African Business Ethics

African business ethics needs to be viewed in the context that each person belongs to a group defined by social, religious, political, or geographical parameters. It, therefore, carries a high degree of complexity and constant changing environments and as such requires a degree of flexibility to operate in. Nonetheless, the distinctive features of African business ethics can be made clear.

Marshall, in a seminal passage constructing the topicality of business ethics in the book Business and Society, sketches three different kinds of ethics based on three separate approaches to what is right and what is wrong: social ethics, transcendental ethics, and tactical ethics. It is suggested that social ethics (ethics determined from within any particular society) and tactical ethics (ethics based on the calculated observance of ethical standards in their conduct) are particularly relevant to African business ethics, each encapsulating a wide scope of ethical action and practice.

In the context of business ethics in relation to Africa, three key components need to be kept in mind: (1) cultural subtleties (ethics and tradition), (2) the natural environment (ethics and subsistence, including arable land scarcity), and (3) historical factors that have shaped and misshaped the human experience (ethics and social organization). Each category is cast with a caution, “In Africa, worldviews and ethics have [Page 38]reference points in traditional nations, the modern state leading to conflict as well as liberation.”

Africa is a continent imbued with complexities and mixed signals; ethnic diversity, a range of religious and spiritual traditions, and the consequences of colonialism have had an impact on the dynamic cultural mosaic (the impact of Anglophile and Francophile cultural artifacts should not be ignored in the analysis). Its diverse geographical canvas covers the north and south temperate zones, the thick tropical cores lying in the North and in the South. In every area, Africa's geographical features have shaped cultural practices throughout its long history.

An understanding of the relationship between the environment, culture, and ethics is crucial in making sense of African business ethics. Africa's multifaceted cultures, landscapes, and peoples require diligence in studying the ethical content; simplistic binaries are not useful, although struggles between the strongest and smartest help in an understanding of ethics within Africa. In simplistic categories, the northern part is influenced by Arabic traders who veer toward Europe in the ebb and flow of business relations. The eastern side is heavily shaped by the Indian traders. The south is modeled by Europeans. The west is organized by a combination of African, Lebanese, European, and Indian business cultures.

The business climate in countries such as Angola, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, and Libya is relatively positive, whereas the range of social and economic problems in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, and Mozambique produce an atmosphere where business ethics are secondary to the instinct of base survival. To reiterate, laws, codes, regulations, and minor “norms of behavior” need to be considered in a local setting, each being cross-referenced to norms constructed by the family, the community, and “the state.” This to a larger extent would determine the success or failure on the part of a business on its ability to adjust to Africa's dynamic market.

...