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In the context of the Greek public sector, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors under which performance management and measurement systems (PMMS) work in a functional way and push through the modernization process.

The paper presents the results of a qualitative research undertaken in the Greek public administration. The STAIR (strategy, targets, assignment, implementation, results) model was used as a conceptual tool for critical reflection on the issue of performance management and measurement.

The qualitative research identified three groups of factors to be important in turning the PMS from a symbolic exercise to an effective tool for administrative reform: the cognitive, the behavioral and the ethical elements of the PMS. The quantitative approach specified the nature of these three groups of factors and revealed 11 factors in total that play crucial roles in the organizational success.

The paper helps researchers and practitioners to better understand the dynamic nature of performance measurement and highlights the need to view the PMS as a vehicle for critical reflection, questioning and challenging all the aspects of the organization rather than a mechanistic instrument for control.

In Europe, the alignment of national public administration policies and practices to EU directions is regarded as a key factor in the process of integration. Administrative convergence within European public administration systems places new demands on human resource managers in every member state. Seeks to show that Greek public administration is aiming to investigate the organizational competencies needed for the successful alignment of the Greek civil service with EU directions.

The approach is survey research conducted within Greek public administration. The STAIR (strategy, targets, assignment, implementation, results) model has been used as the appropriate performance management framework.

Suggests that the HRM role in the contemporary public sector environment is to develop a strategic performance management framework for changing performance at organizational level and make human resources active drivers of this process.The results reveal that convergence with EU policies draws heavily on how human resource executives can manage the following three soft organizational capabilities: competence, commitment and continuity – the STAIR model's 3“Cs”.

Contributes to the literature on directions for public sector management in Greece.

During the past two decades a variety of reforms and projects under the mantle of public‐sector modernization were developed in order to achieve efficiency, effectiveness, economy and quality in service delivery. Despite the overwhelming consensus that public organizations must transform there is little evidence on how to pursue modernization successfully. This paper argues that modernization is tantamount to creating a “learning public administration”. Managing the transformation process rests on the organization's capability to continuously enhance, the collective capacity to reflect, to learn how to learn, to unlearn old ways of doing things and abandon old habits. How to best navigate the transition from a rigid and conventional mode of thinking towards a creative and strategic one remains the challenge in the current knowledge‐based economy. As a response to this challenge the present paper presents the management, training and evaluation (MATE) model – a knowledge management strategic technique – that can be utilized for modernizing government organizations. Based on the results of a pilot case study undertaken within the context of Greek public sector we argue that modernization's success depends on how knowledgable an organization is in the strategic running of three core systems: the management (MA) system, the training (T) system and the evaluation (E) system. More specifically, the case study has shown that the exercise of the range of activities included in the three MATE systems may serve as the practical field, as the ideal setting for developing inquiry skills, “double‐loop” learning capabilities at individual and organizational level.

This paper examines the merits of using a comprehensive systems approach for measuring public sector performance in Greece. It introduces the preliminary results of a pilot case study where the STAIR model was used as a modernising vehicle within the Greek civil service. Following the steps of the “STAIR” (strategy, targets, assessment, implementation, results) model, public sector organisations in Greece are presented with the challenge of transforming themselves from rigid bureaucracies to strategically thinking and acting agencies.