Assessing Managerial Work in Senegal: Do Western Models Apply?

Major international organizations involved in development assistance have asserted that the development of non-Western countries - those of Africa in particular - is highly dependent upon their assimilation of Western management techniques. The applicability of these techniques, however, remains the subject of debate in the management and public administration literature. This article attempts to resolve this debate partially by investigation the degree to which the roles of management that were identified by Mintzberg in the US and asserted to be "universal" also describe the nature of managerial work in Senegal, a newly developing African country, regardless of gender, level in the organization, and organizational ownership type. Surprisingly strong support for the 'universality' hypothesis is found, with one important exception.