Search results

Labour flexibility is a central theme of management’s rhetoric in Greece. At the same time the securing of greater flexibility has been identified by policy makers as a central component of industrial relations reform. In spite of this endowing of flexibility with major significance there is a marked absence of empirical data indicating the growth of flexibility at the Greek workplace. This paper entails an examination of the extent to which private companies in Greece have adopted crucial aspects of flexibility such as decentralized bargaining, pay, working time and employee participation. Our research analyzed management data from a survey of 22 manufacturing establishments and compares them with relevant European data. Main findings indicate a considerable gap between rhetoric and flexibility implementation in actual practice.

Reports that marked limitations in the Greek Civil Service, combined with the severe fiscal constraints of the Maastricht Treaty, have raised the issue of public management restructuring. Within this framework, attempts to investigate the extent to which middle managers in the public services are realizing the adjustments to the nature of their managerial work necessary to serve the “new management culture”. Underscores the need for greater control over resources in order to meet their responsibilities effectively and act “as managers”. States that the empowerment issue that is raised by the survey could be considered of pivotal importance for personnel development in, and the organizational restructuring of, the Greek public services.

The purpose of this paper is to present and analyse the changes that took place in the Greek banking industry in the last years, their impact on strategy and the role of employees' training and development for strategy implementation and success.

Using four case studies attempts to investigate the effect of the environmental changes on these particular banks and the role of their training and development strategies in adjusting themselves to the changing industry environment.

Changes in the external environment have reshaped the banking industry environment. Responding to that Greek banks have adopted new strategies. Differentiation on the basis of quality offered and diversification were the main focus of their competitive strategy. The rapid growth and products diversity engendered by a changing internal and external environment fostered by deregulation created a need for additional and more focused training and development. The beneficial effects of training were expected in terms of skills, cultural and role changes, homogenisation and decrease of tensions and insecurities, motivation, commitment, customer satisfaction, reduction of conflict in the workplace and finally quality improvement.

Shows that the changes in the external environment have initiated an emphasis on more strategic and integrated training and development effort for Greek banks.