South-East European Research Centre (SEERC)

A new Metropolitan Administration will be established next year in Thessaloniki, Greece. It will be the first of its kind in Greece making it a “green-field” exercise of organizational design and development in the era of e-governance. The thesis focuses on the work organization within this Metropolitan Administration. The theoretical basis for this are theories that look into the connection between technology (in particular Information and Communications Technology) and organization, namely (a) the classical approach, (b) the ‘strategic choice/organization politics’ approach, and (c) the ‘social constructivist’ approach. Using the methodological tools of the first approach, a matrix of eight functions (or actors) and three structural levels is constructed to prescribe a typology of organizational roles in an e-governed organization. The prescribed roles are allocated and placed within the divisional organizational structure of the new Metropolitan Administration. The second approach collates the enactment of technology with certain strategic choices (as dimensions of work organization) that will aim at improving the working conditions for the benefit of the civil service. A short implementation approach distinguishing between a preparatory stage, the design stage and the implementation stage. Finally, borrowing from the ‘social constructivist’ point of view, the new Metropolitan Administration is recognized as potentially being a showcase of organizational innovation in Greece and the whole South- East Europe.