The need for new KM Models

According to Dunning (1997, 370) the geographical imbalance between the current 'technology revolution' and the 'population revolution' is a potential time bomb. The wealthiest 12% of the world population controls 85 % of the world's stock of created assets, while the rest owns or controls only 15 % of these assets. An increase of approxamately 50 % of the world population over the next five years will probably occur in the less wealthy part of the world. This imbalance can be addressed by Chinese and Indian economic development and removing the threat of ideological warfare (referring to the war between Islam and the West).

According to Parente (2001) the imbalances in the knowledge economy can be seen in the context of 'new growth models' which can be exogenous or endogenous. The 'exogenous growth model', also known as the 'neo-classical model' is a term that refers to a model of economic growth within the framework of neoclassical economics. A key proposition of neoclassical growth models is that the income levels of poor countries will converge towards the income levels of rich countries. However, since the 1950s, the opposite result has been observed. The developed world appears to have grown at a faster rate than the developing world, the opposite of what is expected according to a prediction of convergence. However, formerly poor countries such as Japan appear to have converged with rich countries, and in the case of Japan actually exceeded the productivity of other countries. However, the model does not take into account that the success of Japan was entrepreneurship and the strength of institutions, which served as catalysts for economic growth. It also does not explain how or why technological progress occurs.
Parente says that these limitations have led to the development of an 'endogenous growth theory', which endogenizes technological progress and knowledge accumulation. Endogenous growth theories usually rely on cycles to desribe an unstable pattern of events in search of equilibruim. Importance is given to the creation of new technologies and human capital. Organisations and individuals have an incentive to be innovative in order to gain an advantage over their competitors, thus improving productivity. The 'endogenous growth theory' has proven no more successful than the exogenous growth theory in explaining the income divergence between the developing and developed worlds. The main failings of these theories is their inability to explain non-convergence, or why some countries are still much richer than others.

Nabudere (2006d) asserts that the creation of ‘new growth models’ that replicate the old models in order to rationalise state intervention and investment cannot be accepted. The idea behind the old growth model that assumed that production functions (land, capital and labour) operated independently in relation to economic growth was wrong. The use of standard economics and ‘development theory’ intended to inform and explain how economic growth was achieved through the three ‘production factors’. Other variables such as social capital and tacit knowledge were ignored. It did not take into account the existence of different forms of ‘capital’ of which finance capital and indigenous knowledge were exploited without compensation. Furthermore, the old economic models were built on a mono-disciplinary approach that placed ‘standard economics’ above other human and social sciences, which demonstrated how science and tacit knowledge co-existed but were ignored or exploited. The recognition of other forms of knowledge is a prerequisite to the emergence of a model that places a premium not only on the stock of knowledge available to an enterprise, but even more on the capacity to learn new ideas.

Nabudere suggests a need for the revamp of educational policy and investment in education towards a more grass rooted ‘learning economy’ that responds to local needs and a culturally relevant ‘knowledge economy,’ to accommodate the pressure originating from the global economy, rooted in the solutions embedded in tacit knowledge and social capital. A new investment policy in education that recognises that knowledge is necessary for production is crucial in policy formulation.

Nabudere concludes that to reconstruct states that reflect the aspirations of Africans, people must consider the developments in the global political economy and link themselves to the positive forces within the global system in order to strengthen their local activities. Learning is no longer concentrated at a single location and scientifically and technologically related learning takes place outside the universities. Nowadays business, communities and several non-academic settings, where groups of people from different disciplines and institutions come together are centres of learning where boundaries that used to exist between academic and non-academic learning is becoming blurred as the ‘excluded middle’ is increasingly included. The 'learning economy' is a crucial aspect of 'knowledge-based economy', with the emphasis on 'learning to learn' in different environments, with a connection between intellectual capital and social capital, a change in organisation towards functional flexibility and training of students on how to learn. Policies must work towards a new convergence, which recognises that knowledge is necessary for production, and that other communities seek interlocking networks of economic and social relationships on globally as Africa moves into a 'learning economy'.

A recent study by the Department of Industrial Psychology, University of Stellenbosch (Du Toit, Engelbrecht and Pooven 2006) revealed that traditional African values, although in congruence with many universal ethical values, place more emphasis upon collectivism, collaboration, caring, dignity and respect. It is argued that these values should underlie a value-based leadership style to enhance team performance in modern organisations through better integration and understanding of a multi-cultural workforce and the management of diversity with a focus on teams. As traditional European and American management concepts do not always provide for the needs of a diverse society in a process of economic and social development, the approach is based on local values, more specifically the value system of Ubuntu. Practicing the social values of Ubuntu in organisations would not only preserve these values in the modern business world, but would also lead to team effectiveness. A leader who has a values-based style of leadership, and who is aware of existing value systems within the team can achieve role modelling. Mbigi and Maree (2005, 117) assert that the creative force of history is not ideology, religion or politics but the way in which people organise work and create value.

The factory system that brought people out of cottage industry and feudal conditions was mass production that brought about the current, mass-consumption civilisation and the mastering of technology. The fame of the USA and the ascent of Japan was the result of mastering mass production and technology. The authors suggest that Africa mastered excellent production techniques and accomplished mass customisation before any other country in the world. Furthermore, African clairvoyants and intellectuals must shift their attention from the politics of resistance to the politics of production. The fascination with European literature must change to fascination with their African roots, which lie in the traditional knowledge practices of Africa. It is only then that Africa will have the confidence to create economic growth. If companies are to be competitive in global markets, they have to learn to harness the collective will, intelligence and energy of their people by creating enterprising communities through the canonising of Ubuntu. They have to select the best business practices and then create team practices that are in harmony with the values of Ubuntu, which means encouraging people to express themselves through the group.

According to the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) some societies are marked by isolation, scientific marginalisation, extremely unstable material conditions, political repression, a devastating brain drain and lack of academic freedom. The challenge is to nurture, develop and sustain a productive, highly motivated community of social science researchers, transcending disciplinary, gender and generational barriers. A further challenge is the strengthening of the institutional basis of knowledge production by developing programmes of collaboration with other centres of social research in Africa whether they are national or (sub-) regional, university-based or independent. Moreover, in order to produce knowledge, numerous scientific activities and tools, whose value and impact are universally recognised, must be developed. These include:

• The publishing of high-quality documents, books, reference works, monographs, working papers, journals and periodicals.

• Development of training and publications programmes.
• Regional and international research programmes.
• Skilled individuals brought together in a diverse and productive intellectual community.
• Scientific data banks put at the disposal of the research community.
• Doctoral theses sponsored and brought to completion.
• Strengthen the production of knowledge capacity about Africa by Africans.

(CODESRIA, 2006).

This work is (c)opyright to Dr Dries Velthuizen African Wisdom site and is used with permission.