Motivated teams: an inter‐cultural case Available to Purchase

Explores a managerial philosophy which focusses on teamwork. Investigates how a simple yet sound belief in people takes shape on the ground and infiltrates all aspects of organizational activity. The context is a heavy truck assembly plant which is Swedish‐owned yet located in northern France. Outlines the novel processes of work organization employed in this complex multicultural setting. Although both European countries, Sweden and France, are, in key cultural terms,polar opposites, represents an example of a successful inter‐cultural business activity. Based on a series of semi‐structured interviews with senior management from both France and Sweden and considerable observation of activities on the shopfloor, looks at the nature of, and differences between, Swedish and French national cultures in an attempt to account for the success of the plant and the skill of its managers in overcoming potential cultural pitfalls and discusses the contributions made by each culture to the success story.