Importance is given to developing shared knowledge, which provide the basis for the allocation of work tasks, decision-making and techniques of self-management. All of this requires low staff turnover and long-term employee commitment -- something that Eriksson is clearly fostering.
Respect and praise: Eriksson respects his players for their talents and sees his job as bringing out the best in them. His style is facilitative and confidence-building -- a far cry from the half-time dressings-down that most players get.
Swedish companies likewise show their respect for employees in egalitarian employment conditions, family-friendly policies and adherence to EU working-hours directives. Respect for individuals leads to greater commitment.
Eriksson's style is very different from the barstool approach of most English managers.
He is the product of a cultural environment that has as its starting point different assumptions about what motivates people. From these emerge distinctive leadership approaches, organization structures and ways of doing business.
Sweden gets a bad press these days in the UK. New Labour ministers look to the US for inspiration, whether for macro-economic policies or for role models for developing business efficiencies.
But some are now asking, why not take another look at Sweden?
It has a low rate of social exclusion and scores highly on all international measures for quality of life.
A recent Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development study concluded that Sweden has the most advanced information economy in the world.
The cool approach of Sven-Goran Eriksson has done wonders for the England soccer team. Perhaps one could do worse than to re-think the advantages of the gung-ho approach of the US and British managers that are so much admired.
Richard Scase is a professor at the University of Kent, in southern England. His forthcoming book Living in the Corporate Zoo will be published in January.
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