The Swedish Vs Asian management styles

This local Swedish article describes how the Swedes manage and lead in their organizations. As mentioned in the article, the Swedish management style is characterized by easy communication, low internal competition and anti-hierarchical organization structures.

Having been spending the last couple of months providing consulting work in a Swedish financial institution, the article pretty much sums up my experiences here. I am not exactly sure if I find their management style appealing. Having spend the earlier part of my life in Singapore, the experience here with the Swedes has been a totally new learning experience.
For one, decisions take ages to be made up, as it is management by consensus, not by pragmatism.
A decision which usually takes the Asian/Singaporean management a week to make would typically take two months for the Swedish management to do the same. In a Swedish organization, all related parties are consulted and if there are disagreements, decisions are postponed to a later date so that both parties can revert with even more information to justify their cases. There is no "ultimate" decision-maker who will preside over the issue, everyone involved is entitled to his/her views and unless everyone is satisfied, the issue will remain unresolved.
The article is also accurate in pointing out that the Swedes usually do plan ahead and try to anticipate all possible scenarios. But then again, there is only so much one can plan, there are some unknown unknowns which will only be made known when as the plan is being implemented.
Low internal competition also meant that there is little incentive for anyone to do better or aim higher than their peers, though on the brighter side, there is less politicking in the office. Personally, I think that part of the reason why internal competition is low is due to the fact that there is little monetary incentive to perform better than your peers.
Compensation in the front offices in financial institutions are typically calculated based upon profit numbers and very heavily performance calibrated. However, for this financial institution, compensation is primarily calibrated on hierarchy or seniority, little incentive for good performance.
I guess this management style is a exemplification of the Swedish society as a whole which places heavy emphasis on social equity.

The Singaporean Worker (vs the French)

Having had the chance to work in a French bank for 5 months alongside the notoriously fun and leisure loving French, it is perhaps only natural that I put forth some observations here.

The French (excluding those snobbish types living in Paris) have a wicked sense of humor - sometimes judged a tad crude or sexual. But one thing is for sure, once they are comfortable with you, they can be ridiculously funny, made even funnier when they try their jokes in English. They are best mixed with a relaxed attitude towards work, and a take-it-easy spirit. Oh yes, and they will try their utmost to include you in their discussions by speaking in English and if they ever break into their native French, they apologise for it. This is truely something I can take back with me.

The generous welfare benefits for the French employee are another stark contrast to what we have in Singapore. A typical employee in a financial institution gets up to 45+10 (compulsory+voluntary) days of annual leave to compensate them for working longer that the stipulated 35 hours a week. The 9+3 months of paid maternity+paternity leave is another feature of the generous welfare given to the French. Not forgetting also the free healthcare and education right up to university levels. The costs of this all? A rather breath-taking tax rate of as high as 45%, not including the various fees, muncipal taxes, etc. And a shrinking (in deficit currently) social benefits pool which could basically mean that current generation may not get to enjoy the full pensions promised to them in retirement. So you gain some, you lose some.

Whilst talking to a group of them over lunch once, I asked what they thought of their equivalent in Singapore. What's said was not surprising at all - their Singaporean counterpart works really hard and long hours and has twice their workload. And I believe, more than likely not paid any more than they are. [There are 1.5 Singaporeans in the team supporting Asia and sometimes NY, compared to 4 French in the team. The Singaporeans who get off work at 10pm SG time will be heartbroken to know that the French office is almost empty by 6pm FR time]

So how do we explain this? Paying a premium for a group of workers who seemingly have less work over another? Perhaps the French are indeed more productive? Perhaps it is a lifestyle thing? Or perhaps it is due to the fact that it is a French bank?

There's an ideal amongst the French and it is that they believe everyone should be entitled to a certain quality and standard of living which from my vantage is quite high (you got to forgive a Singaporean who grew up in a three-room HDB flat and living in the heartlands). So to them, life and time outside work is extremely important and they will not spend more time than what they are paid.

I guess for Singaporeans, like one senior minister once remarked, working hard is something we cannot shake off...

Saying Goodbye to Eurostar Waterloo

A typical week for me would be as follows:
Starting Monday
a. Crawling outta bed at 5.30 am in the moring - it gets tougher in winter .. I am finding it harder and harder to leave the cosy bed, especially with my wife beside me ...
b. Leave the flat by 6.00 am to catch the tube to Waterloo station - it's bloody cold and dark at 6 in the morning in winter
c. Check into the Waterloo Eurostar station for the 7.09am train to Paris - on some days I barely make it
d. Reach Gard du Nord in Paris at 10.59 am Paris time and make my way to the office

And on Friday, I make the return trip home across the Atlantic, usually reaching home at about 9 or 10pm London time.

The interesting thing to note is the different way I am treated by the immigration officers. The French officers usually take less than 20 seconds to waive me through the checkpoint. They take a look at my passport, have a look at my unwashed face and let me through. At the british checkpoint, it usually takes me between 2 to 5 minutes, a barrage of questions unleased upon me; what am I doing in the UK, what is my wife doing, how long will I stay in the UK, what's my occupation, why do I make that many visits to Malaysia (cos I used to be working for a Malaysia client); I have grown smarter since and I now know that a BIG smile usually works wonder.



I was this close to missing the train at Waterloo .... The train departs at 7.09am ... That was the last time I departed from the Waterloo station.
Beginning 14th Nov, the Eurostar departs from the St Pancras Station, which I think is long overdue; the train travels on the normal rail lines from Waterloo to Ashford, UK, which means travelling at a speed no faster than 70km/h until it reaches Ashford.

Losing Credibility

It's a holiday today in Paris and I am working in the office. I like working in the office when it is the holidays as the quiet surroundings bring a sense of peace and serenity, especially when you have a big problem on your hands.

This week has got to be the most nerve-racking and morale-deflating week of my life. I have lost my credibility due to the repeated failed attempts to resolve a production issue on the client's side. The problem, in many ways, is complex, and it is not helped by the fact that I was working alone on this, together with the developer who seem to have as much difficulty as I have in deciphering where the issue lie.
As consultants, we are usually put on the firing line first and in my eagerness to move forward, I broke the one rule that should never be broken - I gave advise without first testing it on my end and the advice given was quite a disaster. The client was furious and the matter escalated to upper management. Guess my project manager had a pretty tough time with higher management yesterday, this client is not an easy one to deal with.

My credibility lost and my confidence naturally shaken. It's tough to pick up the pieces and try to move forward, but it's nevertheless a good learning experience. I am glad it is a holiday in Paris today. I miss a hug from my wife....

;-) Today also happens to be my fifth year working in this company ... Nice!

Automation - Boon or Bane?

Having worked for 5 years in an IT firm for the finance industry, I cannot help but see automation from both sides of the coin. Financial institutions, since the turn of the century, have embarked on a cost-cutting imperative in order to boost their profit margins. The banks embraced technology wholeheartedly; catch-phrases like 'STP' (Straight-Through-Processing) were coined, to illustrate the ability of using technology to process trades from cradle to grave without manual intervention. The end result is increased productivity and more time or effort can be placed on eliminating exceptions to the well-oiled transaction process.

This increased automation of the finance factory invariably lead to job losses and also increased demand on highly-skilled workers who are both conversant in finance and technology. The increased faith and expenses in technology no doubt provides many rewards but most are oblivious to the dark side of this increased addiction to automation.

Increasingly, I noticed that the concept of STP is hijacked and many users are using this term loosely, relentlessly trying to increase their automation rate across all processes as much as possible. Automation works fine if processes follow a fixed and orderly path. Exceptions from this path can be easily identified and eliminated. However, if in the first place, the path is not predicable, and if there are thousands of possible credible outcomes, any effort at automation will be costly and dangerous.

I recalled an encounter with a client who was happily recounting their efforts at increasing their STP rate. As we dived deeper into their processes, it became apparently that there are some exceptions which are not captured and have serious implications. Jokingly I cracked up, "Yeap, looks like you have STPed your problems as well".