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Case Study

Volvo walks the talk: For men only - Should Eucorp walk along?

By Martha L. Maznevski and Karsten Jonsen

3 pages

October 2006

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Reference: IMD-4-0284

Like many other companies, the Volvo Group had a strong imbalance between men and women at all levels, especially in management. In response to this, the Volvo Group indicated several actions. This case describes one of the most innovative ones. Introduced in the early 2000s, the “Walk the Talk” training program is for men only, and is intended to help men learn to work more effectively with women managers. The case describes the program, including its development, its components, and managers’ and the company’s experiences with it. The program has been successful in helping men and women work more constructively together. The “Walk the Talk” program was evidently a success at Volvo. The challenging question is whether non-Swedish organizations could use the same approach effectively and what resistance it might meet.

Learning Objective

to discuss new content for gender-diversity training and the conditions under which different types of diversity initiatives can be successful.

Keywords

Diversity, Gender, Training, Leadership, Automotive, Organizational Behavior

Settings

Europe, Sweden
Volvo
2000-2006

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English

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Teaching note

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