Cultivating Personal and Organizational Effectiveness: Spiritual Insights from African Proverbs, by Chiku Malunga, approaches the development of personal and organisational efforts from an often-ignored perspective, exploring the role played by human spirituality. The modern focus on “the power of the mind” is so popular, the author argues, that this way of thinking has eclipsed the role the human spirit plays on such developments. This spiritual approach to development is examined by thoroughly breaking down what the human spirit is, and how it works, drawing heavily on elements of African culture. Proverbs are broken down, and re-shaped under the perspective of organisational and personal development, in examination of the effectiveness of human spiritual thinking. Malunga argues that the people-orientated structure of African culture, especially the constituents of human relationships in the philosophy of Ubuntu – which asserts that spiritual health and growth are dependent on human interactions – are compatible with more modern ideas of organisational development. Using this focus, characteristics of the human spirit are examined to inspire alternative perspectives of how effective personal and organisational development can be attained.
The first eight of this book's ten chapters breakdown the qualities of the human spirit in great detail, covering the difficulties spiritual thinking faces when integrated with more rigorous scientific procedures. The qualities inherently interrelated to the spiritual self are also discussed: such as identity, consciousness, the power of spiritual conviction, and stages of development in spiritual growth. These explanations are facilitated by analysing anecdotal evidence, as well as case studies of spiritual individuals (Martin Luther King Jr, Mahatma Gandhi) and African sourced folklore and proverbs. The final two chapters of this book are used to parlay this information into a personal and organisational development context.
The author's experience with the subject matter is clear, and Cultivating Personal and Organizational Effectiveness follows similar, earlier works which apply this characteristic approach to African spiritual thought to other areas in books such as: Understanding Organizational Sustainability through African Proverbs, and Understanding Organizational Leadership through Ubuntu. The work in Cultivating Personal and Organizational Effectiveness brings the profuse areas of individual and group effectiveness development a new perspective, which deepens the strength of the field, and aids the development of more culturally integrated theories and applications.
The use of proverbs, and case studies of particular individuals, aids the ecological validity of this author's arguments; however, despite the full two pages of references, scientific references are somewhat sparse. The structure of the chapters is such that the first eight take a meandering path through elements of human spirituality commenting only loosely on organisational efforts, with two short chapters on the actual development of personal and organisational effectiveness bluntly fit in before the books end. Despite this leisurely progression from topic to topic, the structure within each individual chapter is meticulously crafted with relevant subtitles and diagrams, producing chapters which read like well-developed essays on individual components of human spirituality.
The book certainly introduces a way of thinking not commonly prevalent in the modern western culture, the culture in which most personal and organisational theories and practices are developed. This examination of African culture and spirituality expands the wealth of ideas available to researchers, increasing their perspectives of what truly constitutes a “human” approach, which crosses cultural and socio-political boundaries.
That being said, this book is more of an examination of spirituality and self-hood than a guide of how spirituality can be integrated to modern organisational and personal developments. Whilst the dominant focus on spirituality could be seen as a strength, outlining in sufficient detail the universal nature of spirituality and its varying dimensions, it can also easily be viewed as a weakness, drawing into question how well these general insights can be implemented into highly specific theories and applications.
The book seems to exist to bridge the converted and the cause – but those without an existing deific relationship may find it difficult to relate to the commentary, which seems written with the assumption of a present spiritual doctrine on the part of the reader on which understanding can be drawn. This seems, in part, a consequence of the subject matter, but more so caused by the author's presentation. The content lacks an air of objectivity, instead bringing an intimate feeling of personal involvement. This rings true of the overall people-orientated message, and certainly Malunga's approach is anything but hypocritical in this regard; but the presumption of a pre-existing understanding of the nuances of faithful life, on the part of the reader, may conflict with those who do not share this state. Those who lack a religious faith are candidly, but briefly, described by Malunga as having difficulty accessing spiritual understanding. The approach this book takes, whilst containing depth and multitudes, may not be easily compatible with scientifically minded researchers, whose own experiences and standards stand in stark dissent to Malunga's more abstract, holistic, and anecdotal presentation.
In conclusion, Cultivating Personal and Organizational Effectiveness: Spiritual Insights from African Proverbs outlines the depth and diversity of the human spirit strongly, but in terms of relating this to existing theories and applications of personal and organisational development performs less well. Whilst the broadest concepts of personal and organisational development are covered, the book may benefit from a deeper examination of practical application strategies. Although the intricacies of the human spirit are certainly broken down in a deep and characteristically multi-faceted approach, the way in which this relates to organisational and personal effectiveness may appear insufficient for a reader interested more in the concepts of effectiveness, than concepts of spirituality. Whilst an informative read for students of spiritual thinking, the book is perhaps less suited to more academically stringent pursuers of personal and organisational development.
