A contextual approach of the Greek Management.

Abstract

The devastating effects of globalisation during the 1990s have had a great impact in the way academics and practitioners viewed management all over the world. The emergence of culture and national context as critical factors in the exercise of management, signposted a new dynamic movement that challenged the ‘good old fashioned western’ (mostly American) management practices and their ‘universal’ applicability. Researchers have shifted their focus from the predictable Anglo‐Saxon corporate managerial environment to more ‘exotic’ and unknown destinations such as the Asian and Middle East contexts. In addition a great effort is conducted within the limits of the E.U. to understand the different national management contexts, despite the fact that most of them are based in the U.S. model. Arguably one of the most difficult and challenging cases under examination is Greece. The country was heavily exposed to western management practices during the post‐WWII years and until the late 1970s there was no indication that management practices were differentiated than those imposed by American multinational companies. Since the early 1980s though, something has radically changed; the entry of Greece in the E.U. and the enormous efforts of both the public and the private sector to catch up with the rest of Europe’s ‘developed’ countries have surfaced some unique socio‐ cultural characteristics that seem to affect the exercise of management in this country. Some of these characteristics include the values of ‘filotimo’, trust and humanism; the high context and polychronic culture; high uncertainty avoidance; and in‐group collectivism. This paper aims to explore the existing literature on the Greek cultural context in relation to management practices, and identify if there is convergence or divergence with the rest E.U. counties.