Revista Internacional de Economia e Ciências de Gestão

Why do Management Theories Fail? Reasons and Solutions: A Perspective of African Context

Abstract

Akpor-Robaro MOM

The paper is a discourse of why management theories fail, particularly in the African environment, and how to make them work in the context of Africa. The paper notes that most of the management theories are foreign to African environment and are inappropriate to African situations. It posits that a major reason management theories fail in Africa, particularly, is because they are applied indiscriminately without being circumstance/environment contingent. It therefore recommends that to make theories work in Africa, management theories must be indigenized, but beyond that, such indigenous theories must be circumstance contingent and managers must use them in a circumstance contingent way. The high points of the paper are that it brings to bear the arguments in the contingency theory of management and the relevance of the theory in management in Africa in contemporary times.