De-coloniality and Trans-Modernity: Religion in African and Western Management

Part of the distinction between African and Western management theories lies in the positioning of religion. This analysis leads from the premise that reality is the outcome of a struggle between diverse interpretations of religions. Throughout history religions, as systems of meaning, construct centers and margins (Asad, 1983; Wijsen, 2017). The actuality of management sciences demonstrates a discipline in which power relations around the interpretations of management and religions are revealed. In this domain, the African Ubuntu management style has been marginalized by a Western colonial (de-)construction of religion. The central question here is: what is the role of religion in a de-colonial relationship between African and Western management? The paper seeks to argue that religion is a variable of trans-modern management, a connection which is needed for the decoloniality of African and Western modern management concepts.