where cultural ‘groups’ are difficult to define. Also, such theories do not
directly address the dynamics of cross-cultural interaction (Cray and Mallory,
1998) within a complexity of power relationships (Human, 1996), and within
a process of cultural crossvergence that gives rise to myriad hybrid forms of
management and organization. Figure 9.1 summarizes the factors, discussed
above, that need to be understood within the cross-cultural process of
hybridization of management systems in ‘developing’ countries. It is necessary
to understand these processes, and in so doing redefine human resource man-
agement in the context of developing countries. To do this it is first necessary
to look at the post-colonial factors in people management that predominate in
the literature.
3 CURRENT PERCEPTIONS OF HRM IN DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES: THE COLONIAL LEGACY
Descriptions of management in ‘developing’ countries, informed by the
developed–developing world dichotomy, contrast ‘Western’ management styles
involving teamwork, empowerment and participation with the centralized,
bureaucratic, authoritarian styles found in ‘developing’ countries (e.g. Jaeger
and Kanungo, 1990; Blunt and Jones, 1992). However these are mostly repre-
sentative of a colonial heritage, reflecting a theory X style of management
(McGregor, 1960) which generally mistrusts human nature and has a need to
impose controls on workers, allowing little worker initiative and rewarding a
narrow set of skills simply by financial means. This system has been ‘tacked on’
to the society originally by the colonial power (for example in Africa: Carlsson,
1998, and Dia, 1996), and has been perpetuated after independence, perhaps
as a result of vested political and economic interests, or purely because this was
the way managers in the colonial era were trained. Yet as can be seen in Table
9.1, the post-colonial systems that predominate in the literature provide a one-
sided view of the different admixtures of systems that may influence the man-
agement of people in organizations operating within developing countries. We
now briefly review this in relation to the management of people. The alter-
native systems are discussed in subsequent sections of this chapter, within a
consideration of cultural crossvergence of systems.
Post-colonial management systemsAs can be seen in Table 9.1, the main characteristics of organizations in develop-
ing countries are perceived as:
HRM in Developing Countries 225