Culture Gap in Greek Management

Abstract

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.

Participation in Decision Making, Productivity and Job Satisfaction among Managers of Fish Farms in Greece

“…According to a classification of countries Greece is viewed as noticeably different from the Anglo cluster of countries, Greece is a culture high in power distance and uncertainty avoidance as well as collectivist (Green et al, 2005;Simosi, 2013). The Greek management is characterized by the fear of responsibility and the low belief on others" knowledge and capacity (Bourantas et al 1990). Nevertheless, Greek employees have been found to demonstrate strong identification with their work organizations (Markovits et al, 2007) indicating the commitment of the employees to their jobs.…”

Correlation Between Organizational Culture and Compensation Strategies Using Charles Handy's Typology

“…Thus, typologies help us to understand organizational culture. Various authors (Baldacchino, 1997;Bourantas et al, 1990) have used Handy's typology in their studies, thus demonstrating its importance for an understanding of organizational culture. Handy (1980) examined the diversity of organizational structures and management systems, as well as different types of organizational culture, recognizing that it is influenced by various factors and is reflected in various organizational structures and systems such as the compensation system.…”

“…Handy's use of mythology, represented by the Greek gods Zeus, Apollo, Athena, and Dionysus, aims at identifying these patterns and relating their cultural representativeness with the most appropriate management philosophy, as shown in Table 1. As Bourantas et al (1990) indicate, these gods were chosen to represent the four main pillars of wisdom and to describe organizational culture.…”

The enigma of quality in Greek higher education

“…Thus, it is important to scan the managerial technology within public and private sectors with a special look at quality management initiatives and to examine how these appeared in Greece. Bourantas et al (1990) sought to define the idiosyncrasy of management in Greece and found it empirically in a confirmation of "the arguments advanced by other researchers on the existence of … culture gap" (p. 274). The authors commented that the existence of the culture gap could explain to a degree the paradoxical finding of Veiga et al (1987) that "in Greece, although there is a culture which has a high regard for collectivism and group well-being, Greek managers have a lower propensity 'to give up control' than American managers" (p. 275).…”

“…Studying a 'hot topic' is already a sensitive and difficult matter in the best of circumstances. However, Greece has an environment that is internationally notorious for its difficulty for conducting empirical social science research: very low levels of cooperation have to be expected (Bourantas et al, 1990;Elefteriou & Robertson, 1999;Makridakis et al, 1997;Psychogios & Priporas, 2007;Spanos et al, 2002). An exception here would be empirical cases/surveys related to ISO, which reported high response rates: 57 percent by Gotzamani and Tsiotras (2001); 67 percent by Lipovatz et al (1999).…”