Change management in Greek state-owned enterprises : the role of archaic Hellenic philosophy and the adoption of business process management

Abstract

This thesis presents and discusses the findings from research in Change Management (CM) in Greek State Owned Enterprises (SOEs). These organisations are currently under great pressure from the state to implement changes with the aim to improve their competitiveness, increase profitability, and become non-reliant on government rescue funds. Previous reform policies have been unsuccessful, mainly due to direct political intervention in the operation of the Greek SOEs, bureaucracy, ineffective recruitment, lack of employee participation in the management of the organisations, and resistance to privatisation efforts. The recent economic crisis in Greece and the imposition of austerity measures has led to reductions in salaries and a diminution in governmental financial support to SOEs, and the abolition of the permanent employment status of new recruits. The author’s work experience, combined with extensive literature review suggested that Ancient Greek Philosophy (AGP) could play an important cultural role in influencing the beliefs, and attitudes of management and staff working in Greek organisations. Greek SOEs are adopting Business Process Management (BPM), which among other contemporary management tools is a method for both implementing change and operational improvements. The research concentrates on: (i) the facilitating or inhibiting role of AGP in bringing about change; and (ii) the impact of adopting BPM as a method of promoting change in Greek SOEs. The theoretical framework of context (why), content (what), and process (how) in the management of strategic and operational change and competitiveness, developed by Pettigrew et al. (1989) was used to investigate change in Greek SOEs. A deductive followed by an inductive analysis of the data was conducted to extend the model of Pettigrew et al. (1989) to account for both the influence of AGP and the impact of BPM in implementing change in Greek SOEs. The Ancient belief that change is unavoidable could facilitate change, while push for change that is not associated with long-term benefit to both the organisation and the employees could face great resistance. A performance related pay system using monetary reward based incentives to promote business process implementation, and a fair bonus scheme to encourage and reward achievement is required.