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WORKING IN SWEDEN

INTERVIEW: Does Sweden have a distinct management style?

The Local's Paul O'Mahony interviewed Pernilla Petrelius Karlberg, lecturer at Stockholm School of Economics and researcher at the Center for Responsible Leadership about the Swedish style of leadership.

INTERVIEW: Does Sweden have a distinct management style?
Pernilla Petrelius Karlberg is a researcher and teacher at Stockholm School of Economics. Photo: Private

Does Sweden have a distinctive management style?

The Swedish style of leadership is often said to be characterised by so-called flat hierarchies, where everyone is able to – and expected to – contribute their ideas and input to tasks, regardless of whether they are in a leadership role or not.

Pernilla Petrelius Karlberg told The Local that there are a number of different aspects which can influence management style, although Sweden does have a distinct style.

“I think that there’s definitely an idea that there is a specific Swedish or Scandinavian management style,” she said. “But I think from a research perspective, it’s much more complex, because we tend to generalise or stereotype.”

“It’s got a lot to do with the company culture and the culture of the country,” Karlberg said, “There’s definitely an idea of Scandinavian leadership, I think we have a common idea of what that is, but then, is it actually practiced everywhere in Scandinavia or in Sweden? That’s another issue.”

“In many of our organisations we talk about Scandinavian leadership where the leadership is very international, it’s a mix of different people from different cultures.”

Sweden is a very individualist society, which is also reflected in Swedish business.

“I think the core of what we talk about when we talk about Swedish leadership is the fact that leaders and managers also call on co-workers to take ownership on the task and individualism comes into business,” Karlberg said.

“It’s even expected, and co-workers take that ownership, and they engage and they take responsibility for the outcome and the result. So it’s the total opposite of micro-management in that sense.”

This culture of ownership and engagement also applies to managers, Karlberg explained.

“To generalise, in a Swedish setting, if there’s a meeting with the boss, the co-workers will expect to be listened to, and to be involved in a conversation and give their opinion on things. And that’s also a way to motivate people, in a Swedish sense.”

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Can lead to cultural clashes

This expectation in Swedish workplaces can lead to clashes if employees from other countries are used to a different system, Karlberg said.

“In another culture, say Finland, for example – I’m just generalising – you go to a meeting with your boss and you expect the boss to motivate you and to tell you what to do. So if you had a Finnish manager in a Swedish context, Swedish co-workers would probably feel neglected or frustrated for not being involved. ‘No-one asked my opinion, I want to share my opinion, my opinion matters'”.

This can also happen in situations where a Swedish manager is managing a group of employees from a different culture or country.

“A Finnish crowd with a Swedish manager might be very frustrated if the manager just asks questions and doesn’t seem to have a direction of their own. There’s just different expectations”.

However, there is also a collective aspect to Swedish workplaces, which foreigners working in the country often pick up on.

“When I work with international crowds, they tend to notice that Swedish co-workers and managers are very collective, they want to have consensus, they have to discuss everything, and it takes forever and it can be very frustrating.”

Swedish co-workers aren’t afraid to speak up though, if they feel that the decision their manager is making is wrong.

“But there are a lot of behaviours where Swedish co-workers will not accept a decision. For example, if they feel that the idea that their manager is bringing is wrong, it will actually be their duty to speak up, not in a confrontational way, but to say ‘Hmm, you know, this idea about doing it this way, it’s probably not a good idea.'”

“And non-Swedish managers might not always appreciate that kind of reaction. And if it continues, and the manager says that this is the way we’re gonna do it, the typical Swedish coworker will insist that this is the best way, and then there is a clash – again, they expect to be listened to and taken into consideration.”

How do you know when a decision has been taken in a Swedish workplace?

This need to feel informed and included in decision-making can in some cases make it difficult to understand at exactly what point a decision has been taken in a Swedish workplace.

“It’s a different process,” Karlberg said. “It often involves a calculated plan for taking the time to introduce the decision, discuss it, and make people feel that they have been informed.”

This aspect of the Swedish workplace culture caused issues during the pandemic, when many employees began to work from home.

“Decisions are taken in a much more informal way, and it can be difficult to pinpoint exactly when something was decided. And we also saw that during the pandemic, that the typical Swedish organisation – which is very non-hierarchical – suffered a lot, because a lot of leadership is practiced in an informal work environment.”

“So when people were taken away from that environment – because suddenly they were working from home – it was sort of, you know, ‘how do we practice leadership now?’, whereas in an organisation with a much clearer hierarchy, it was never an issue where decisions were made or how leadership was practiced, because it was done in a different way.”

“And in the more informal, flatter organisations, we had to find a different way to do that, to translate into the virtual room.”

Despite this, Karlberg does believe that Sweden’s leadership style is effective.

“I would say that it is, yes. We stand out pretty well as a nation when it comes to different types of national measurements of competitiveness. We score quite high on that. Of course, there’s also a drawback, if people don’t want to take that responsibility and ownership, because then it’s not typical that the manager would step up and change the leadership style. So it depends on whether you actually share the same expectation.”

Where does the Swedish leadership style come from?

Sweden’s collaborative leadership style is perhaps a product of Sweden’s history, Karlberg said.

“We have always been a small country, very dependent on export. And that means that we had to adapt to the rest of the world and to other markets, but also having to collaborate – we’re too small to quarrel or fight.”

“This has been a way to bring people together in the same direction – it’s a little bit like how we work with the unions with much more of a collaborative focus instead of being confrontative, because it’s simply not rational for a small country like us.”

There’s also a strong tradition of independence in Sweden, Karlberg explained.

“There’s a genuine tradition of independence in the sense of mutual respect. And of course, a lot happened during the 20th century with the development of equality and the whole idea of individualist thinking. Where we’re individualistic with regard to family, with regard to gender, with regard to our roles in society.”

“I think that plays a part as well, with equality and also that everyone matters in that sense.”

You can hear Paul O’Mahony’s interview with Karlberg in our Sweden in Focus podcast where we discuss all aspects of life in Sweden and shed light on the latest Swedish news. Listen and subscribe.

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MY SWEDISH CAREER

My Swedish Career: ‘I went freelance and don’t regret it for a second’

Irish journalist, author and former musician Philip O’Connor managed to start off his career in journalism by 'shooting at the moon'. He has since been creating a digital footprint for those with links to Ireland and setting up community events in Stockholm.

My Swedish Career: 'I went freelance and don't regret it for a second'

When Philip walked into one of his favourite restaurants in Märsta, feeling nervous and somewhat guilty since he was going in to ask for a job, it went better than anticipated.

“I went in one night to ask for a job. I had been in there before, and I was kind of friendly with the two sons. I kind of felt embarrassed going in there and asking for a job because it really was the last chance saloon for me.”

But he didn’t even have to ask for the job himself.

“The eldest son said, ‘Oh, here, here’s a beer. I’ll be right back to you in a second’ and I went in there with my tail between my legs. He came out and said, look, normally I wouldn’t ask but I am desperate for somebody to work here. Could you possibly consider walking a few shifts here? I said ‘ah yeah, I’ll do you the favour’,” he tells The Local, laughing.

When Philip first arrived in Sweden in 1999, guitar in hand, he thought that a new country and atmosphere would give him the chance he needed to go further with his music career. However, a new issue appeared. One night when he got on stage he just froze.

“I went there to play in O’Connor’s pub out in Uppsala on the square and for the first time in my life, I got stage fright. I was standing there, and I didn’t understand what it was until years later.”

As he continued to work in the restaurant, his passion for creativity was still in the back of his mind.

With the experience he had writing for music magazines and working in local radio in Ireland, he started to apply for work in media companies. However, that proved to be more difficult than expected. Having gone through a long list of potential media outlets that could take him on for either work placement or for work, he received nothing back.

“There’s a big difference between Ireland and Sweden in terms of, in Ireland, if you have the gift of the gab, if you have the ability to talk your way into situations, you don’t need pieces of paper or anything else like that. If you just, fake it till you make it kind of thing, that works. That didn’t work in Sweden.”

CAREER TIPS:

He then took the opportunity to do an IT course at Komvux, Sweden’s adult education centre, which he used as a backdoor to get into the job he really wanted. Following the completion of that course, Philip, once again, set out to apply for jobs in media organisations and went through a long list. He had no luck until he got to the last name on the list, Reuters – the worldwide news agency.

“Talk about shooting at the moon. I sent off the email thinking, there’s absolutely no chance that these people are going to let me in the door.”

“About 10 minutes later, I got a phone call and they said, yeah, we need somebody to come in on work experience here to help out in the IT department.”

2002 and now working in the IT department with Reuters, it provided Philip with the perfect opportunity to work his way up. Just a few hours after starting his work experience, he was offered a part-time job with the company.

He went on to write a variety of articles within the IT department, which included, how to set up the computer, set passwords and how to store files. This then led him into writing news articles for the company.

“As long as you worked hard and you were in the right environment, people noticed, and I found that to be really refreshing. Because oftentimes you’ll find that you work hard and people either don’t notice or they don’t care or they’re happy enough for what you’re doing, and they just want to leave you there,” he says.

In 2006 he wrote sport-related articles for the news agency before later taking over the sports department at the end of the decade. This position was a freelance contract and required him to decide on whether to take it or not, but he jumped at the opportunity.

“The moment I was told here’s the sports, but it’s freelance, I said where do I resign. It was a case of going out the front door and coming in through the backdoor as a freelancer. So, I had to give up a sort of a permanent pensionable job with a company car to take a freelance contract and I don’t regret it for a second.”

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After spending over two decades in Stockholm and continuing to work freelance, Philip now also spends his time trying to create a sense of community among the Irish population in Sweden.

Through his podcast, Irish In Sweden, he speaks to people with a variety of backgrounds, from those who are involved in the Irish societies in Sweden, to business owners, politicians and everyone in between. However, the definition of Irish is flexible, he explains, since there was a woman on the podcast who owns a bookstore in Gothenburg, but her parents are Irish.

“As long as those who have a story to share that would be of interest to the Irish listenership then they are welcome on the podcast,” he says.

Philip O’Connor runs the Global Gael and Irish in Sweden podcasts. Photo: Private

He created the podcast as a time capsule which captures the lives of those with Irish links living in Sweden, noting that Ireland lost all records dating before the 1840s, when the Public Record Office of Ireland was burned in 1922 during the civil war.

“Who are we as an Irish community, pass that along to the younger generations, and just for them to understand, the culture, the way we speak English, it’s quite unique. We have our own language as well. To pass on all those things, and that perspective and history.”

In October 2022, Philip expanded his podcast offering by creating a global stage for the Irish around the world. The Global Gael podcast offers the opportunity for those who have gone on to do a wide variety of things, from journalism to sport and actors to ambassadors.

Creating a sense of community in Stockholm, not only for the Irish, is another task he aims to complete. He is able to do this through teaching kids how to podcast, from planning and preparation to recording. He has also coached soccer as well as Gaelic games, a sport native to Ireland and a cross between soccer and rugby, and he teaches Brazilian jiu jitsu at least twice a week in Jakobsberg.

Along with that he mentors young journalists both in Sweden and around the world, through helping them develop and opening doors for them.

“Many of them would be from a similar background to me – usually with an immigrant background and coming from a non-academic home and without the natural networks that might exist for people whose families have previously been involved in media,” he says.

“These are often the kinds of people that aren’t heard in media, and their perspective is vital to understanding who we are as a society, and where we want to go.”

“All of these things, it’s community,” he says.

He says the podcasts aren’t only engaging for Irish people, but also for others thanks to the diverse selection of topics discussed and the people who he interviews.

“The podcasts are what I hope and believe will be what I end up doing long-term, but building an audience is like going into battle every day – it’s a very competitive sector and people only have so much time and attention! That said, it’s a great medium and harks back to where I started in community radio.”

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