When in Sweden…
Organizational Dynamics student Erinn Carey blogged about gender equality, health care, and the idea of "lagom."
It’s only a little larger than California, but the influence of Swedish ideas and innovations can be seen worldwide in government structures, health and social policies, working life, education, science, art, literature, and design. How do they do it? Twenty-two students in Penn’s Organizational Dynamics (OD) program spent a week there this summer considering how the Swedish ideal of “lagom”—a balanced approach—might translate to other nations.
“It was an opportunity to learn a new way of thinking and consider how we might incorporate these new approaches in our own organizations,” says first-year OD student Erinn Carey. The group experienced the Swedish culture from the inside, visiting homes as well as landmarks and meeting a range of professionals. “We would discuss each lecture or experience, drawing conclusions, and then continue the conversation over dinner,” Carey says. “My roommate was from Singapore; other classmates were from London and Pakistan. The group had such diverse perspectives that it made discussing the Swedish culture even more enriching.”
"Erinn’s blog demonstrates that as we learn more about a different culture and society, we learn more about our own, and more about ourselves,” says trip leader Alan Barstow, director and senior scholar of the Organizational Dynamics program. “We begin to see familiar things with new eyes and that makes all the difference.”
Check out Carey’s blog at http://learn-live-lagom.tumblr.com/ for more about Sweden and the trip.
To learn more about the Organizational Dynamics program at Penn, visit: www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics