16 Facts About Power distance

Power distance refers to the relationship between authority and subordinate individuals that depends on how the latter react to the former.

Power distance was the first to conduct a major cross-country study on power distance that spanned fifty countries and thousands of employees from a major corporation.

Research has suggested that power distance can vary from culture to culture, which can be particularly prevalent in international corporations.

In higher PDI cultures, the power relations are paternalistic and autocratic, and centralized authority exists; there is a wide gap or emotional distance which is perceived to exist among people at different levels of the hierarchy.

Mulder's laboratory experiments in the social and organizational context of the Netherlands, a low power distance culture, concluded that people attempted to seek "power distance reduction".

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Power distance was further analyzed as one of the nine cultural dimensions explained in the GLOBE Research Program, which was conceived in 1990 by Robert J House of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Power distance is a significant dimension in cross-cultural environments that it unconsciously influences people's behavior in different countries, which contributes to so-called "cultural norms", which are shaped by perceptions and acceptance of power inequality to a certain degree.

The study finds that low power distance leaders facilitate a change-oriented environment for subordinates to discuss their ideas and concerns which leads to their admiration.

The study further confirms that the ideas and solutions in this power index are given to them by their leaders, so it seems contradictory for those in the high-power distance to speak up about their concerns or ideas because they are accustomed to direction.

In business, power distance can be defined as the acceptance of the relationship between the highest and lowest ranked members in an organization.

Yet, some researchers recently attested that employees and junior staff from high power distance countries are less likely to seek help from their supervisors.

In contrast, employees in high power distance cultures are less likely to be themselves around authority; They are less sensitive to insulting remarks, and more likely to accept an erroneous action from authority without consideration of fair treatment.

Conversely, people in low power distance countries are more sensitive towards any unequal phenomena, and their unacceptance of dissonance endows them with a greater sense of responsibility for adjusting or correcting the problems in person.

People with high power distance backgrounds perceive most of the issues as rightful inequality, and are reluctant to get themselves involved with "troubles", and usually ignore them.

Conversely, low power distance societies are intolerant with unfairness and are more likely to make an effort in eliminating dissonance in every possibility.

Power distance affects cultures all over the world and the interactions different cultures have with each other.