'Indigenous Management: Knowledges and Framework', an introduction

Indigenous approaches to management and organization are based on the knowledge and practices of Indigenous peoples. The capital ‘I’ in Indigenous denotes reference to peoples who:

• Descend from populations inhabiting a region prior to later inhabitants
• Have collective attachment to ancestral lands and resources
• Have distinctive socio-cultural norms, institutions and languages
• Have been dominated or marginalized economically, politically,  socially and/or culturally by later inhabitants
• Continue to be non-dominant groups in their regions

The movement to ‘decolonize’ knowledge and practices is fundamentally, about restoring the visibility and legitimacy of Indigenous knowledges. It involves re-Indigenizing our ways of understanding by recognizing previously marginalized forms of organizing and managing as valid, meaningful, and generative.

Four years ago, building on the energy generated by the newly established IARIMOS (International Academy of Indigenous Research in Management and Organizations), this volume was born, as a way to bring together emerging scholarship on Indigenous management into a collective work.  Now, after multiple engagements with the Indigenous Management manuscript, and with its value reaffirmed through 75 chapters authored by 120 Indigenous and non-Indigenous contributors from around the world, we we are in a position to reflect on what has emerged and what this collective effort makes possible.

Firstly, we learned that the submissions that grew into the book provide frameworks and knowledges that can help us address some of the burning existential questions we face in our world: climate change and other ecological concerns, long-term sustainability, seeking greater economic equity and community, innovation and accountability. All can be managed through the incorporation of Indigenous lenses.

Second, we were struck by the sheer diversity of the insights our contributors provided. While it is tempting to seek a universal theory that can be applied definitively, the particularities of the places that ground so many Indigenous approach, warn against applying such a simplistic, singular framework (and this is why the book is sub-titled Knowledges and Frameworks).

However, a third lesson was that while there may not be a universal theory of Indigenous Management, the contributions exhibited underlying common sympathies or shared imperatives. Foundations that:

• Recognized the importance of protocols and rituals that connected management and organization to traditional histories, stories and ways
• Sought meaningful connections with the other beings and the natural environment or place that they grow from
• Acknowledged the value of incorporating different voices and power-sharing
• Promoted community or social accountability in governance

Indigenous management should be founded on these imperatives, but different Indigenous communities build different versions of these foundations in different ways.  

In the words of Leroy Little Bear from the book’s Foreword: through each of the four foundations the key word is relationships. Whereas modern Euro-centric management traditions have tended to focus on ‘transactions’: short-term transactional approaches to human and other ‘resources’ and ‘assets’; Indigenous approaches build management practices and organizations upon relationships with protocols, place, power-sharing, and community accountability.

Recognizing these four foundations, we structured Indigenous Management: Knowledges and Frameworks into four parts, with contributions arranged within them according to their orientation. Then, a fifth part of the book provides something of a capstone, with contributions that explore how management and organization can be built upon these four shared imperatives. 

All these lessons are especially useful given the parallel objective we had for Indigenous Management: Knowledges and Frameworks. We wanted to bring together a resource that could be used by an increasing number of people seeking to learn and teach Indigenous management and organization at business schools around the world. And we understand, as teachers ourselves, that a framework, map, or overarching view or synopsis, can be useful to bring students, stakeholders and sponsors along with you on the journey.   

So, while we argue against a singular theory of Indigenous management, we offer instead a ‘canvas’: a frame that can be added to, reshaped, and utilized to weave together your understanding of Indigenous management. Perhaps it might also inspire you to think about what this could mean you and your relations (in the broadest sense). As you seek to develop your thinking and practice to address those existential questions we described earlier, please consider populating your canvas with insights and ideas that are right for you and your communities

Indigenous Management: Knowledges and Frameworks’ Broad Canvas

We are pleased that Indigenous Management: Knowledges and Frameworks has come to fruition. We and the team of contributors (and many others who have attended IARIMOS conferences) are able to offer it to readers as part of a broader movement that encourages taking Indigenous approaches to management and organization seriously. We hope it will become a useful tool for all of us, as we seek to build and manage better organizations together.  

Order an inspection copy

Book Details: Indigenous Management: Knowledges and Frameworks First Edition Jesse Pirini, Stephen Cummings, Ana Maria Peredo ISBN: 9781529692570 April 2026 | 384 pages £35.99