Irene Nikandrou

Gaining employee trust after acquisition

Acquisitions often have a negative impact on employee behaviour resulting in counter productive practices, absenteeism, low morale and job dissatisfaction. It appears that an important factor affecting the successful outcome of acquisitions is top management’s ability to gain employee trust. Explores a number of variables which bear an impact on managerial trustworthiness. Among them, frequent communication before and after acquisition, and the already existing quality of employee relations seem to play the most important role. Therefore, a carefully planned, employee‐centered communication programme, together with a good level of employee relations, seem to form the basis for a successful outcome as far as employee relations in the face of acquisitions is concerned.

HRM and organizational performance in northern and southern Europe

This article aims to extend understanding of the firm-level impact of strategic HR practices on organizational performance. Adopting a contingency approach, it develops a structural model that considers direct and indirect influences of market growth, business strategy formalization and HRM centrality and practices on organizational performance in Europe. The study uses a comparative approach, revealing differences between northern and southern Europe. Clear differences appeared between the two clusters in the HR policies and practices correlated with higher performance, thus indicating that the link between HRM and performance may be different in different geographies.

Changes in HRM in Europe: A longitudinal comparative study among 18 European countries

Purpose – To examine HRM strategies and practices and HRM position within organizations in various cultural, economic and sociopolitical contexts from a longitudinal perspective.Design/methodology/approach – The study uses the 1995 and 1999 Cranet data in a longitudinal methodological framework to explore the changes and trends in 18 European countries with regard to certain HRM issues between the points of time when measurements took place. Country is the unit of analysis, and cluster analysis is used for each of the two waves of data to classify countries into relatively homogeneous groups/clusters.Findings – The overall picture is that the 18 countries form two major clusters. Countries in Europe can be systematically clustered in a North/West‐South/East distinction, regarding HRM practices. There is no indication of convergence between the major clusters. However, movement from one cluster to another was observed, with Italy and East Germany moving to the North‐western cluster.Research limitations/imp...

Training and firm performance in Europe: the impact of national and organizational characteristics

This study focuses on the relationship between training and development and performance. It expands existing research on the subject by combining national and organizational factors through a hierarchical linear model to explore the training and development and performance relationship in 14 European countries. The main findings point out the importance of cultural, institutional and organizational factors in analysing the relationship between training and development and performance.

The impact of individual and organizational characteristics on work‐family conflict and career outcomes

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the dynamics of individual and organizational characteristics in work‐family conflict (WFC) and career outcomes. It aims to consider the role of self‐esteem, career management and multiple life role commitment, and, as individual characteristics, on WFC and career outcomes; it also seeks to consider the role of career encouragement and organizational culture, as organizational characteristics, on WFC and career outcomes.Design/methodology/approach – The research was carried out in a sample of 399 females at different levels of management in Greek organizations. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling.Findings – The findings show that both individual and organizational characteristics are significant in determining WFC and career outcomes. No relationship is found between WFC and career outcomes. Overall, the results support the depletion theory.Research limitations/implications – Limitations of this study are: the complexity of the model, the use ...

Benchmarking employee skills: results from best practice firms in Greece

The globalization of economic activity and the rapid technological developments require a more qualified workforce with multiple skills. As a result, rapid obsolescence of competences makes the capacity to update continuously and develop the required skills the key to competitiveness and growth. Moreover, under the pressure of competitive forces, developments in the HRM practices become increasingly important. The first part of this article draws from the findings of the Cranfield survey, in which Greece participated three times (in 1993, 1996 and 1999), in order to present an overall picture of HRM in Greece. The second part analyzes the results of a larger European Union project to study skills benchmarking in Europe, in which Greece participated along with eight European countries. The results from the Greek study do not show considerable deviations from the whole European sample. Some of the main conclusions of the study are: training can no longer be treated as a method to cure skills deficiencies, but rather as a continuous, life‐long learning process with considerable impact to the growth of the firms; acquiring human skills presents the greatest challenge for training; and adaptability and self‐learning are necessary elements that need to be incorporated in the educational system from its early stages.

Mentoring and women's career advancement in Greece

Abstract This study examines the concept of mentoring as a career-strategy tool in Greek organizations from a protégés point of view and the effect of mentoring on womens career advancement. In particular, we hypothesize, first, that seeking mentoring is a multidimensional concept, consisting of a number of activities and behaviours interconnected in a career strategy scheme; second, that mentoring has a positive effect on career advancement; third, that organizational culture has a moderating effect in the relationship between mentoring and career advancement. The research was carried out in a sample of 297 women employed in Greek organizations. A series of factor and regression analyses were performed. The findings support our hypotheses and indicate the necessity for women to assume proactive behaviours in developing mentoring relationships in order to advance their careers; they also stress the role of the organization in creating a relationship-oriented organizational culture in order to facilitate womens mentorship.

Cultural and Leadership Similarities and Variations in the Southern Part of the European Union

This paper examines the similarities and differences in cultural (societal and organizational) and leadership aspects in the southern part of the European Union. The study is based on data from the GLOBE project for five countries (Greece, Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal). Even though there are quite a few studies clustering European countries either along the North-South axis or the North/West — South/East axis, we still need to better understand cultural and leadership similarities and differences among countries that for various reasons, such as sociopolitical, economic, cultural, historical, geographical and so forth, may form a unit for purposes of comparative study. The findings of the present study suggest that there are more similarities than differences among these five countries that may support the thesis for considering them as the southern band of EU countries.

The choice between internalization and externalization of employment and its impact on firm performance: evidence from five south-eastern European countries

The present study explores the notions of internalization and externalization of employment in five south-eastern European countries, namely Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Slovenia. More specifically, it examines whether the choice between internalization and externalization of employment influences organizational performance and whether this relationship changes between the different countries studied. The study is based on the south-eastern European sub-sample of the Cranet project. The main findings indicate significant differences and similarities between the five countries and show that HRM practices supporting internalization have more impact on top performance, than those of externalization.

Employee responses to acquisitions: evidence from Greek firms

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors affecting the course of action that employees in acquired firms choose to follow. Loyalty, compliance, voice and neglect (LCVN) are four employee behaviors in acquired companies.Design/methodology/approach – Two questionnaires were designed: one was administered to employees of the acquired company and the other to a member of the post‐acquisition managerial team. One hundred and thirty‐five administrative employees in 27 acquired companies in Greece participated in the research.Findings – The results of the study support that employees decide their course of action based on the cost of their action, the effectiveness of the behaviour and the attractiveness of the company.Research limitations/implications – This study concentrated at the individual level to examine the factors affecting employee behaviours. Future research is needed to examine behavioural changes over time and the factors that make employees move from one behavioural category t...