Africa: The Management Education Challenge: 1 - Tapa dura

Finding a lack of writing on management education in Africa, Thomas, Lee, Thomas, and Wilson got down to the business of research. With 3,000 distinct ethnic groups speaking 2,000 languages, Africa encompasses 54 countries but has no collective identity; each country has its own political, economic, and socio-cultural structure. The authors eschew the usual focus on negativity-poverty, war, and disease-and posit that the role and challenge of educational development in Africa at every level can only be understood in terms of the varied history, contexts, cultures, and issues that exist in very different countries. The first two chapters of the book outline the historical backdrop of the evolution of Africa and provide an environmental analysis of the differences, features, and capital endowments of the countries forming the continent. This provides the underlying framework for mapping how management education has developed over the past two decades and in identifying the current challenges in the field. As a transition to the second volume (coming out next year) they continue to explore the importance of management education in Africa with the final chapter focusing on an examination of what an African style of management education might be and whether education is realistic or achievable. Distributed in North America by Turpin Distribution. -- Annotation (protoview.com)

This is the first of the two volumes, written with strong support from EFMD (The European Foundation for Management Development) and GMAC (The Graduate Management Admissions Council), aimed at understanding and examining the challenges involved in management education across Africa. The common perception of Africa is as a global growth region, and a continent on the move, with a parallel, huge demand for managerial skills to leverage the potential for economic growth. The authors, through a fine-grained, face-to-face, interview process, explore the perspectives, and interactions between, management educators and other business, and government stakeholders as they seek to close the management education gap. Africa has no collective identity. Therefore, it is important to understand the diverse cultures, histories and contexts underlying the 54 member states. With this is mind, the book "maps" the diverse landscape of Africa in the earlier chapters. This provides the framework around which subsequent chapters can reflect sensibly on the past evolution of alternative management education approaches in Africa, and the current landscape.