Managing organization development and change across Scandinavian borders

Many of our change theories and models originate from North America, and recently the question concerning how these theories apply across borders has been raised. In general, more bottom-up and inclusive processes are recommended when managing change in the Scandinavian countries, however this will depend on the types of changes that are being made and the reasons for initiating planned change. In this paper, we focus not on the similarities between the Scandinavian countries but rather probe how subtle differences between these three neighbouring countries might influence the management of change and ask which cultural aspects need to be taken into account when planning and managing change across Scandinavia? We address this topic conceptually by linking common change management practices and prescriptions to research on culture and management in Scandinavia

Talent development as an alternative to orthodox career thinking: the Scandinavian case

This chapter argues that orthodox career thinking – which focuses on vertical progression to higher-level managerial positions - is suffering from three shortcomings. First, it is insufficient to explain career dynamics in modern knowledge organizations. Second, it disregards the importance of experiential, lifelong learning on the job. Third, it does not incorporate how career is embedded in the organizational and cultural context, including a wide range of national, institutional features. Based on this, the chapter suggests that we move the focus from narrow career thinking to the more broad-banded concept of talent. The talent concept signifies any kind of outstanding competence of an individual (whether it is managerial or any kind of significant specialist field) which is strategically important to the organization, difficult to achieve, difficult to replace by other types of resources, and difficult to replicate by competitors. Also, a broader definition of how talent can be developed is needed, as it should encompass informal and experiential methods as well as formal education. The broader concept of talent is discussed in relation to the Scandinavian context, as the Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) are knowledge intensive economies with a highly educated workforce. This characteristic makes a broader talent paradigm much more appropriate that an orthodox managerial career perception and model