Cultural Integrations for Organisational Performance: Synthesising Western Liberal, Sinocentric and Ubuntu perspectives in South African Career Management Services
Shereen Sikwela 
& Melvin Diedericks
Issue: Vol.5 No.13 Issue Article 29 pp.2398-2412
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.202451329 | Published online 31st October, 2024
© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
South African public organisations intrinsically integrate diverse cultural perspectives by embracing and promoting developmental state ideals, democratic principles of equality and fairness, and communitarianism in their governance frameworks. This embrace reveals the interplay of Western Liberal principles, Sino-centric values, and Ubuntu cultural perspectives in influencing organisational performance. This paper thus explored these dynamics by examining how conflicting and integrating perspectives affect and enhance career management practices for organisational performance. Key cultural themes, including individual autonomy, hierarchy, collaboration, societal order, and communitarianism, were reviewed at the North West Province Departments of Cooperative Governance, Traditional Affairs, and Human Settlements through mixed methods research. Findings revealed cultural conflicts culminating in unfairness in career management practices and a lack of collaborative efforts by role players involved. These findings underscored the necessity of weakening and integrating strong ontologies through panentheism to enhance economic and employee development, societal order, hierarchy, and communal well-being through structured governance, pluralist choice, collective fingers and societal order frameworks. This research offers practical implications for improving organisational performance in African multicultural contexts, which are valuable for career management and public administration professionals.
Keywords: Ubuntu, Sino-centric Values, Liberalism, Organisational Performance, Integrative Governance.
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Dr. Shereen Sikwela is an integrative governance researcher currently undertaking a postdoctoral fellowship within the research entity, Afrocentric Governance of Public Affairs (AGoPA) at the North-West University. Her work focuses on exploring collaborative frameworks that enhance public administration and governance structures, with particular interest in fostering more inclusive, effective policy implementation across diverse socio-political contexts. Dr. Sikwela recently completed her PhD, where she developed insights into integrative governance practices and their impact on public service efficacy, positioning her as a rising scholar in this field.
Prof. Melvin Diedericks is an Associate Professor employed by the North-West University in the research entity, Afrocentric Governance of Public Affairs (AGoPA). He has published/co-published peer reviewed articles and book chapters. In addition, he has also delivered Post-Graduate students successfully. Melvin’s research interests include Water Services Management and related planning; as well as Local Government and Service delivery. He is also well-read on issues of Public Policy analysis. He is a reviewer mostly for South African accredited academic journals in his scholarly field. Melvin acts both as internal and external examiner of theses and dissertations. He is a member of IASIA, SAAPAM and ASSADPAM.
Sikwela, Shereen & Melvin Diedericks . “Cultural Integrations for Organisational Performance: Synthesising Western Liberal, Sinocentric and Ubuntu perspectives in South African Career Management Services,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 5, no.13 (2024): 2398-2412. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.202451329
© 2024 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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