Charles Martin In Uganda: What to Do When a Manager Goes Native

Presented by:
Arshi Tandon 1176 Devashish Mishra 1182 Gitika Agarwal 1186 Hitesh Kakkar 1190

Describe Ugandan cultural attributes that might affect the operations of a foreign company doing business there.

 The culture of Uganda is made up of a diverse range of ethnic groups 2/3rd Ugandans being Christians- evenly split between Roman Catholics and Anglicans. Presence of large number of Muslims, adherents of various animistic religions, popular tribes. Cultural values, norms, rituals and practices are different for each of these. Official language- English
Bantu-speaking people- East, Central, Southern Africa Nilotic languages- North

Issues of tribal rituals- For instance, two tribes living close to the Bujagali falls, proclaimed the river was home to sacred spirits. The leader believed the dam site to be tribes Mecca.

 The religious caretakers held a strong position in decision making. For a huge fee they sacrificed a sheep, 4 goats, 2 cows, and a slew of chickens, pinning them down on hot coals while 40 diviners prayed and danced. Also, blood was sprinkled on sacred trees. The tribal customs, if offended, could lead to hostile environment. Other existent realities in Uganda also became in-sync in the natives making them a part of their cultural behavior:
Nepotism being the norm, govt. is very much corrupt. Business at Uganda moved very slowly. To speed up one need to indulge in tips in advance (bribes). People would settle for the max they could get from the deal. This now became their cultural attribute only. Ugandan history of political instability was a concern

How would you describe the respective attitudes of Martin & Green : ethnocentric, polycentric or geocentric? What factors do you suspect of having influenced their respective attitudes?

 Ethnocentrism reflects the conviction that ones own culture is superior to that of other countries Polycentrism reflects when an organization or individual tends to believe business units in different countries should act like local companies Geocentrism is between the extremes of polycentrism and ethnocentrism, there is an approach to overseas business practices that integrates company practices, host country practices and some entirely new practices

 Green is geocentric due to the following reasons: Being VP of his company he knew his company was driven by Christian philosophy which had shaped companys mission and culture. He can be seen as ethnocentric from a management perspective. Concerned about Martins lifestyle being inconsistent with HGs culture. He considered Martins ways as normal and legal in Uganda, but feared it to be unethical in a US organization from a managements perspective as they had their businesses around the globe. A negative international publicity and close connection with government officials a cause of concern for him Polycentric approach- He believed that to do successful business in foreign country one has to compromise to some extent with foreign culture and govt. regulations (not as far as Martins controversial actions were concerned) but not at the cost of the image of its parent company.

 Martin is Polycentric due to the following reasons Although being an American, he was fascinated by Africa through a course in its pre-colonial history taken up by him after high school. He thereby graduated from African Studies and also worked in Kenya. He developed a disdain for western managers who isolated themselves in expatriate ghettos. He believed in Dont draw attention towards yourself, and above all, learn and respect the culture Showed an interest in working in African assignment since very beginning Comfortable with African natives and preferred living in middle class Ugandan neighborhood Martin paid an increased amount of $10,000 to repeat the ceremony of appeasing the spirits. This shows that to some extent he believed in African tribal rituals.

Who was right Green or Martin, about Martins controversial actions in facilitating the project? How might things have turned out if Martin had not been a member of project team?

 Martin was right for his controversial actions in facilitating the project due to the following reasons Being a graduate in African studies he had knowledge and interest about Uganda and working practices there Although business in Uganda moved at slow pace but he learnt that paying tips could quickly speed up the task Lived in middle class Ugandan neighborhoods and held job hiring through mentioning it to local people and listening to their recommendations Participated in tribal rituals which allowed the work to continue The preconstruction phase of the project required government approvals which was taken care by Martin through his actions. These approvals were one-time and were necessary for the project to commence.

 If Martin had not been a member of project team then He completed his work within time which would not had been the case if he was not there Work would have been slow and would take a months time even to get a phone installed in office Nepotism being a practice there had to be practiced to speed up things like import clearances If he wouldnt have hired a specialist in African religion or didnt participate in their rituals then it would be difficult to displace the villagers Hence the assigned tasks could not have been completed in allotted time and budget His understanding of Ugandan culture gave him an edge to perform the preconstruction phase work which any other employee of HG would not have been able to accomplish.

In the next phase of the projectconstructing the dam itself- should HG employ someone whose main function is that of liaison between its corporate culture and the culture of its host country? If so, is Martin the right person for the job?

The work of being a liaison between its corporate culture and the culture of its host country was taken care in the preconstruction phase where the preliminary approvals and setup was required.
In the second phase, a person with technical knowledge is required who can deal with the construction project. HG can employ some experienced person having an engineering background or well versed with the construction details. Martin due to his knowledge and experience of working in Uganda, can be retained by the company for a period of 6-8 months so that he may make the new project manager well versed with the situations and dealings in Uganda. Martin is not the right person for the job as a project manager as he was an MBA, not having knowledge of construction work. Moreover his controversial actions were unfit for HGs culture and could pose bad publicity and ruin their foreign businesses around the globe.

Thank you!!