Title: Anglo-Saxon change in a non-Anglo-Saxon cultural context: lessons from TQM application in Greek public organisations

Authors: Alexandros G. Psychogios, Nikos Michalopoulos, Leslie T. Szamosi

Addresses: Business Administration & Economics Department, City College, The University of Sheffield, 17 Mitropoleos Str., SEERC Building, Room 353, 546 24, City Centre, Thessaloniki, Greece. ' Department of Internal Affairs, Public Administration and Decentralization, 18 Damaskinou Str. 171 23, Nea Smirni, Athens, Greece. ' Business Administration & Economics Department, City College, The University of Sheffield, 17 Mitropoleos Str., SEERC Building, Room 352, 546 24, City Centre, Thessaloniki, Greece

Abstract: Total Quality Management (TQM), as a new management philosophy with a set of |soft| and |hard| aspects, challenges public domain agendas. However, most of the studies concerning the application of TQM have been conducted in Anglo-Saxon systems. Less has been written about the specific conditions that affect the application of TQM in other national contexts. In this respect, the purpose of this article is to explore the cultural factors that seem to determine public managers| attitudes towards the adoption of TQM in non-Anglo-Saxon civil services, in this study the Greek one. Based on a combination of quantitative (survey-questionnaire) and qualitative (follow-up explanatory interviews) research methods, this study expands the theoretical understanding of the application of TQM by offering an enhanced framework under which it should be seen. There are two antithetical factors of the Greek national civil service culture that seem to affect the application of TQM: the traditional and the modern.

Keywords: total quality management; TQM; public sector managers; non-Anglo-Saxon management; organisational culture; national culture; traditional management culture; modern management culture; Anglo-Saxon management; Greece; civil service.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLIC.2008.020149

International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital, 2008 Vol.5 No.2, pp.153 - 171

Published online: 03 Sep 2008 *

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