National University of Ireland, Dublin

Cross-Cultural Management

An In-Depth Analysis of Zimbabwe

Class: BSC15D

Submitted by:

6th August 2011

Table of Contents | 1.0: Introduction ……........................................................................................................................... | 2.0: Findings………………......................................................................................................................2.1: Political Philosophy and Ideology …………………………………………………………………………2.2: Economic Philosophy and Ideology ……………………………………………………………………….2.3: Geographic Philosophy and Ideology……………………………………………………………………..2.4: History Philosophy and Ideology ………………………………………………………………………….2.5: Language Philosophy and Ideology ……………………………………………………………………….2.6: Religion Philosophy and Ideology …………………………………………………………………………2.7: Social Structure Philosophy and Ideology …………………………………………………………….. | 3.0: Analysis…………………………………………………….………………………………………………………………44.0: Implication........................................................................................................................4 | 5.0: Conclusion...............................................................................................................4 | 6.0: Referencing.................................................................................................................................5 | | |

1.0 Introduction

2.1 Political Philosophy and Ideology
Zimbabwe’s current political type is parliamentary democracy which they had constituted in 21st Dec 1979. Where the parties with the most votes will hold the greatest representation in the parliament forms the government, its leader becoming Prime Minister. The parties in the minority serve in opposition to the majority. The current parties in power is, “Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU PF)” with Robert Mugabe as the chief of state since 1987 and another party lead by Morgan Tsvangirai of the “Movement for democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC)” as the Prime minister.

ZANU PF was formed in 1973 with Robert Mugabe as their leader and Zimbabwe gained their independence in 1980. ZANU PF continued to stay in power till 2008. Zimbabwe political current situation is relatively unstable as ZANU PF had engaged in violent political repression ever since the 2008 elections as there were serious political violence due to competition between the 2 parties.

However, a formation of a cross-party inclusive government in 2009 had reduced the level of political violence and human rights abuse, a power sharing agreement through the global Political Agreement. Nonetheless, there are still political tensions between the 2 parties with violence and intimidation.

2.2 Economic Philosophy and Ideology
Zimbabwe’s economy used to be one of the strongest in Africa however due to corruption, government interferences and miss management of the economy, Zimbabwe has been led to a severe economic crisis and becoming one of the poorest countries in Africa now.

Zimbabwe’s financial system had repeatedly suffered from financial crisis and caused years of hyperinflation, the currency losing its value rapidly, crippling entrepreneurial activity and the country’s economic potential. Not only that, Zimbabwe is faced with other economic problems such as a large external debt burden of up to 6 Billion dollars and a large number of people in poverty without sufficient formal employment.
The main labour force of Zimbabwe is in agriculture with up to 66% and 10% in industry and 24% in services with 3.838million labour force (2010 EST.).

However, Zimbabwe’s economy had recorded a growth in 2010, a first growth in 10 years. The power-sharing government of ZANU PF and MDC had led to some economy improvement through some of policies like eliminating the use of Zimbabwe dollar and removing price controls.

2.3 Geographic Philosophy and Ideology
The Republic of Zimbabwe is located in the southern region of the African continent. It is a land locked country bordered by Zambia on the north, Mozambique on the east, South Africa on the south, and Botswana on the west. Zimbabwe is home to one of the natural wonders of the world’s waterfalls known as the Victoria Falls.

Zimbabwe is the 61st largest country in the world, which is compared to be slightly larger than Japan or Montana. The climate of Zimbabwe is tropical due to large parts of Zimbabwe lie in the southern hemisphere. Its terrain is mostly high plateau, with mountains on the east side. Zimbabwe produces quiet a valuable natural resources including coal, gold, lithium, and platinum group metals. Throughout the year, Zimbabwe still struggle to overcome its environment problems such as deforestation, soil erosion, air and water pollution, and poor mining practices that have led to toxic waste and heavy metal pollution.

2.4 History Philosophy and Ideology
In the early century, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to attempt colonization of south-central Africa. However, it was in 1850s that the first British explorers, colonists, missionaries, and massive flow of foreigners let to the establishment of the territory Rhodesia (now Zambia). In 1888, the area of Southern and Northern Rhodesia was proclaimed as a British sphere of influence. In 1890, the settlement of Salisbury (now Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe) was established through the chartered of the British South Africa Company. It was in 1895 that Rhodesia is officially named after Cecil Rhodes under the British South Africa Company’s administration. In 1923, UK annexed Southern Rhodesia from the [British] South Africa Company.

In 1965, the government unilaterally declared its independence but UK did not recognize the act and demanded for equality against voting for black African majority in the country or the Rhodesia. Finally due to uprising actions, free election is held in 1979. Black nationalist movements were led by Bishop Abel Muzorewa of the African National Congress and Ndabaningi Sithole, who were moderates, and guerrilla leaders Robert Mugabe of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and Joshua Nkomo of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), who advocated revolution (infoplease, 2011). The British Governments formally granted independence to Zimbabwe on April 18, 1980 with Robert Mugabe won a landside victory. Since then, the ethnic group in Zimbabwe are mostly African (98%), followed by Asians (1%), and other white (1%).

Based on Samuel Huntington’s theories of culture, Zimbabwe belongs to Anglo Saxon Civilizations. This is based on the facts that most of the population are christians and influenced by the British people.

2.5 Language Philosophy and Ideology
English is the official language of Zimbabwe but very few (about 2 per cent), mainly white and coloured (white Zimbabwe), speak as the first language. Zimbabwe is located in South Africa where is seized by Bantu group; so that the major population in Zimbabwe (black Zimbabwe) speaks Bantu language. Shona and Ndebele are two major language groups in Bantu. The Maschona people (Shona speakers) have lived in the area the longest so that they are the majority language group with 75 per cent of the population. In the other hand, the Matabele (Ndebele speakers) have just arrived Zimbabwe within the last 150 years and centred in the southwest around Bulawayo, representing about 20 per cent of population.. Moreover, Ndebele is also spoken in Botswana and Zambia which are neighbouring country with Zimbabwe in the west.. In addition, there are other languages spoken in Zimbabwe such as Tonga, Shangaan, and Venda, which are shared with large groups of Tonga in Zambia and Shangaan and Venda in South Africa.

2.6 Geographic Philosophy and Ideology
Christianity is the biggest religion group in Zimbabwe with around 60 and 70 percent of the population belonging to various Christian denominations in which Roman Catholic is the largest (between 17% and 27% of the population). Historically, Christianity, brought into the region by Portuguese traders and Jesuit priests in the late 1500s, has been a dominant religion. In addition, there is a small Muslim community, estimated at less than 1% of the population. They are primarily immigrants from South Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. There are also small numbers of Greek Orthodox, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and atheists. Moreover, similar to other nations in South Africa, in spite of the fact that the nation is overpoweringly Christian, most of the population keeps on having faith, to different extents, on local religions such as indigenous syncretistic religions that mix Christianity and traditional African culture and beliefs. Belief and practice of traditional religions is thought to be quite widespread, as it is sometimes practiced in conjunction with other established belief systems.

Religion plays an important role in human life in Zimbabwe. It has affected the behaviour of people and also caused some serious problems. In particular, Christian churches oppose traditional practices that allow polygamy and refuse the use of modern medicines. Some members of indigenous churches and groups believe in healing through prayer only and refuse to have their children vaccinated. These concepts lead to sexual abuse, spread of HIV/AIDS, and increasing childhood diseases and deaths. In the other hand, the Muslims in this country is just a small number so that there are some issues between them which is mostly complained by Muslims that private employers who refuse to allow them sufficient time to worship at their mosques on Fridays.

2.7 Social Structure Philosophy and Ideology

4.0 Implications

5.0 Conclusion

6.0 Referencing

1) http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/03/23/zimbabwe.elections/index.html 2) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26715920/#.TlV9OV3chvU 3) http://www.economywatch.com/world_economy/zimbabwe/ 4) https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/zi.html 5) (http://www.mapsofworld.com/zimbabwe/culture/language.html 6) (http://www.everyculture.com/To-Z/Zimbabwe.html) 7) (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5479.htm) 8) (http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Zimbabwe-RELIGIONS.html) 9) (http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2005/51503.htm) 10) CIA World Fact Book, 2011. Zimbabwe. [Online] Available at: <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook> [Accessed 20 August 2011]. 11) Infoplease, 2011. Zimbabwe. [Online] Available at: <http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108169.html?pageno=2> [Accessed 20 August 2011].