Africa continent has been the destination place for the Western world. Their colonization dated back as far as 1870. Colonization is when the colonizer settles in another country, becoming the rulers of the new country, and living in the new country (Wikipedia, 2021). The British colonized most African countries especially, those in the West, such as Nigeria, Ghana. Ivory Coast, Gambia, South Cameroon, and Sierra Leone; East Africa countries include Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. To the South include South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Lesotho, Botswana, and Swaziland.

My thesis is, for a country to impose her doctrine, philosophies onto another country, should do so without causing more harm than good to such territories. They must be treated with respect and dignity.

I will be analyzing some of the impacts that colonization has on Africa Countries. Though the negative impacts underpin the positive ones, it is important to recognize that some benefits have been achieved for African countries.

Despite, other European countries also colonized Africa ( French assimilation policy), I will limit it to the British. British Colonialism aimed at exploiting African natural resources to feed their manufacturing industry. The resources include timber, gold, diamond, bauxite, coal, cocoa, ivory, salt, rubber, and many more.
They do so by using a system called an indirect rule through the chiefs. They were used as the intermediary between the people and the colonial master. ’’Great Britain used the indirect rule to control their colonies’’ (Esri, n.d). Because the British wanted to minimize cost, they appointed some local leaders to work side and side with them while living in their home country. The British claim they don’t want to destroy the native culture by imposing their English language onto the people but, that was never the case. ‘’Thus, British did not attempt to make English persons out of Africans’’. However, they succeeded in destroying the indigenous cultures and exploited their resources. As a result of cross-cultural differences, communication was a problem in the dissemination of information to the colonized African countries. They see the chiefs as more educated to break that communication barrier. Hence they became their mouthpiece.

The negative impact British colonialism brought on Africans is that it destroyed the culture of the people. They make them believe that their culture is superior to theirs. The British rule caused a lot of Africans to lose money, homes and more, (Esri, n.d). Because African leaders at that time were mostly ignorant and uneducated, they headed to their request. They have succeeded in exploiting most of their natural resources. The colonizers took advantage of their lack of civilization, evident in the people’s way of life, (Abilson, 2020). While this affects the African countries negatively, it boosts the British economy strongly. They also enslaved most Africans and taking away from their families to work on their farms as laborers.

Despite all these negative impacts endured by these African countries, they relied on their colonial masters for their economic needs, such as improved health care, infrastructure development, political development, literacy through education, and more. Since most African uses primitive ways of health care, infant mortality was high. But the colonial master was able to enlighten the people through its educational programs and that reduces the infant death rate significantly. ‘’ The infant deaths were resolved, with the discovery of both the causes and the solutions to the problem’’ (Ablison, 2020). The infrastructure sector was expanded, roads, rails, and electricity, etc., received much attention. That set African countries on the industrialization path. It has encouraged trade and economic development among member countries across the region.
According to Ablison, most Africans would walk long distances, and therefore, could delay in achieving different agendas.

It is important to note that, British colonialism is still seen today in most colonized African countries. They succeeded in enforcing on Africans their English language. That became the official language and recognized by the people. My country Ghana uses British English as its official language and has been enforced at educational institutions as a syllabus. I remembered vividly during my early school age where we were prohibited from speaking our local dialect at school but instead encourage to speak British English. You will be punished severely for speaking vernacular. According to ESRI, English is the official language of Zimbabwe, Uganda, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, and Kenya. Because of more resistance and fight against the colonial master, a new form of modern colonialism emerged where African countries are given either grant or loan with strain conditions attached. Neocolonialism uses economics, globalization, cultural imperialism, and conditional aid to influence African countries instead of the previous colonial method (Wikipedia, n.d).

To conclude, we have to admit that colonialism has seriously impacted African culture extensively. However, we cannot ignore its benefits. It is, therefore, important for African leaders to unite and against foreign imperialism.

References:

Encyclopedia.com. (n.d) Africa: British Colonies. Retrieved on 23 March 2021 from. https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/africa-british-colonies

Esri (n.d).British Colonization Africa. Retrieved on 23 March 2021 from. .https://www.ArcGIS.com/apps/MapJournal/index.Html?appid=e8f24a9c56404e67b209dfcdfb37bc82

Ablison Energy, (Feb 3, 2020).21 important Pros and Cons of Colonialism. Retrieved on 23 March 2021 from. https://www.ablison.com/pros-and-cons-of-colonialism/

 

The Geert Hofstede 6-D model of national culture explains conditions that an organization or a country can guild itself on. He named them power distance, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long term, collectivism-individualism, and indulgence-restraint. It is important to know that each of them has been expressed on a scale that runs approximately from 0 to 100. The range within which a country fall is related to the world average to ascertain how the respective country performed or is likely to perform. He claimed society’s social status is determined by these six dimensions.

I will be emphasizing power distance, individualism-collectivism, and a long-term orientation and compare them to some African countries and how its implementation has impacted the country. The country I will be comparing is in West Africa, namely Ghana and Nigeria. These two countries have a lot in common, and being from one of them enables me better understand their similarities and differences. These two countries are democratic and independent nations that elect their leaders through electoral voting.

According to Hofstede, power distance is the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions accept and expect that powers are distributed unequally. The result from comparing these two nations using the Hofstede dimensional model on power distance is the same. Both countries recorded 80 on a dimensional scale. This score is higher than the world average. A high power distance score means the cultural norm of that country accepts an unequal distribution of power. In order words, it is acceptable for some people to hold onto power. Therefore, the interaction of the rest of the world towards such countries is to expect high tolerance for the discrepancy between the ‘’rank and file’’ within the power structure. The people accept the hierarchical order of governance without any hesitation. Most African leaders like to hang onto power and therefore breaching the very democratic process that got them elected into power. For instance, the president of Ugandan Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled the country for over 34years, is still clinching onto power and refusing to step down. According to Reuters (2021), ‘’Museveni has won five elections since 1996. Parliament has twice changed the constitution to allow him to run, first removing a two-term limit in 2005 and then abolishing the age limit of 75 in 2017’’. Similarly, the leadership of Nigerian and Ivory Coast seems to be taking the same path where they want to stay in power after their mandated tenure in office is over. “The new constitution authorizes me to serve two terms starting in 2020,” Ouattara, 76, told Jeune Afrique, implying that his two election wins under the old constitution would not count against the new constitution’s two-term limit’’ Reuters (2018). When power is centralized and the leaders stay in position for long, they manipulate the system to their advantage, and it becomes difficult for the oppressors to fight against it. That is because the institutions that are mandated to uphold the will of the people are been manipulated.

An individualism as explained by Hofstede is the extent to which people feel independent as opposed to being interdependent as a member of larger wholes. It is the opposite of collectivism. That has to do with whether people’s self-image is defined in terms of ‘’I’’ or ‘’we’’. The result show Nigeria score 30 and Ghana score 15 which means, they are a nation with more collectivist than individualistic. Society fosters strong relationships where everyone takes responsibility for fellow members of their group. I society that is more united and works towards a common agenda is more than likely to progress than an individualistic culture. It is important to note that loyalty in a collectivist culture is paramount and over-rides most other societal rules and regulations.

The last I want to talk about among the Hofstede six-dimensional model is a long-term orientation. This dimension talks about how every society has to maintain some links with its past while dealing with the challenges of the present and future. In comparing the result, Ghana score 4, and Nigeria score 13 in this dimension. That means both countries have a strong preference for a normative way of thinking instead of pragmatism. This is attributed to their respect for their traditions, a relatively small propensity to save for the future, and focus on achieving the quick result. However, it is important to note that Ghana’s score is extremely lower to the world average than that of Nigeria. A score below the world average of long-term orientation means that such countries are just living more the moment than long-term planning for the future. Most Africa countries are poor and mostly rely on western donors for support because the countries are not self-sustainable and sufficient. Some of the contributing factors to these are political instability, corruption, poor leadership, low level of education, etc. As a result, the per-capita GDP is low. The people only think of what to sustain them now than the future, ‘’hand to mouth’’ approach.

To conclude my discussion on Hofstede’s 6-D model, it important to emphasize that Ghana and Nigeria are really strong on the 3 of the 6 dimensions talk about. That is power distance, individualism-collectivism, and long-term orientation. Leaders have to know that power belongs to the people, and for better governance, their voices need to be heard. Everyone needs to engage in decision-making, and it will be in the interest of all to think about the welfare of a whole than an individual. We need to create an enabling environment that is stable, free from vicious activities where opportunities and investment are encouraged. The voice of the people is the voice of God.

 

References:
Geert Hofstede. (n.d).The 6-D model of national culture, Retrieved on 2nd march 2021 from .https://geerthofstede.com/culture-geert-hofstede-gert-jan-hofstede/6d-model-of-national-culture/

Hofstede Insights. (n.d). Country Comparison. Retrieved on 3rd March 2021 from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/ghana,nigeria/

Reuters Staff. (January 13, 2021). Factbox: Africa’s longest-serving leaders. Retrieved on 3rd March 2021, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-africa-presidents-factbox/factbox-africas-longest-serving-leaders-idUSKBN29I1N2

   

We are all born unique with a certain level of potentials embedded in us. The ability to discover those potentials such as skills, talents, knowledge, etc. can be sometimes difficult especially if one is not allowed to explore them. People can be naturally talented in specific areas of human endeavor. But can also avail themselves to learn from others. Through a process called social learning, which according to Albert Bangura (1986) described as how people learn behavior by observing others behave. He further stated that social learning is different from other types of learning because it allows for creativity in addition to learning something from others.

It is important to know that since an individual can learn the behaviors of others, some circumstances might hinder its progress, such as cross-cultural differences but, if well dealt with, it can create synergy in an inclusive organization.

That said, in a social learning environment, individuals particularly, growing children, will like to imitate someone as his or her role model by listening, observing, and practicing what that person does. It can have a positive or negative impact on the learner. According to Marilyn Prince- Mitchell, role models show young people how to live with integrity, optimism, hope, determination, and compassion. For this process to effectively occurs, it requires four-steps.

That is ‘’attention’’, the ability of the learner to focus on what he or she is trying to learn is important, and any distraction might affect the learning process. The ability to ”recollect” what has been stored in the observed behavior in the brain goes a long way to keep the individual social learning process being successful. But if it is brain-damaged, that can affect how one can reproduce the behaviors that have been stored. Concussion and traumatic brain injury are conditions that affect how the brain function and as such can affect how an injured person communicate, think, act, behave, reason and can sometimes be suicidal. According to Headway (n.d), the cognitive effects of a brain injury affect the way a person thinks, learns, and remembers. The third step is ”reproduction”, which involves the actual physical performance of a behavior. That requires the learner to be creative in dealing with issues that might, at first sight, seems impossible but, with creativity such action might be accomplished. The final step is ”motivation”, the desire or passion a person has to reproduce a behavior. An organization needs a leader who is motivational and charismatic enough to encourage and inspire its members to make sure the impossible is possible. For instance, for a first-time distance learner especially, during this covid-19 pandemic where most schools have closed, in-person learning is a challenge for the students, mostly children. But, the motivation and encouragement from parents, peers, and those who have already familiarized themselves with computer schooling have encouraged and inspires these kids to live up to the task. Bandura (1986) indicated that the environment, respect, and peer learning are ways to increased motivation. It is important to emphasize that motivation is a tool that can be used to accomplish organizational objectives.

However, one obstacle that can prevent the smooth social learning process is cross-cultural differences. Cross-cultural differences in the way in which one culture perceives the other cultures. Cross-cultural is a communication tool that described how people of different cultures communicate and interact with each other in different ways among themselves. In a social learning environment, the individual is learning behavior that requires him or her to understand what he or she is trying to learn or imitate. But due to cross-cultural differences, different words, signs, or body language can mean different meanings to different people. If this happened, the probability that whatever behavior is being learned or modeled can be done wrongly and therefore, will not serve the intended purpose. For example, in my culture (Ghana), using your left hand to greet, or eat is considered taboo or abominable. But, doing a similar thing in the U.S is not. If a situation like this arises, it can mislead a behavior in its context in an organization, and that can create tension and confusion.

But once these cultural differences are solved through cross-cultural knowledge and awareness, the social learning processes will be upheld, resulting in creating synergy in an organization. Cultural, synergy is a cooperative or combined action and occurs when diverse or disparate individuals or groups collaborate for a common cause. The objective is to increase effectiveness by sharing perceptions and experiences, insights, and knowledge. (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014, p. 266). Where member’s social learned, skills, knowledge, talents can be put together for the organization to achieve its optimal level. To get the best of synergy for its organization, one has to break the cross-cultural differences by the willingness to learn about others’ cultures and having trust and respect for members (Sullivan (1996). Though, there might be some social learning that does not conflict with cross-cultural differences. It is, however, important to point it out, especially culture ”within” an organization is more likely to succeed in a social learning environment than cultural ”between”.

It is important to know that an organization needs to maintain its cultural variability. That refers to the conditions of stability within the organization. If the organization is unstable, it requires a lot of work from the leader to curb such a situation from escalating to the point that will affect the organizational objectives. According to Schmidt (2006), when such a situation occurs, the leadership needs a strong internal structure to manage change, open communication channels, and decentralized decision-making with local experts to respond.

In conclusion, for the social learning process to succeed, there is the need to break the barrier of cross-cultural differences, which might act as a hindrance for full attainment of the social learning scope. It is then that the synergy can impact positively an organization.

 

References:

Headway (n.p).Cognitive effects of brain injury. Retrieved on 18 February 2021 from, https://www.headway.org.uk/about-brain-injury/individuals/effects-of-brain-injury/cognitive-effects/

Penn State. (n.d).Lesson 05: learning and change in a global setting.Retrieved on 18 February 2021 from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2103357/modules/items/30942193

Marilyn Price-Mitchell. (4 December 2017). What is a role model? five qualities that matter to youth. Retrieved on 18 February 2021 from, https://www.rootsofaction.com/role-model/

Synergy Center. (n.d). How synergy’s important to organizational development and maintenance. Retrieved on 12 February from https://organizational-synergy.com/how-synergys-important-to-organizational-development-and-maintenance/

Schmidt. (22 December 2006).The concept of cultural synergy and global organization. Retrieved on 12 February 2021 from, https://uk.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-assets/14116_book_item_14116.pdf

 

 

I was born and raised into a family that cherishes its culture and heritage to the core. A country called Ghana, renowned as a cultural melting pot is a home for over 100 tribes and ethnics groups. In my early school age, we were taught that culture is defined as a way of life of a particular group of people. I vividly remembered that my then Religious and Moral Education teacher once said, ‘’anytime you think of culture, think of what you do every single day’’. Hofstede (2001) define culture as ”the collective programming of the mind that distinguished the members of one group or category of people from another”. Among some of the tribes or ethnic groups are the Ewes, Ga, Fantes, Mole-Daghonians, Ashantis, Guang, Mamprosi, and many more but, to mention just a few. It is important to recognize that each tribe’s culture is different in many ways. That includes what they eat, how they eat, how they dress, the language they speak, or how they look at things, etc. For instance, I come from the ewe tribe with a unique dialect different from other tribes. While we have somethings in common like respecting the elders, failure to do that in most tribes constitutes defiance and is punishable, there is also a lot in differences.

My tribe believes in the extended family, it forms the main social group of the people that brings them together. They believe that unifying the larger family brings progress and development- unity is strength. The tribes or ethnics trace their lineage from their ancestors. They passed on their traditional beliefs and values that make it difficult for one to depart from, and it became part and parcel of their daily activities. According to Harrison, Price, and Bell (1998), such a situation is called deep-level diversity, ‘’beliefs, values, attitudes, etc. that do affect much more directly how a person behaves’’ and it can be difficult to change.

These ethnic groups each see their cultural heritage as superior. ”Ethnocentrism is an exaggerated tendency to think the characteristics of one’s group or race is superior to those of other groups or races” (Drever, 1952, p. 86). This superiority complex situation often leads to crashes and misunderstandings among the groups. Such assumptions can evolve into violence, oppression, prejudice, discrimination, and stagnation (eNote). The occupancy of the governmental structure and institutions becomes the most confrontation as to who will lead and from which tribes. The augment made by some of the ethnic group is that they have the most natural resources, and for that matter, they deserve the larger portion of the national cake and as well as certain governmental positions. This ethnocentrism arises due to differences mostly between groups on conflicting ideas, beliefs, and values. The most recent attack on the Capitol Hill of the U.S congress by angry extremist groups is an example of how ethnocentrism can turn into anarchy and chaos. Individual tied with extremist groups who believe their values and doctrines are superior to others, and for that reason, there should prevail by all means. It is a ”double edge sword that bears both negative and positive”, and according to (eNote), the most obvious positive aspect of it is fostering solidarity.

Every culture setting has a form of communication that they use to communicate among themselves. Communication is very important because any breakdown of information due to miscommunication can change the interpretation of the message, which can hinder progress and development. Communication is ‘’ interpersonal acts that exchange meaning and information’’ (Schneider, Gruman, and Coults, 2013 p. 126). As I have explained earlier, my primary language is a native one called ‘’ewe’’ but, the common universal language of the country is British English. Because Ghana had been colonized by the British, who impacted their doctrines on us. Because of my birth background, I have a unique accent that I often being asked anytime I speak, and sometimes I have to repeat the same word multiple times because the listener who is the receiver either did not heard me will or did not understand what I was saying. While others think I have a language barrel, I think it is not, but rather differences in accent. Effective communication and the medium used can determine if groups succeed or not. In the case of the capital attacked, it is obvious that these groups communicated effectively with their plans and purpose, and they executed them.

Gesture and body language can have a different meaning to different cultures and diversity. In my culture, for instance, using your left hand to greet, eat, to either give or receive items is considered abominable because the left hand is deemed to be ‘’dirty’’. However, when I came to the United State, I realized people do not care much about that. They do it without hesitation. What your culture condones can be the opposite of other cultures. And that does not make it wrong but, it is a result of cultural differences that we need to respect. The observation of cultural differences is mostly based on our weakness, and that reflects the inability to connect with other cultures.

Despite the differences between cultures, the people of Ghana live in harmony and peace with one another. The complexity of this diversity did not prevent them from coming together to achieve a common goal. Though they have their differences within and between, they still manage to embrace themselves. While these differences can create a more vibrant environment, they can also lead to more than a few problems resulting from culture clash.

 

 

References:

UVOLUNTEER. (12 Sept 2016). Getting to know Ghana’s tribes. Retrieved from https://www.uvolunteer.net/blog/getting-know-ghanas-tribes/

Gregorio Billikopf. (n.d).Cultural differences? Or, are we really that different? Retrieved from https://nature.berkeley.edu/ucce50/ag-labor/7article/article01.htm

eNote. (31 Jan 2018).”How can ethnocentrism have both positive and negative consequences for group life?” retrieved from https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-ethnocentrism-how-can-have-both-positive-440553. Accessed 29 Jan. 2021 (Links to an external site.).