Against the Odds: Managing the Unmanagable in a Time of Crisis

Information technology systems at the Greek Ministry of Finance could be the ideal tools for fighting widespread tax evasion, bureaucratic inefficiency, waste, and corruption. Yet making this happen requires battling against protracted procurement processes and implementation schedules, ineffective operations, and rigid management structures. This experience report details some unconventional measures, tools, and techniques that were adopted to sidestep the barriers in a time of crisis. The measures involved meritocracy, it utilization, and management by objectives. Sadly, this report is also a story (still being written) on the limits of such approaches. On balance, it demonstrates that in any large organization there are ample opportunities to bring about change, even against considerable odds.

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