| Abstract: | It has been asserted too often that the development of non-western countries—those of Africa, in particular—is highly dependent upon their assimilation of western management techniques. Yet, the applicability of western management techniques to a non-western cultural milieu remains the subject of debate in the public administration and management literature. Much of the management development literature since the mid 70s has dealt with the replicability of Mintzberg's partition of the nature and contents of the manager's activities in diverse western work settings, in the US primarily. Few attempts have been undertaken to test Mintzberg's findings in non-western settings. In this article, the authors attempt to partially fill this gap in the literature. More specifically, the authors investigate the degrees to which the management roles identified in the US can be applied generically to the public sector in the African context. The findings indicate that perceptions of management roles at the macro level are highly consistent across cultural boundaries. Significant differences, derived primarily from the historic experience of colonial administration and the contingent micro level impact are also noted. The implications of these findings for the design and implementation of management training programmes in Africa are explored. |
