Management style focus of Swedish delegation at IUPUI

A delegation of Swedish factory employees and university officials will make its way to IUPUI to discuss that nation's management style.

The four-member group will be in Indianapolis next week (Oct. 21-22) to meet with faculty, staff and students as part of its effort to learn how the Swedish style of management works in the United States. A brown-bag lunch presentation open to the public is among the activities slated.

The Swedish way of doing business includes worker involvement in areas such as strategic planning.

Pinkerton Security, an American company, is being acquired by the Swedish security company Securitas. Swedish officials are building the foundation of a study that would examine how Swedish ways of doing business work at that American company. The group will be in the United States for 11 days, traveling to Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Columbia, Mo.

Participants

The delegation includes Bengt Persson and Bertil Olsson of the Centre for Industrial Engineering and Development at Dalarna University, and Tommy Andersson and Conny Carlsson of Jarnbvaksklubben-Mettall. Their visit to IUPUI will include meetings with labor studies faculty and other faculty and staff, as well as an IUPUI International House-hosted reception.

At noon Friday, Oct. 22, the group will join former U.S. Rep. Andy Jacobs for the brown-bag lunch panel discussion hosted by the IU School of Liberal Artsbased Indiana Center for Intercultural Communication. The event, open to the public at no charge, will be in Cavanaugh Hall, Room 323 and will focus on "Swedish Workers' Experience: Working in a Non-Union American Mini-Mill."

Compared with traditional American business practices, the Swedish way of doing business includes more worker involvement in areas such as strategic planning, said David Williams, a labor studies student coordinating the delegation's visit. Swedish officials believe their model has been successful in other European nations and are eager to test its success in this nation.

To read about the Indiana Center for Intercultural Communication, go to:

http://www.iupui.edu/~icic/activities.html

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