Guest editorial: Organizational and management practices in COVID-19 business environments in Africa – The human factors

Guest editorial: Organizational and management practices in COVID-19 business environments in Africa – interactive models, structures and strategies

“…Yet, the COVID-19 pandemic was deemed to have had the largest effect on both humanity and the industrial space in almost all countries in the world in ways unimaginable before the year 2020 (Kretzschmar et al ., 2022). As it was highlighted in the editorial of the first special issue, the world has changed rapidly since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic (Sanda, 2023a). Managing this change, especially during the epic of the pandemic, was probably the single most difficult structural and managerial challenge encountered by organizations and other business entities, especially those operating in African industrial environment (Sanda, 2023a).…”

“…As it was highlighted in the editorial of the first special issue, the world has changed rapidly since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic (Sanda, 2023a). Managing this change, especially during the epic of the pandemic, was probably the single most difficult structural and managerial challenge encountered by organizations and other business entities, especially those operating in African industrial environment (Sanda, 2023a). Aside the human health implication of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were also prevailed challenges associated with the effective and efficient functionalities of organizational structures and their associated practices models and strategies.…”

“…As it is espoused in the editorial of the first special issue (Sanda, 2023a), what empirical or conceptual answers do we have on the mitigation of functional challenges imposed by the pandemic the COVID-19 on the systemic interactivities between humans, practices models, organizational structures and strategies? Based on the notion that Africa has a unique industrial environment which positions it as an emerging market economy (Sanda, 2017), empirical and conceptual knowledge is very important since it stands to enhance our contemporary understanding of designing effective and efficient organization and human resource management systems in a pandemic-oriented business and industrial environments, especially in African.…”