NORDIC LIGHTS

Åke Sandberg, worked with twenty-five colleagues in developing and editing this book. He is Professor em. at the Department of Sociology, Stockholm University, formerly at the National Institute for Working Life (Arbetslivsinstitutet) and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in the Departments of Industrial Management and Computer Science and Communication.

Download the  introductory chapter  here
including the Foreword by Paul Adler
Nordic Lights introductory chapter  pdf

Opinion article in Dagens Nyheter, DN Debatt  ”Den nordiska modellen kan stå emot omvärlden”  pdf

From the back cover of the book
The Nordic experience shows that there is no trade-off between equality and economic development. These models of productive welfare and solidaristic individualism are today challenged due to global pressures and politics of deregulation and cuts in welfare. Inequalities grow. But, in spite of their international dependence, the Nordic countries have been different for a long time, and can be so also in the future. Their “provisional utopias” change as experiences grow.

With this background Nordic Lights analyses how management trends like Lean, NPM, BPR, and Toyotism are adapted in the Scandinavian countries. What are the consequences for women and young workers, work environment, flexibility and unions? Do Scandinavian contributions to a decent and productive working life – like socio-technical work organisation and dialogue based management as known from Volvo – show that another world of work is possible?

“The Nordic countries have long been beacons for people around the world eager to see workplaces transformed into spaces where working people could express their humanity and aspirations. Readers will find empirical accounts and equally rich theoretical perspectives on the team-work alternatives to the Taylorist and Fordist models and on the broader context in politics, the economy and the labour market.”
From the Foreword by Paul S. Adler, Professor of Management and Organization, University of Southern California

Links fore more details:
Nordic Lights introductory chapter
Endorsements Manuel Castells, Russell Lansbury, Ruth Milkman,
Michael Schumann and Chris Smith
Table of contents
“The future of work“, Related seminar with prof. Richard B. Freeman at the Institute for futures studies
“Makten och ledningen i arbetslivet“, seminar, in Swedish, about Nordic Lights
Ledning för alla? Perspektivbrytningar i arbetsliv och företagsledning, 4 th ed, (in Swedish, SNS )

Flyers with lower book price, order directly from the publisher:  Nordic Lights Flyer #1 &   Nordic Lights Flyer #2