s Epaminonda

Changes in authority relations when moving between more and less authoritarian cultures The impact of Anglo-American education and return home

By analysing the experience of Cypriot workers who studied and worked in Britain and the United States and then returned to Cyprus to work, it is argued in this article that the time abroad contributes to making their authority relations’ conceptions less authoritarian. On return home, many of the individuals who studied abroad wish to retain the newly acquired elements in their attitudes and behaviour, but even though they seem able to influence workers around them, especially subordinates, to act in a less authoritarian manner, they find that they have to adjust, at least to an extent, to local norms, particularly when other co-workers did not go through a similar educational experience. These findings suggest that an experience in a less authoritarian society compared to the home culture tends to shift authority relations norms to the less authoritarian but adjustment is likely needed on return home. Implications for managerial practice are briefly discussed.

Designing a product development process graduate course: An interdisciplinary example

Todays technological, economic and social challenges force higher educational institutions to promote interdisciplinary reflection in order to help students understand challenging problems and frame feasible solutions. In engineering education, students need to go beyond technological knowledge and be motivated towards interdisciplinary and complex management education that will prepare them to become innovative engineer managers. The current paper reports on the pedagogical approaches used to prepare, develop and improve the delivery of ENMA-550 Product Development Process (PDP) graduate interdisciplinary course. The suggestions of the paper are expected to assist educators and practitioners to acquire the necessary knowledge on interdisciplinary course development and teaching in order to become interdisciplinary teachers.

A hybrid model of Mediterranean capitalism with British influences: the case of Cyprus

Abstract This paper describes and analyses economic organization patterns in a former British colony, Cyprus, with the aim of discussing colonial influences on its institutions and business system and presenting a hybrid type of Mediterranean capitalism that is not included in existing literature on the topic. By reviewing relevant archive material, interviewing key people in institutional positions and sixteen firms of the banking, tourism, construction and retailing sectors in Cyprus, and by comparing features of the Cyprus institutional environment with those in Greece, the impact of the British colonial rule on the legal, financial and education systems, industrial and authority relations in Cyprus is discussed and linked to ownership of firms and relations between managers and employees. The results indicate that the colonial experience has transformed the legal system in Cyprus and has influenced aspects of the development of the education and financial systems, as well as authority and industrial relations. This has contributed, firstly, to the creation of a considerably different institutional environment in Cyprus compared to countries that were never colonized, and secondly, has led to diversity in its business system including the development of organizations with fragmented ownership structures and less authoritarian relationships. Possible connections between this modified institutional environment and economic performance are also briefly discussed.