Ubuntu is an African concept of 'humanity towards others'.

Ubuntu is an African concept of 'humanity towards others'.

African culture is very exotic and different to the western culture, their background, history, believes, traditions, believes, values and specially the way they see life are definitely a legacy to the world, a clear example of this is the philosophy they came up with, it is called UBUNTU” and it consists in the importance they give to the relations we have with each other, it is based on the community life and the sense of carrying for the other; all of this can be summarized in a phrase they use: "umnu tungumntu ngabanye", it means that “a person is a person trhough others” (Mangaliso, P. Mzamo, (2001) Builgind competitive advantage from ubuntu: Management lessons froms South Africa, Academy of Management Executive, vol 15 no 3, pag 24).


The word ubuntu comes from the Zulu and Xhola languages, and can be roughly translated as "humanity towards others." Ubuntu embodies all those virtues that maintain harmony and the spirit of sharing among the members of a society. It implies an appreciation of traditional beliefs, and a constant awareness that an individual’s actions today are a reflection on the past, and will have far-reaching consequences for the future. A person with ubuntu knows his or her place in the universe and is consequently able to interact gracefully with other individuals. One aspect of ubuntu is that, at all times, the individual effectively represents the people from among whom he or she comes, and therefore tries to behave according to the highest standards and exhibit the virtues upheld by his or her society.

During the 1990s, the concept of ubuntu was adapted as an ideology by post-apartheid South Africa, as a vehicle to bring about harmony and cooperation among its many racial and ethnic groups. The ethical values of ubuntu include respect for others, helpfulness, community, sharing, caring, trust and unselfishness. Ubuntu underscores the importance of agreement or consensus, and gives priority to the well-being of the community as a whole. (New world encyclopedia, 2008)

This theory gives the proper importance to the social level and involves many of all the values that the world seems to have forgotten and that if they were implemented in organizations people would perform their tasks easier because there would be more harmony, everyone would count on the support of the partners and they would love their jobs so much more. Every person needs to be feel part of something, the employees, for example need to feel their bosses care about them, managers should hear them and to care about their feelings and their problems to make them feel they are part of a family, not as part of the coompanies system
It is also important for companies, specially if they are globalizing, to learn from every culture and to include new points of view (if they are positive) in order to evolve and be more competitive, and hence make more profits, so the change is not only internal, but also external.

Bibliografía
New world encyclopedia. (6 de june de 2008). Recuperado el 24 de September de 2010, de Ubuntu: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ubuntu_(philosophy)