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Scandinavian Managers on Scandinavian Management

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International Journal of Value-Based Management

Abstract

This study explores how Scandinavian managers perceive themselves as managers.In particular the focus is on how and to what degree they perceive themselvesas Scandinavian managers, i.e. managers working within a cultural(and political) context to which they have to adapt their management style.Scandinavian management as a concept is discussed. It is furthermore proposedthat management in the three Scandinavian countries does not differsignificantly from one another, but differ from that in non-Scandinaviancountries. In oder to obtain a deeper understanding of the conceptScandinavian management, a constructivistic approach was chosen. Based onFocus-group interviews the motives behind the preferred managementstyle were revealed. Two types of motives were identified: an ideological andan instrumental, meaning that one group of managers had a more calculativeapproach, whilst the other had a more voluntaristic one.

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Grenness, T. Scandinavian Managers on Scandinavian Management. International Journal of Value-Based Management 16, 9–21 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021977514976

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