Rethinking Hybridity in Postcolonial Contexts: What Changes and What Persists? The Tunisian case of Poulina’s managers

Abstract

Drawing on postcolonial studies of management, this article highlights the importance of adopting a contextualized approach to hybridization processes that, first, takes into account the importance of the historical and cultural contexts from which hybridity emerges and, second, helps to identify the elements that change as well as those that persist when western management practices are imported into developing countries. Using a discursive analysis, this article shows the ambivalent nature of the accounts given by managers (trained in western traditions) of the Tunisian company Poulina as they explain how they modernized their company through the implementation of a US management model. The managers’ ambivalence takes on two distinct forms. First, while they seem to have internalized the rhetoric of modernization in insisting on how they used the US management model to overcome the ‘dysfunctional’ family-based organizational system, they simultaneously express resistance by detaching themselves from the French colonial organizational model. Second, when they describe the implementation of the US management practices and how workers resisted them, it seems that they have implicitly negotiated and reinterpreted these practices via a local cultural framework of meaning. Based on these findings, I argue that hybridity is best understood as an interweaving of two elements – the transformation of practices and cultural continuity – in which identity construction, local power dynamics and cultural frameworks of meaning jointly shape the hybridization process of management practices.

Chinese management practices in Kenya: toward a post-colonial critique

“…In light of the incompatibilities we found for example in mode of communication in the two supposedly 'high-context' societies (Chua et al, 1987), researchers might examine Africa-China relations from the point of view of cross-cultural relations, conflict-resolution and social exchange theory. Following Yousfi's (2013) post-colonial account of the imposition of American practices, scholars might examine the extent to which hybridisation is taking place in the Africa-China engagement, and how the introduction of Chinese management practices is impacted by the experience of colonialism and the particular contextual circumstances of Africa. In particular, does the Africa-China engagement open up a new, alternative space for theorising hybridisation and the transfer of management practices?…”

“…For example, Nkomo (2011) offers a postcolonial and anti-colonial interpretation of representations of 'African' leadership. Yousfi (2013) draws from the post-colonial discourse on hybridity to explain how Tunisian managers modernised management through American methods. Jackson (2012) and Jackson et al (2013) suggest that both post-colonial and dependency theory help explain the prevailing pejorative portrayal of African local or indigenous knowledge.…”

The competing influences of national identity on the negotiation of ideal worker expectations: Insights from the Sri Lankan knowledge work industry

“…As noted previously, the conclusions of existing work presents a contested picture of the way national identity influences responses to work expectations perceived as westernized (Pal, 2016;Rajahyaksha and Smita, 2004;Srinivas, 2013;Tienari, 2005;Yousfi, 2014;Zhang et al, 2006). In this paper we explore how Sri Lankan employees in knowledge intensive industries are influenced by their national identity when negotiating ideal worker expectations in globalized organizations.…”

“…Previous scholarly work highlights how non-western national identities influence ideal worker expectations, leading to divergence (Pal, 2006), perpetuation in the course of resistance (Ailon-Sounday and Kunda, 2003), or adaptation (Yousfi, 2014) of prevailing demands. We go beyond this to highlight the dynamics of reciprocal influence, whereby ideal worker expectations influence how individuals refine expectations associated with their non-western national identity.…”

The dynamics of managing people in the diverse cultural and institutional context of Africa

“…Culture manifests itself in various levels and domains in a way that some cultural elements are stable, whereas others are dynamic (Leung et al, 2005). A recent study by Yousfi (2014) shows that cultural references substantially influence the hybridisation management processes of foreign firms in Africa, such that the former colonial experiences and local cultural context impact on the importation of western management practices. We therefore see a need for further research that captures the complexity of the African cultural context and how this context facilitates or impedes the creation and adaption of management practices, be they indigenous or foreign.…”