1 Ibid. p. 37.

page 445 note 2 Kenyatta, Jomo, Facing Mount Kenya (London, 1938), p. 196.Google Scholar

page 445 note 3 The Arusha of Tanzania and the Samburu of Kenya are closely related. P. Spencer has described them as ‘Masai-speaking and Masai-oriented societies whose hierarchy of age grades provided the major dimension of social stratification in what were otherwise strongly egalitarian societies’; ‘Opposing Streams and the Gerontocratic Ladder: two models of age organisation in East Africa’, in Man (London), XI, 2, 1976, p. 154.Google Scholar The two tribes belong to the Nio-Hamitic group of peoples.

page 445 note 4 Spencer, loc. cit. p. 155.

page 445 note 5 Ibid.

page 445 note 6 It need hardly be said that for most workers in East African organisations there are few possibilities for orderly progression because of the number of ‘dead end’ jobs.

page 446 note 1 Ibid. p. 175.

page 446 note 2 Ibid. p. 176. The Samburu say that a debate or discussion is like an acacia tree, with many branches but only one trunk: each man comes with his own ideas, and through discussion these are modified until there is a compromise solution. Spencer, P., The Samburu (London, 1965).Google Scholar The contrast that this provides with decision-making in most modem organisations is stark to say the least.

page 446 note 3 Ibid. p. 177.

page 446 note 4 Ibid. p. 184.

page 447 note 1 Gulliver, P. H., Social Control in an African Society (London, 1963).Google Scholar

page 447 note 2 Ibid. p. 54. According to Gulliver, the parish assembly had been adopted since 1948 as the lowest level of local government in Tanzania and recognised as a consultative body to which the Administration could refer questions for opinion.

page 447 note 3 Spencer, loc. cit. p. 159.

page 447 note 4 Other tribes in the Nilo-Hamitic group include: the Nandi, the Keyo, the Tuken, the Suk, the Marakuet, the Barabaig, and the Masai.

page 447 note 5 Peristiany, J. G., The Social Institutions of the Kipsigis (London, 1964), p. xxiv.Google Scholar

page 447 note 6 Spencer, loc. cit. p. 159. There is evidence to suggest that egalitarianism is a character. istic of other groups in Eastern Africa as well: for example, Lewis, I. M. refers to the ‘fundamentally egalitarian character of Somali society’ in A Pastoral Democracy (London, 1961), p. 197.Google Scholar

page 448 note 1 Gulliver, op. cit. p. 149.

page 448 note 2 Price, Robert M., Society and Bureaucracy in Contemporary Ghana (Berkeley and London, 1975).Google Scholar

page 449 note 1 Ibid. p. 209.

page 449 note 2 Trist, E. L., ‘Planning the First Steps Toward Quality of Working Life in a Developing Country’, in Davis, L. E. and Cherns, A. B. (eds.), The Quality of Working Life (London, 1975), p. 79.Google Scholar