Finnish Business Management Style

Industry and management in Finland has tended to be dominated by engineers. (Indeed, engineers are held in similar social esteem to those as in countries such as Germany.)

The dominance of engineers in the management corpus has led to a strong technical bent with a reliance being placed on systems and well-organised procedures. Managers place more emphasis on effectiveness and order than on flair and initiative (which are more useful in the design and R&D side of the business.)

Finns respect modesty and ironic self-deprecation. People do not like to show any airs and graces, nor do they like to be on the end of a sales pitch. Therefore managers take a low-key approach to managing others. It is not particularly the manager’s role to motivate the troops through pep-talks or positive feedback sessions. Delegation is more a matter of setting tangible tasks and defining benchmarks against which results can be quantifiably and non-emotionally measured. Once tasks have been delegated, the manager would not expect, or be expected, to closely scrutinise progress.

Within larger companies, major decisions would tend to be made by a team of senior executives in a collective fashion. This process can be slow and painstaking – Finns have a history of conservatism and change happens only after very deep consideration by all involved parties.

Author

This country-specific business culture profile was written by Keith Warburton who is the founder of the cultural awareness training consultancy Global Business Culture.  Global Business culture is a leading training provider in the fields of cross-cultural communication and global virtual team working.  We provide training to global corporations in live classroom-based formats, through webinars and also through our cultural awareness digital learning hub, Global Business Compass.

This World Business Culture profile is designed as an introduction to business culture in Australia only and a more detailed understanding needs a more in-depth exploration which we can provide through our training and consultancy services.

Author

This country-specific business culture profile was written by Keith Warburton who is the founder of the cultural awareness training consultancy Global Business Culture. 

Global Business culture is a leading training provider in the fields of cross-cultural communication and global virtual team working.  We provide training to global corporations in live classroom-based formats, through webinars and also through our cultural awareness digital learning hub, Global Business Compass.

This World Business Culture profile is designed as an introduction to business culture in Finland only and a more detailed understanding needs a more in-depth exploration which we can provide through our training and consultancy services.