http://www.sweden.se/eng/Home/Business/Business-culture/
After accomplishing my internship in Sweden I am totally in fond of the Swedish Business Culture.
Everything is easy going, relaxed and there are almost no hierachies.
I have to say, the fact that there are almost no hierachies and that despite or because of this (alsmost) everything is working out well impressed me alot. The best thing about my internship was that even my opinions were valued and were as important as the opinions of all other colleagues.
Furthermore, as the article states, the work-life balance in Sweden is really good. No one is working over time and everybody can handle family and work at the same time.
What do you think? Could you imagine a workplace without hierachies, being only on first name terms with your boss and even your clients? Do you think something like this could work out in Austria as well? Or are we too much fixed on being formal and having someone "above" us?
The article shortly describes how the work life in Sweden looks like. I'm curious about your opinion!
Lisa
I like this article a lot ;)
AntwortenLöschenThe Swedish business culture seems to be something totally different thant what we are used to in Austria, or probably in any other central European country (except Spain and Italy).
When you told us of those "Fikas" (the coffee breaks for all employees with cinnamon bread .. is it called like that?) during your PTS Experience presentation, I was already very surprised but now I am even more astounded.
In most established and long-existing Austrian companies you would probably not find those flat hierarchies where everybody is on first-name terms with his or her boss or where employees can openly share their opinions with their management. In young small companies however, this relaxed business culture might be very likely.
To me it seems that we Austrians care far too much about whether we are respected and acknowledged by other people, rather than perceiving our colleagues, superiors and inferiors as equal. This need for acknowledgement and respect might correspond with the fact that we Austrians are very keen on having our academic title openly displayed anywhere (driver's licence, credit and debit card, social security card, and the like). In addition, at least in my opinion, we are taking "generational differences" a little too serious, meaning that if our boss were 20 years older than us we wouldn't call him/her by his/her first name, as a matter of principle.
Moreover, Iguess that we are not going to let go of business attire in our daily working routine. First of all, customers kind of expect, for instance from a banker or insurance agent etc., to be appropriately dressed. Secondly, being dressed in a posh suit gives many the feeling of being important. Being dressed in a suit distinguishes one from all the other ordinary (blue collar) workers and for some it even depicts kind of a status symbol representing success, wealth and pride.
Even though I like the Swedish approach a lot, I was a little shocked to read that Sweden is so proud of being “top performers and true leaders” on gender equality. How can a country be a top performer in terms of gender equality, if it is still necessary to broadly discuss this issue. The way I see it, Sweden would be a leader in this regard if it were just absolutely normal and not worth mentioning any longer that the number of female managers equals the number of male superiors.
The same I was thinking during last week's guest lecture. Even though TNT might be a step ahead of many Austrian (and European) countries with regard to this matter, for me it is still not the embodiment of "equal opportunities" if companies still have to talk about this issue as something to be proud of. If it were just normal, companies wouldn't have to "advertise" for instance the proportion of women working in a certain sector to be equal to the proportion of men being employed in the very same sector so heavily or - even worse - be honoured with an award or anything comparable for having (still not more than) 43% (I think that was TNT figure) females in management positions.
But to come back to the topic and to answer your question: I do not think that such a change in business culture will happen soon in Austria. Even though there might be many young start-up companies persuing a more relaxed and easy-going management style, most old-established organizations, especially big ones or those revealing a higher average age among employees, will stick to the conventional business culture and management style characterised by calling one another by their surnames, using academic titles whenever possible and clearly demonstrating superiority to the people "below" us in the hierarchy.
Hi Ulrike,
AntwortenLöschenthank you for your comments on this issue. I do agree alot with you.
For me, especially in the beginning it was hard to be on first name terms with everyone. Especially when I was writing e-mails to Swedish customers - I wrote them in English and I just had to write "Dear John" and not "Dear Mr. Morrison" for example. For me it was also really surprising that everybody in my company studied and has a degree but no one ever mentioned it. Not even in signatures and on letters the degree is written. In Austria this is simply not possible. If you forget to mention that somebody is a "Magister" he or she will be furious.
Furthermore, I also agree with you on the fact about women equality. Do they really need to mention it? In my company it was simply normal that 80% of the employees are women and nobody ever questioned that but I think, as unfortunately this is not normal in other countries around the world, Sweden simply HAS to advertise this fact. It is kind of their USP to have women in top positions and in order for new talents to come to Sweden it has to be seen as something special.
Also during my PTS my colleagues asked me If i thought that something like an informal style where everybody is on first name terms witch each other would be possible in Austria. My honest response was no. For us it is a sign of respect to be on formal terms, especially with older people. And it is all over in our thinking.
Dear Lisa,
Löschenprobably you are right with your statment of Sweden's USP being an "equal opportunity employer". It is highly likely, that this might attract young, diligent and successful women who want to break the glass ceiling, since they wouldn't have the chance in their home country. I just must admit, that I never considert this problem from that perspective.
The company where I completed my PTS is a rather conventional, old-fashioned financial institution heavily relying on Austrian traditions. Therefore, solely 2 of all together 35 (!) line managers directly reporting to the board of management are women. I think I do not have to explicitly point out that none of the board members is female ..
However, in the division where I was working (we are one of the two divisions having a female manger) we were 90% women.
This, once again, negatively underlines Austrian (male dominated) business culture.
Thank you Lisa for posting this article. And special thanks for your great comment Ulrike, covering many facets of this article/topic.
AntwortenLöschenWell, I agree with Ulrike in a way, that a movement into the direction of such a kind of working environment won´t be realistic to happen too quickly in Austria. And what I learned from my internships in Austria so far - many people are not too keen on a change in this matter, since we Austrians tend to like following hierarchies and guidelines at almost all times (if you remember Mr. Mosca´s joke with Austrians waiting at a red pedestrian traffic light :))
We Austrians also tend to use someone´s last name as soon as he is in a higher position, what I personally think is not exaggerating politeness but a principle of behavior, however we use it extremely often, that´s what I have been told during my internship in China.
Coming back to your question: I think a change in the Austrian working environment towards flatter hierarchies requires not only using first name terms, but also a general shift in working consciousness and staff expectations.
Michael
I could perfectly imagine working in this kind of company environment nevertheless I am convinced that this structure only works in small companies like marketing agencies, creative agencies etc... where everyone has more or less freedom on hiw/her projects.
AntwortenLöschenin bigger companies I think a hierachy is necessary as there are many more employees thus it is easier to have a manager who tells everyone what to do etc
I agree that this approach on hierarchy is very motivating for employees. It makes them feel empowered and thereby creates involvement. I think it makes employees take responsibility for their work.
AntwortenLöschenIn bigger organization there might be a problem, as Marlene mentioned. However, I believe that it is possible to use the "swedish approach" in bigger companies as well. You would probably have to split up the organization into smaller parts (similar to departments) and within these you would be able to use the innovative way of management discussed.
First thank you for this topic because it is a very interseting one to observe. In my opinion this attitude, or behaviour, is "implemented" in a very early stage in every country, starting with the respective educational system. As we all know, all northern countries are much better in performing in the PISA-studies every time. Why is this so?
AntwortenLöschenIn our regions it is very common that you have in the traditional schooling system "Hierachies", so every child learns this from the very beginning. This is different in the Northern countries. There the pupils have much more empowerment and learn flexibility from the start. So they learn this "behaviuoral patterns" also from the very beginning. I think this is the key why this kind of management model can work out so well there.
And yes, I also do agree that this is only possible to a certain extent relying on the size of the company. As soon as it gets to big you need tighter hierachies in order to ensure reporting excellence and efficiency throughout daily business. This opinion is based on my personal experience although it is strongly influenced of German corporate culture.