Managing organization development and change across Scandinavian borders

Abstract

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.