Category: Culture
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Craftsmanship and meaning making
“Meaning is created through a craft approach to life.” — Alan Moore Here is the story about the transformation of Gränsfors Bruk into an innovative, sustainable, and lightweight company. It’s a story of transforming a company from a mass production-style manufacturer, to a small scale, high quality shop with skilled, dedicated, and engaged co-workers. It’s…
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The goal of strategy
The following is from Dan Gray’s blog post about Stephen Bungay’s book The Art of Action: How Leaders Close the Gaps between Plans, Actions and Results. Stephen Bungay is a military historian who has examined the nineteenth-century Prussian army. There are some unexpected strategy lessons here. At least for me. The goal of strategy, according…
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The egalitarian Vikings
What you may not know is that the Vikings were surprisingly egalitarian. When settling in Iceland, they founded one of the world’s early democracies. The entire community was invited to the debating hall to thrash out the hot topics of the day, followed by a vote, with each person’s opinion carrying equal weight. Legend has…
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The Culture Map
Cultural as well as individual differences impact what we see, think, and do. Erin Meyer has written The Culture Map. The culture map’s eight scales and their metrics represent common cultural differences which impact teamwork and collaboration: Communicating: Is the communication precise, simple, explicit and clear (low-context) or sophisticated, nuanced and layered (high-context)? Evaluating: Is…
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How will companies approach the management challenge?
Here is a visionary tweet by Kenneth Mikkelsen on how companies in the future will approach the management challenge. The businesses will: Have a higher purpose beyond making profit Hire people who are passionate about this higher purpose See all stakeholders as equally important Cultivate long-term relationships with suppliers Have open doors and be transparent…
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Med holländska ögon på svensk företagskultur
I SvD 2014-11-03 jämför Callette Terhaerdt kulturskillnaderna mellan holländska och svenska företag. Det finns två stora skillnader. Holländska företag tar beslut snabbare och är mer hierarkiska än de svenska. “Holländare är öppnare, direktare, snabbare och intensivare än svenskar. Här [i Sverige] är folk mer tillbakadragna och allt tar längre tid men beslut kan å andra…
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Beliefs influence results
Peggy Holman writes in Open Space Technology: A User’s NON-Guide, pp. 48—50, that different methods can work in a given situation but what matters most are the beliefs of the facilitator. “My belief (and I don’t have sufficient empirical evidence for it to be more than an opinion) is that while method may be one…
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Should the boss have all the answers?
Here is a thought provoking tweet by Sïmon Saneback revealing huge cultural differences. The question is whether the boss should have all the answers? The answer is yes (77%) in India, maybe (46%) in the UK, and no (7%) in Sweden.
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Book Review: Culture Shock
Culture Shock: A Handbook For 21st Century Business by Will McInnes is a brilliant title on a book which is about the culture shock of moving from the traditional autocratic way of doing business to a democratic approach where there is true participation, openness, fairness, and connectedness. The perspective of Culture Shock is that an…
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Den svenska chefen är djupt rotad i svensk historia
Den svenska chefstypen är speciell och djupt rotad i svensk historia hävdar Gunnar Wetterberg, Sacos samhällspolitiske chef, i Cheferna – en svensk kulturtillgång. Den svenska chefens främsta styrka är prestigelösheten. Gunnar Wetterberg härleder det prestigelösa svenska chefskapet dels från statsmannen Axel Oxenstierna som blev svensk rikskansler 1612, dels från det unikt jämlika bondesamhället. I Sverige…