The present paper reports on managerial autonomy of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), or its reverse: the control which is exerted by government and supervising public authorities on SOEs. First, it examines the types of control applied. Using evidence from a sample of 110 Greek SOEs, the paper identifies certain distinct dimensions of control related to: strategic business-boundary issues, pricing decisions, resource acquisition and mobilisation issues. Second, environmental and organisational “determinants” of the control intensity are identified. Results broadly suggest that the intensity of control, as perceived by enterprise managers, is (i) positively related to dependence on the state for resources, to enterprise size, and to “political visibility,” i.e., social orientation of product market strategy, and (ii) negatively related to market competition and demand unpredictability. An interpretation of the results is attempted drawing on wider organisational, social and economic theories. Policy implications are discussed.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the five-factor model of personality (FFM) and employees' voice behavior in Greece. Design/methodology/approach -Employees' personality characteristics were assessed along with their voice behavior towards their supervisor and the top management of their company. Data were collected from a cross-sectional sample of 334 professionals. Findings -The findings demonstrate the relationship between personality and voice behavior towards the immediate supervisor, but not towards the top management of the company, and show that conscientiousness and emotional stability are the strongest predictors of employees' voice behavior.Research limitations/implications -The results of the study should be interpreted with caution, since they are based on self-report measures. However, the findings suggest that two personality dimensions (emotional stability and conscientiousness) are significantly related with employees' voice behavior towards their supervisor. Practical implications -The findings suggest important practical implications for HR practices, such as employee communication and personnel selection, since at least two personality dimensions are related with employees' voice behavior. The study also emphasizes the significance of first line supervisors' communication style in enhancing employees' voice behavior. Originality/value -This is the first study exploring the relationship between the FFM and employees' voice behavior carried out in a EU-country, such as Greece. Note1. We thank an anonymous reviewer for suggesting this point.

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Based on data collected from public and private organizations in Greece, this paper examines the differences in individual traits between public and private-sector employees, differences which eventually in uence employees' attitudes and behaviours towards their organizations and their consequent performance, speci cally in organizational commitment and neglect behaviour. The ndings indicate that there are some differences between the two groups of employees. In only three out of ten personality characteristics examined here (security needs, pay needs and Protestant work ethic), are there no distinctions between the groups.These ndings imply that, besides the environmental and structural characteristics of the two sectors which may be the source of attitudinal differences, it might also be that persons attracted to the public sector have different personality characteristics from those attracted to the private sector. Regardless of the source of differences, results point to the need for changing recruitment and selection practices in public organizations as well as for implementing a number of human resource management practices, the lack of which seems to drive junior quali ed staff away from the public sector where they are mostly needed.The later seems to be the case in Greece where the lower pay and the non-competitive, non-challenging atmosphere prevailing in most public-sector organizations seem to play an important role in driving most dynamic employees away from the public sector.

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Since the publication of In Search of Excellence academicians have rushed to empirically verify the existence or absence of corporate cultures in organizations. This paper reports on a survey of Greek organizational cultures. The study utilizes Handy's conceptual framework published in his Gods of Management. Data for the study were gathered via a questionnaire which was a translation of Handy's instrument into Greek. The data from 585 questionnaires administered to Greek managers, confirmed the main hypothesis that while most of their organizations are seen to be Zeus/Apollo (power/role) centred, most managers themselves tend to be Athena/Dionysus (task/people) oriented.

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the role of organizational silence and trust on employees' attitudes in a post‐merger stage.Design/methodology/approachThe results of two independent studies are presented; participants completed measures of organizational trust, organizational silence and merger attitudes (organizational commitment and employee satisfaction) a few months following the announcement of the merger. Hierarchical regression analyzes were used to explore the hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that organizational trust is negatively related to organizational silence and positively to merger attitudes. Further, the significant role of organizational silence in a post‐merger state was also identified through the negative relationships with merger attitudes, but mainly through the significant mediating effect of silence between organizational trust and merger attitudes.Research limitations/implicationsThe study used self‐report measures, but necessary actions were taken in order to reduce the effect of common method variance. Therefore, it should be cross‐validated with different research designs (e.g. longitudinal research) in other countries.Practical implicationsThe findings provide further support on the significance of organizational silence in work settings, especially at major organizational turnarounds.Originality/valueThe most significant contribution of the study is that it explores for the first time the role of organizational silence in a post‐merger stage and its relationship to organizational trust.