Giourousi Management

If business is war, then management is warfare. But every culture has its own, unique perspective on how to wage war – and how to manage. Several cultural traits and differences are known and visible. For example, it is known that in achieving results, in the US emphasis is given on individual performance while in Japan, emphasis is on team building.

Several years ago, I read this definition of what consists Greek management. What strikes me was that it (sort of) explains, quite eloquently, in a couple of paragraphs, how business is conducted and how management is applied, in a large part of what one might describe as the Greek Business Ecosystem.

(1) Traditional Greek method of warfare. The word has Turkish origin, as does the method itself. It consists of successive, totally unorganized attacks by irregular troops (or other crowds), usually poorly armed and very poorly led. It is performed with the aim of terrorizing the enemy into fleeing rather than killing them, and for this reason the charges are customarily accompanied by screams, shouts and curses. In order to succeed, the method requires a combination of desperation, determination to win and a complete disregard of the danger involved.

(2) Modern meaning. Greek method of management, used frequently when there is a managerial problem requiring imminent solution (NOTE: until a managerial problem reaches the point of requiring imminent solution, it is –usually- totally ignored). The method shares all the characteristics of the traditional attack, except that the crowds are not armed, and that there is no visible enemy, until one is invented to boost the moral of the crowds involved. The method enjoys widespread use and implementation, both in the public and private business sector in modern Greece.

Rallis Vasilis