HEC-Ulg School Management

Intercultural Studies
Leadership

Ndeye Ndieme Salimata NIANE

Leadership in Senegal The leader of the village Senegal is a country with a culture of high distance of power. This culture is more observed in villages with the leader of the village. His naming in national language Wolof, borom deuk-bi translated literally as the owner (" borom ") of the village (" deuk ")", reports powers and place of this latter in the local collective imagination and in the reality. The leader is the soul and the spokesman of the village. In the village, he is the guard of the goods and the agent of the custom. The respect for the custom is one of its essential responsibilities because one of the important roles of the village headman is to make observe the prescriptions of the custom. The chef is a character who represents the power in the eyes of his subjects because of its sacred role. He is a judge and as such, he arbitrates conflicting people. To administer the village, the village headman leans on the advice of the notables. The village chief performs almost all the higher functions. The chief function is usually hereditary. In Senegal, people pay a lot of respect to old people. Having a culture of high power distance, lead us to say or think that "Old people do never lie, they do mistakes and mistakes are done by everybody." Hierarchy is not only linked to status of people, but also to their age. The leader of district We also find this village headman's principle in the city with the leader of district appointed by the local residents. The profile of the leader of district is a man of more than 50 years and generally they are retired or are unemployed. The consideration of caste or ethnicity may have an influence. The head of selected districts must master the influential networks of the central government and may even be in a position of strength in front of Mayor which theoretically it depends. The district leader exercises authority over all the populations surveyed in the district, collect taxes, ensure harmony and social cohesion, respect for religious tolerance and customary practice, advocacy citizens and communities in their dealings with government and third parties. As such, the district leader has the power to reconcile the parties in customary, civil and commercial matters and he is an agent, actor and partner development. In case the district leader is appointed by the administration, it will not be perceived as working for the general interest and capacity to mobilize the population will be low.

The leadership in the brotherhoods Senegal counts 95 % of Muslims and knows various brotherhoods among which 2 bigger are "Tidianisme" and "Mouridisme". These two brotherhoods group include persons aiming at the brotherly mutual aid and to promote the Muslim belief. Each brotherhood is headed by a caliph from the founding family. They are considered model and Islamic spiritual leader. They dedicate their lives to teaching the Quran and are known for their shrewdness, their generosity and wisdom. Their prayers and their advice are sought by the biggest of the country. Leadership in Organizations

Most of the leaders (in power or companies) are subject to social pressures (family, ethnicity, brotherhood). They take off their shoes to their leadership responsibilities, establishing intense relationships with their employees. They often succumb to ethnic solidarity to enhance their power within an entity (griots ...). Relationships with people are preferred rather than performance. Being a society with strong oral traditions, leaders tend to retain information and manage it so parsimonious, thus leading to confusion between the reporting relationships and personal relationships. Senegal, like most African countries is also marked by corruption, to establish a leadership position, some managers are obliged to use questionable practices to more popular and easier access to some services. In Western countries "time is money", so it is important for leaders to get followers to achieve a specific objective at a given time. In Senegal and in Africa in general the concept of time is not the same in the West. It is circular in Africa and linear in the West. It means that in Europe for example, "You can waste time: time not used is lost." While in Africa, "whatever happens, time is never lost because time is a loop, it will come back and it therefore serves to nothing to run. This entails an approach to life more relaxing, but not always easy to manage when you come from another culture. This is why most organizations in Senegal, the chatter is at an appointment at any time between employees and managers. The logic is that "each passing day belongs to himself, tomorrow belongs to tomorrow and not going further. Projection in time is a risky concept that means nothing. "