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The knowledge management (KM) models in the African organisations are influenced by the interplay between human agents from diverse societies whose experiences, values, contextual information and insights that are perceived controversial in Africa. The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the indigenous assumptions related to knowledge and its management in Africa and the perceived contradictions in the existing models by adopting the Ubuntu philosophy.

The authors used a perspective lens to examine the existing management practices and propose an integrated framework that is appropriate for the utilisation of the Ubuntu epistemic knowledge management practices and at the same time provide highlights on the perceived paradoxes and how they can be managed to improve knowledge management and people management in African societies.

The inductive posteriori knowledge approach is perceived to be dynamic, applicable and more desirable in the African societies as it allows organisational managers and their work teams to embrace knowledge construction, dependent on experiences in form of stories and metaphors that demonstrate successful work samples. The Ubuntu dramaturgical knowledge management approach adds value to the posteriori knowledge by refining the rhetoric stories and metaphors into empirical performance scripts that are tailored to the audiences’ expectations.

The paper adapted a perspective view to explain knowledge management; therefore, it was not possible to provide empirical data on the metaphysical and dramaturgical elements that are assumed to influence knowledge management in Africa. However, based on theoretical analysis, the authors have proposed a coherent knowledge management framework based on the interaction between posteriori KM assumptions and Ubuntu dramaturgy.

Ubuntu ideology has been appreciated since it treasures interdependency and interconnectedness among people. Therefore, collaborating partners working in Africa would be expected to act as interdependent agents, whereby this interdependency is perceived as an integral part of the knowledge management process. The proposed Ubuntu knowledge management model is grounded on the posteriori knowledge approach which assumes that experience is the source of knowledge. Through social interactions and experiences sharing, organisational members can create new processes, innovative technologies and dynamic context based performance scripts that can drive productivity.

The authors concluded that a coherent framework that is tailored to social interactions and contextual needs of the people and their communities can promote productive knowledge and knowledge management systems in the African contexts. Moreover knowledge management requires one to acknowledge the complexity of Ubuntu ideology in a sense that it recognises the past experiences and contributions of the diverse individuals in the same community/organisation.

This paper focused on examining how the Ubuntu philosophy can promote knowledge development and management strategies that are tailored to social and contextual needs of the organisations in Africa to curtail the perceived paradoxes in the existing knowledge management models.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the gaps in some existing competence frameworks and investigate the power of reflection on one’s behavior to improve the process of the competences development.

The authors used a correlational design and a quasi-experimental non-equivalent group design involving a baseline assessment (pre-test) of participants’ ability to reflect on their actions instead of applying the standardized competences. Participants were placed in a treatment group and control groups. The treatment group was exposed to a coaching intervention in reflection and operant competence development. Six months later, the authors conducted post-test assessment to assess effect size caused by the coaching intervention regarding the treatment group’s ability to reflect and transform standardized competences into operant competences.

The results showed that reflection and operant competences correlates significantly. Second, there was a larger effect size between the pre-test and post-test assessment results for the treatment group implying change in reflective practice and acquisition of operant competences.

The results demonstrated the need to utilize reflection as a component that will add value to the existing competence frameworks.

The research adds value to the existing competence development frameworks by introducing reflective practice among managers to create competences that are compatible with the operational context.

The purpose of this study is essentially to examine the contribution of reflection in providing a stronger association between explicit competences and role clarity when reflection is used as a means of articulating competences (knowledge, skills and attitudes).

The study employed a correlational survey design and targeted 223 employees in managerial positions of nine districts' local governments in Uganda and primarily used a structured questionnaire.

The research confirmed a significant positive relationship between reflection and explicit competences, showing the importance of articulating tacit knowledge to develop explicit competences that would increase role clarity.

There are seemingly other confounding factors that may enhance reflection and explicit competences such as community participation in goal setting which need to be considered in future studies.

This paper adds to the understanding of the consequences of routinely utilizing competences without concern on whether they will leads to the desired results. It introduces the concept of reflection; an approach for articulating competences explicitly to increase role clarity.

The study recommends district managers to formally engage in continuous reflection on tacit competences in order to minimise errors and increase role clarity during service delivery.