A contextual approach to understanding managerial roles and competencies : the case of luxury hotels in Greece

• Main Author: Giousmpasoglou, Charalampos
• Published: University of Strathclyde 2012
• Subjects: 658.3
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.570610

Studies of managerial work span more than half a century, nevertheless there is no clear account of the managerial work context and content. The dominance of the North American school of thought in management and the rapid global expansion of American multinational companies, was based on the creation of common (standard) managerial practices in their global operations. Since the early 1980s universality on management practices has been challenged from cross-cultural and HRM studies, that emphasised the influence of national culture on managerial work. In addition, organisational studies have focused on the influence of organisational context since the early 1960s, but only recently has this been directly linked with managerial work. This study explores managerial work roles and competencies in a country study. Greece was selected because it encompasses ‘cultural compatibility’ with the West, while simultaneously maintains a strong national character. The research focuses on the Greek luxury hotel sector in order to investigate the effects of national and organisational culture on managerial work. Secondary data on the Greek luxury hotel sub-sector was used to identify a sample of sixteen hotels, with 32 participant senior managers (hotel unit GMs and assistants). A qualitative approach was employed, using several methods of data collection (in-depth interviews, questionnaires, non-participant observations and company documents). The large amount of primary and secondary data collected was triangulated in order to enhance validity of the findings. Based on the work of Johns (2006) and Dierdorff et al. (2009) this research unearths the importance of contextual variables in managerial work, and demonstrates that there are alternatives to the use of universal (standard) management practices. The wider theoretical contributions include insights on managerial work, and the interplay between managerial work and context. More specifically, the contributions of this research are: a) the acknowledgement that contextual factors such as the organisational and national culture affect managerial work to a great extent; b) managerial work roles and competencies are shaped and exercised according to the dominant organisational and cultural context; and c) the set of roles performed and competencies exercised is unique and inimitable for every manager.