Management and human values in Nigeria: A theoretical approach

Abstract

The place of human values in organisations today has become a topical issue and has generated robust discussion among value scholars and management practitioners. As competition and rivalry for market leadership have become stiff, organisations have begun to look inwards into evolving ethical and human value-based practices as a form of competitive advantage and in developing an attractive workplace. The realm of management that began with starched devotion to the scientific approach where workers were seen as a means and not the end in the production process and were treated as mechanistic items and economic articles that are to aid the realisation of organisational goals has given way to the human relations and behavioural schools which respected workers,
emphasised the need to motivate them and sought to create an attractive work environment that aimed to achieve a marriage of organizational development with workers’ development. Therefore, focus has consistently shifted towards value-based models of growth in the workplace. Modern organisations require a new corporate model based on ethical practices and human values and organizations in Nigerian must increasingly submit their business processes and operations to align with these global best practices. This paper considers the place of management and human values in Nigeria from a theoretical approach.

Keywords: Management, Values, Human Values, Organisation, Workplace.