At the government level and among corporations, business tends to be formal and very much relationship-based. The business community is, due to the relatively small size of the economy, completely dominated by government, but there is a thriving private sector, composed mostly of Batswana, including many of Indian origin and a considerable proportion of expatriates.
The workforce is almost exclusively Batswana, whose interests are cared for by extensive, modern labor legislation that controls working hours, minimum wages, leave (including maternity leave), safety and health issues, and so on. There are also nascent trade union organizations of varying effectiveness.
For many years after Botswana became independent it suffered from a chronic shortage of skilled personnel in every conceivable field. As far as government was concerned, in those early days, anyone who had a degree of any sort was guaranteed a job in the new administration; school diplomas were also rare and much sought after. Now, some forty years after independence, many of the government’s first recruits are still employed and some have reached very senior positions, keeping with them the values and traditions of their times. Batswana refer to such people as “Moswa o eme,” a phrase used to describe the big, old, dead trees that they leave standing in their fields, it being harder to remove them than to let them remain where they are! Such individuals, when encountered, will not respond to the flurry and hurry that is sometimes the way of modern business. They must be treated with quiet respect, tolerated, and not shown up, for they will be powerful, well-connected, and well-respected. Whatever the cost, they call the shots; you will dance to their tune.
In public spaces in a business environment, where one is on show, the emphasis will be on politeness, formality, and, particularly, on correct procedure. A receptionist will ask your business and invite you to sit while she locates the person you have come to see. Either you will be directed to that person’s office or they will come to meet you. The actual meeting will take place either in a convenient meeting room or in the individual’s office. Unless the matter is very brief you will be offered tea or coffee. The coffee will almost always be instant, and the tea will either be a standard variety or Rooibos, a very popular herbal tea. Often the milk will be powdered. Handshakes precede and follow such meetings.
It sometimes seems as if Batswana are professional meeting holders: it is easy to get the impression that meetings dominate all other kinds of economic activity. If, for example, one is trying to speak to a particular individual by telephone, it’s very likely that the person will be “in a meeting.” What that actually means obviously varies, but it may cover any activity ranging from a legitimate formal meeting to slipping out to do some shopping. That aside, however, Batswana do get involved in a great many meetings. The number, duration, and frequency of meetings, especially in the public sector, has been raised almost to an art form. Meetings are often prolonged by the belief that all must have their say, regardless of whether the point being made has already been made, perhaps more than once already.
While getting ideas and debating options is obviously wise, it can happen that a meeting is protracted and the subjects discussed trivial. Sometimes meetings appear to provide a cover for lack of experience, judgment, and self-confidence, and help to create a comfortable feeling of shared responsibility.
A Prayerful Meeting
It is not unusual for someone to suggest that, “This meeting should start with a prayer.” There will be a mumbled murmur of assent, and the speaker will pronounce a short prayer. Once a brave soul had the temerity to question this, and ask, “What about any Muslims, Buddhists, agnostics, or other religions that might be present?” This set off a forty-two-minute debate on whether there should be a prayer, in what religion, and what to do about the nonreligious present. No resolution to this debate was in sight when (thankfully) one individual stood up, unasked, softly pronounced a short payer under his breath, and sat down again. The meeting moved on.
A related issue is the matter of leaving messages to call back for those “in meetings.” This can be extremely frustrating, as often the message is not written down, not written down properly, or not passed on to the individual concerned; or, more rarely, the individual does not bother to return the call. Leaving messages is not a dependable method of making contact with another.
As indicated elsewhere (see this page), attitudes toward meetings and appointments are not what one might expect. Appointments are routinely cancelled, forgotten completely, or changed at the last minute. It is essential to be prepared for this eventuality, so, to avoid wasted time and effort, it is advisable to confirm every appointment in advance—not only the day before, but also a few hours before.
Batswana themselves are very particular about dress in the business situation. Smartness, style, and careful grooming are seen as important, and men will almost invariably wear suits and ties. As elsewhere, as one moves away from the larger corporate entities there is less and less formality and, at the manufacturing level, for example, anything goes. Batswana, however, have very clear perceptions about the links between appearance, status, and importance—important people and important events. This is partly driven by traditional values—one must show respect—but it is also about status and what other people might think of you. For example, no Motswana would go to a funeral in anything but his or her best clothes; he would not dream of visiting a Permanent Secretary in anything but a smart suit and tie, and would always want to look his best in public.
For a people whose traditional lives were, until relatively recently, regulated by the seasons and the daily passage of the sun, being punctual, or being concerned about time, does not now appear to have the highest priority. Having a different view about the importance and management of time is probably one of the greatest hurdles that visiting foreigners must overcome. It is very unusual that anything starts precisely on time. Generally speaking, meetings start late, and people often arrive later still. Transport difficulties may well help to account for this, but it is perfectly normal for all kinds of events to start late. Weddings and funerals, for example, may run as much as an hour or two behind schedule; concerts and shows can be relied upon to start at least ten minutes late.
Better Late Than Never: A Caution for Visitors!
It is the widespread habit in Botswana to refer to a deceased person as “Late”—the late Mr. Somole, for example. It is also an equally widely used habit to employ the word late in its more usual sense. This can lead to some blackly amusing situations: “Where is Monica? We need to get this meeting started.” “Ah! Monica, sadly, she is late!” One needs to tread cautiously here until one discovers exactly what kind of “lateness” is being spoken of.
Lunch is by far the most usual means of formal entertaining in the business world. Business breakfasts are rare but do occasionally happen, especially for quite large groups being addressed by a visiting speaker. Lunches tend to follow morning board meetings. In the case of large-scale national and international conferences, all government employees and invited guests will expect to be provided with tea in the morning and afternoon as well as lunch and something (always nonalcoholic) to drink with it. Entertaining at home is unusual except among the expatriate community.
Situations involving confrontation are extremely rare among Batswana, because the risks are seen to be very high: confrontation might spark anger, resentment, or resistance. Anger and irritation are nearly always very well controlled and concealed. Batswana try to avoid any kind of criticism that they sense will lead to confrontation. It is not part of the culture to display these or any other emotions, apart from humor, too readily, and this fact has some interesting consequences.
Direct criticism using pointed, blunt terms would not be well received. Terms such as “fool,” “foolish,” or “idiot” would be taken very seriously. Using bad language at the same time would add insult to injury. Batswana are not used to it: it is not the “Botswana Way,” and such behavior is anathema to the people of this country. It would not provoke a similar response, but would be more likely to cause a deep, resentful silence, and might set in motion a long-term and hidden vengeful retaliation.
Perhaps most pervasively, wanting to avoid confrontation impacts adversely on the general quality of supervision (see below), while, on the positive side, it makes for a peace-loving community and nation where people make an effort to get on with each other without hostility and aggression getting in the way.
In the field of management, supervisory skills are not a strong point. Getting people to do what they are supposed to do often involves, at one level or another, a face-to-face situation where the failure to meet agreed upon performance standards is discussed openly and frankly. Elsewhere, this is not normally a difficult situation to manage, but to the Motswana supervisor it appears threatening, as he or she will be accusing another of not performing adequately and, no matter how this is done or how things are said, it will be seen by both parties as being critical and confrontational.
The tendency is to avoid such a situation in the first place by not using specifics, by staying away from hard facts, by avoiding accusation, and by relying instead on implication and allusion to convey meaning. As a consequence, the lack of clarity often confuses the issues further and makes subsequent follow-up even more difficult. Management training is available and appropriate courses and workshops are run constantly; it is, however, extremely difficult to overcome entrenched values and attitudes, and the likelihood is that changes will be generational in timescale.
As we have seen, the status of women in Botswana has changed dramatically over the last four decades. Once the underdogs, virtually chattels, and practically owned, with very few rights compared to men, women are now increasingly independent and making a very significant contribution to public and private life. Today, women play a high-profile role in the management of the country’s economy, both in government and in the private sector. To its great credit the government has sought to improve the level of gender equality, and there are several women in responsible and senior positions. In all sectors women are being recognized and, while the target of absolute equality may not yet have been reached, progress toward that goal is very good. There are many women, young and old, who are extremely impressive, and it is encouraging that among the younger people, especially those with good education and some years of work experience gained outside the country, there is promise of many more to come.
As a very general comment it may be true to say that, perhaps because of their past, women today are seen by many as hardworking, reliable, consistent, trustworthy, and preferable to men for many positions.
The general quality of business presentations is not very sophisticated. The flip chart and overhead projector are definitely on the way out, and are being replaced by poorly conducted Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, upon which reliance is sadly excessive.
A general failure to appreciate the value and nuances of individual presentations, together with a lack of confidence in even considering undertaking such a thing, often leads to situations where the speaker will put up a slide and then carefully, word for word, read aloud to his audience exactly what they can read for themselves.
Interestingly, Batswana are extremely good listeners, and pay close attention to the spoken word. The conventional markers indicating attentive listening also apply in Botswana: eye contact, body language, questions, and so on.
The negotiation style is essentially Western, and there are only one or two things to note. It is more important than usual to ensure that one is speaking with decision makers, as opposed to those many individuals in the management line who would like to be considered as decision makers, but who, in fact, have no such authority. In a business community that has a fairly centralized decision-making ethos, it is important to get as close as possible to the actual decision maker.
Another very African approach in a negotiating situation is not to state an opening price or position but rather to ask what a potential buyer is prepared to offer. This always starts the buyer off on the wrong foot, because, if he does make an offer, it tells the seller what he is prepared to pay and leaves the field open for the seller to negotiate the price upward. One has to be prepared to counter this strategy by insisting on some indication of price from the seller.
At the government level, planning for the country at large is routinely and successfully carried out with regular five-year national development plans. Similar planning processes permeate the infrastructure of local government and, looking at the success of the country as a whole, one is easily persuaded that planning is effectively done. At that level, so it appears to be. It is at the micro level that performance is not as good. Much planning is marred by inexperience both of what is being planned for and the appropriate quality standards associated with it. Naturally there is resentment at having to use expatriate expertise and a strong desire to have a task done locally. Poor supervision (see above) also tends to exacerbate shortcomings in planning.
The strength of a contract depends very much on the level of business at which it is made. The common law on contract has its roots in Roman–Dutch law and is standard across southern Africa: the law is and can be enforced. Contracts associated with major infrastructure projects, for example, are written to international standards and are respected, and, if necessary, able to be enforced. Having said that, however, does not mean that all contracts are respected.
It is, for example, customary to rent a house on a lease, say for a year or two years, but tenants will routinely break the lease, often without notifying the landlord. While the lease certainly could be enforced through the legal system, one can be certain that it will take a very long time—perhaps a year or more—the process will be costly, and the defendant, at the end of it all, will have prepared himself well to show that he has no means. In these circumstances it is usually better not to bother.
Shopkeepers are generally good at replacing items that turn out to be damaged or faulty, but returning something because one has changed one’s mind would require considerable powers of persuasion!
In common with management philosophy across the world there is, in Botswana, increasing emphasis on the idea of teams and teamwork. It is a philosophy well suited to the Batswana, who traditionally favored unanimity, cohesion, and a lack of dissension as important survival strategies. That said, teams need more than agreement and togetherness. Taking personal responsibility for one’s work and motivation are new and somewhat threatening ideas for many. It is widely believed that the “boss” is almost wholly responsible for an individual’s motivation, and there is often resistance to the idea that the individual himself has any control over or responsibility for it.
There is an obstacle in professional management in Botswana that visitors need to be aware of. They may come from a country with a “driven” work ethic, where productivity levels are honed to a high level of effectiveness, and where they have been accustomed to setting clear goals and getting unequivocal results on time, on target, as expected. This is not likely to be their Botswana experience.
Although the aims will be the same, the methods by which they will be achieved will be different, and the quality of the staff working on the project will also be different. This will almost certainly produce a result somewhat less than expected or, if the expected results are obtained, it will be at the cost of much greater management input, effort, and time.
If there is a clarion call that rings through the corridors of the commercial world it is, “Why can’t I find people who will take the initiative?” The call accurately reflects the current situation: it is difficult to find people who will use their initiative. Traditionally for Batswana, consensus, agreement, cohesion have all been vital elements. To stand out, to be different from the group, is to risk becoming a “tall poppy,” to risk being seen as different, as putting yourself above others as smarter or cleverer, and to risk, as a result, the resentment and antagonism of one’s peers.
It is also true that the freedom to act allowed to individuals in a relatively uneducated and inexperienced workforce is often strictly limited, and so it is difficult for people to find the opportunity to use their initiative. It is such experiences that give rise to calls from the workforce for “Empowerment,” “Participation,” and “Consultation.” Of course, there are many Batswana who are extremely competent and it therefore behoves the foreign manager to study his staff carefully and delegate with care, perhaps allowing small but incremental opportunities for individual growth.
Batswana are not known for their speed in decision making, especially at government level, where procrastination is common. However, it is a characteristic that, when a negative decision is made, it will not be reversed. It is considered extremely bad form to say no and then change your mind.
It is also true that, because of the nature and education levels of the general working population, the level at which a decision is made is surprisingly high in an organization: the tendency toward centralization is thus quite marked, even for very simple decisions and questions. For this reason it is always good practice to test first whether the person you are speaking to has the authority to make the decision you require rather than to rely on your assumption that that is the case. Failure to do so will result in your repeating your request to three or four different people before getting to the one person who can give an answer.
For some decades after independence, economic growth in Botswana was led by government which set about using its immense wealth to develop the economy. This produced years of extraordinary growth as offices, roads, railways, airports, schools, and all the apparatus of a modern state were gradually put in place. To a large extent that has now been achieved and so, for this and other reasons, government spending has fallen.
Growth, however, is still needed to absorb the never-ending stream of graduates from secondary schools and the country’s university, and so it is that huge government resources are now available to stimulate nongovernment, entrepreneurial, economic growth. There are a number of government agencies that aim at attracting foreign investment and facilitating the establishment of foreign businesses in Botswana. At the same time there are many incentives for citizens to take entrepreneurial initiatives and start developing their own businesses.
Although this has been said before in this book, it is always important to remember how far Botswana has come in the last forty years. The country has been on an incredibly steep learning curve, has achieved great things, and its people are still desperately keen to learn and to go on improving. It is largely these facts that make foreigners want to come back time and time again and, in many cases, to settle here.