Swedish management style perceived by Chinese employees

Abstract

With the economic and technology development, International Corporation among countries becomes increasingly popular. All countries become an entire unit, therefore understanding among different cultures is important. Different cultural background leads to different management style. The cultural diversity is needed to cooperate globally. Chinese management style and Swedish management style has its own characteristics. Study the differences between these two different management styles can offer an opportunity for understanding each other. The purpose of this thesis is to compare and analyze the differences between Chinese management style and Swedish management style. Empirical data is collected from individual interviews with five Chinese employees who work in Sweden and under Swedish manager. The result of the study reveals that Swedish management style is people-oriented, empowerment and small hierarchy. Swedish manager achieve their goal by “loose” management while Chinese manager is more in control and focus on relationship building between manager and employees.