How we go out of our way to reinforce the logic of colour

When writers want to avoid controversy, they pick neutral subjects such as ‘Why the Sky is Blue’ or ‘Why 73 is the Chuck Norris of Numbers’. That’s the safe ground – and there are many who have built successful careers by mastering the art of writing without saying anything.

But when they want to explore subjects such as race relations, then they have to learn to be keen listeners. So much can be at stake.

On the day that my article on workplace racism was published I met a prominent HR and organization transformation expert and I asked him what he thought of my article. Having worked with banks, telcos, and other multi-cultural organizations, I felt that his insight into the corporate dynamics of the Tanzanian organizations was invaluable.

One of the organizations he helped transform had incurred significant losses in the 2000s. The management ascribed the losses to theft and integrity issues by employees. Ultimately, they resorted to a wholesale importation of expatriates.

When he joined, he found the organization with over 15 expatriates and the trend at the company was that some specific roles were identified for foreigners only – usually those with the ‘melanin advantage’. When there was a vacancy, some brought their friends even before the recruitment process was over. And a good number of them were not qualified for their positions. However, despite these issues and their relatively higher cost of maintenance, the expatriates turned the organization around. In so doing they confirmed the opinion that to get results you have to address the ‘Tanzanian thing’.

We are all aware of the ‘Tanzanian thing’, don’t we? You know – you go to a shop selling mobiles and try to get a discount from an elderly Mhindi but it’s just not your day. But, when he moves to the next customer, his Mswahili assistant approaches you and asks you for your number and promises to get the phone out for you at the price that you want! Very Tanzanian, right?

Next time you are in a supermarket looking for a TV, someone passes you a message that if you wait in your car, he will get you the TV at a significant discount. You wonder how anyone can get a 55 inches TV out of a shop, but why care – it’s zali la mentali after all, huh? You head to the parking lot fast. The Tanzanian thing.

But the business owners are not fools – soon you will start to see them recruiting more and more from India and Pakistan and not through local recruitment agencies. One super wealthy man is working on another multi-billion shillings project and the people running the project are, you guessed it, not locals. Their color prejudices, if any, are amplified by their experiences.

The mistrust runs deep and goes both ways too.

Think of this guy who has worked for Wahindi businesses for his whole career. ‘You see, Charles’, he usually argues, ‘They don’t care for you at all, only for what you can do for them, blah blah blah’. That’s not a very uncommon thing to hear, is it? What baffles me is how anyone can work for or with people that he mistrusts so much for so long! This is what creates a mercenary mindset leading to the reinforcement of the logic of color.

It’s no secret that we inherited an unequal system from our colonial masters who segregated people physically and socially based on race. Where one lived, the appointments one got, the skills that one was exposed to, and access to finance were all predicated on race.

Being of African descent meant having no access to certain locations. But being a Mhindi or a Mzungu would give you access to the natives’ zones – especially if there were good opportunities for business there.

The problem is when you are used to have your hands in every pot, an argument that the same privileges should be extended to others may appear hostile to you. It is interesting to see people reacting because you are giving others benefits they used to get exclusively! When this is coupled with the ‘Tanzanian thing’, prejudice becomes institutionalized. Ultimately, everyone pays a high price for the status quo.

The author of the book The Trust Factor and a business turn-around specialist, John O. Whitney, claims that up to half of the work done in organizations is wasted and half of the workforce is unnecessary because organizations are complicated by the need for excessive controls as a result of mistrust. Instead of meaningful information, you have useless reports. Instead of developing a learning organization, you have a presumption of incompetence across the ranks.

Mistrust leads to reduced productivity, increased marginalization of some people, and limited opportunities for racial cross-fertilization. The more controls you have, the less control you have, wrote Whitney.

These are some of the issues the HR expert observed and set to address them. Today, the number expatriates has decreased to less than 5 and the organization performs better. What did this expert do?

We will examine how he went about addressing the logic of color to bring back the trust to acquire local talent at managerial levels in later articles.