US State Department: How Not to Manage a Bureaucracy

 The New York Times published on 2 December 2025 an article titled "U.S. Diplomats Report Broken Morale and Abandoned Careers" by Michael Crowley.

A recent American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) survey of 2,100 State Department diplomats reported that 98 percent believe workplace morale has fallen since the Trump administration took power in January.  Only 1 percent reported an improvement in the situation in the State Department.  

CNN covered the same report on 3 December 2025 in an article titled "Trump Administration Changes Have Left US Diplomats Demoralized and Less Able to Do Their Jobs, Report Says" by Jennifer Hansler.

CNN quotes the president of AFSA as saying: "The Foreign Service--the very institution tasked with navigating our global interests--is being dismantled in real time."  Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised State Department personnel when he first arrived.  There is now a belief he has turned his back on them.  

What China Learns from African Managerial Practices

 The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace published in October 2022 a study entitled "What China Is Learning from West African Managerial Practices" by Abdoulkadre Ado, University of Ottawa.

Investing in African joint ventures has enabled Chinese cultural adaptation by emphasizing training programs in languages commonly spoken in Africa, embracing local management styles, and assimilating some local practices.

African governments, businesses, and corporate managers should explore further ways to incentivize Chinese government decisionmakers and Chinese businesses to use joint ventures more often as the vehicle for their investments in Africa.  They should also encourage Chinese organizations to embrace the use of local languages, especially for conducting business, and to train more Chinese to use African managerial philosophies that have proven to respect local values while being effective in African markets. 

Labor Issues Likely to Be China's Long-term Nemesis in Africa

 The China-Africa Project posted on 27 July 2021 a commentary titled "Chinese Companies 'Eat Bitter' Management Style Just Doesn't Work in Africa" by Cobus van Staden.  

The author argues that widely discussed Chinese debt traps and concerns about the security of African IT networks due to the use of Chinese communications equipment are not China's greatest challenge in Africa.  Rather, China should be more concerned about African concerns over Chinese companies' ardous working conditions, long hours, low wages, limited promotions, and disrespectful, or downright abusive, treatment by managers.  

Chinese Manufacturing Investments and Knowledge Transfer in Ethiopia

The China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies published in March 2019 a study titled "Chinese Manufacturing Investments and Knowledge Transfer: A Report from Ethiopia" by Tang Xiaoyang, Tsinghua University.

The paper examines knowledge transfer mechanisms between Chinese investments and Ethiopian firms, institutions, and individuals at four different levels in the manufacturing sector.

Employment Relations at Chinese and American Firms in Kenya

The China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University published in February 2017 a study titled "We Are Not So Different: A Comparative Study of Employment Relations at Chinese and American Firms in Kenya" by Zander Rounds and Hongxiang Huang.

The paper explores the extent to which labor conditions at Chinese firms in Kenya are a function of firm nationality, as opposed to other characteristics like industry, firm size or length of time operating abroad. The authors concluded that many Chinese and American managers hold similar attitudes towards the qualities and limitations of their Kenyan employees although they express these attitudes in different ways.

Migration of Chinese Foreman to Zambia

The Cambridge Journal of China Studies published a study titled "Understanding Mobility: Motivation, Recruitment, and Migration of Chinese Foreman to Zambia" by Beibei Yang, PhD candidate at Southern Methodist University.

The study offers a micro-level perspective on Chinese foreman's voices and feelings in Zambia and analyzes the role of recruitment tools of private networks and commercial labor service agencies in connecting foremen to their employers.