Power Distance And Organization Performance

Organizational structures have changed greatly in the last fifty years. Whereas most organizations were once rigid and centralized, most organizations are now taking advantage of flexible and decentralized structures. These new structures have affected the standard relationships between employees and managers. Additional layers of management have been created which blur the lines between the functions of managers and the functions of employees. Employees have become decision makers, and some managers barely have any authoritative power. Subsequently, these changes to organizational structures have impacted organizational strategies. This too, expounds upon the increased power of the employee and the reduced authority of the manager. The changes in organizational strategies make use of the dispersion of power in order to reduce costs and enable additional safeguards within these organizations.

Unequal power is “the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed” (Hofstede, 1997, p. 28).

It is obvious that the comparison between two power is usually dismatched. The opponents are often overshadowed by the authorities, in turn, the opponents are weaker, two aspects in particular. Convention gets in the way of innovation and rebellion. It also restricted by the contemporary

Socialization is the unequal distribution of power, wealth, income and social status between individuals and groups. This distribution is not random, it is patterned and structured. Three important axes of global inequality are gender, race and ethnicity, and class. These inequalities are on a global scale and are found in virtually all societies. It wasn't until relatively recently, however, that a caste system developed to include race and ethnicity among class and gender. Since imperialism and the conquest of the America's, a number of social changes have occurred, and, as a result, the dominant groups today are not only higher in the social order, in terms of rank, but they are considered better as well.

Firstly, power distance is defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of organisations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. Hofstede notes that, "all societies are unequal, but some are more unequal than others." It has two types of power distance which is high power distance and low power distance. The high power distance society is paternalistic ways of

This aspect brings to light new forms of inequality allowing us to examine how inequality is distributed among the different groups in our societies. Inequalities brought about by race are more distributed among the minority groups.Where inequality might have be said to be decreasing,it is actually persisted at higher levels than anticipated. Governments have played part towards contributing to inequality as they have taken from the people their initiative, their freedom, their morality, pride, and drive. It has been argued that inequality is persistent because it drives the economy of the country and those it is

According to, Sociology: The Essentials, caste system is defined as a system of stratification (characterized by low social mobility) in which one’s place in the stratification system is determined by birth. This is also known as an ascribed status. “This system in found in the traditional Hindu population of India” (Haviland 256). Although it is found in other parts of the world, India is the most well known.

I decided to write my paper on the United States and China. Upon comparing the two countries on the Hofstede's Six Dimensions of Culture, this is the results I got out of it. The first dimension of culture is the power distance. When I compared the two, the United States was at a 40. China was double that at 80. So what exactly is power distance? Well, it is defined as, “the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. It has to do with the fact that a society’s inequality is endorsed by the followers as much as by the leaders” (Itim International, n.d.).

Power imbalances are inherent in most societies and these imbalances control who has what and who has privilege within a society. Imbalances of power create disparities in opportunity and

Comparisons will be made with individualism, long-term orientation, and power distance. Individual societies take care of the immediate family and themselves. On the other hand, other societies come collectively that are in groups. These findings will explain how different these two countries are. The first comparison will be individualism with the United States at 91% and Ghana at 15%. The next comparison will be long-term orientation. In the United States, we look five months to a year ahead. We do this because we know we have enough resources to last us that long. In other countries, they may not have resources to last them that long. With these statistics, the United States is at 26% and Ghana at 4%. Power distance will be the next comparison with these two countries. Power distance is the knowledge that members of institutions and organizations spread power unequally. Power distance represents the acceptance of this fact. Ghana holds the higher percentage at 80% and the United States at 40%. In Ghana, everything has its place and needs no further

But the most well-known caste system today is in Indo-Pak Sub-Continent. Around one in 25 people in the world experiences some form of caste discrimination; more than half of these are in India and Pakistan. This system dates almost 3600 years back and was formed on the need to form a social order in ancient India but is still prevalent today in the

Sociologists view power as a system of stratification that is based its ability to direct another person’s behavior, honor and prestige, which most of the times leads to patterns of social inequality. From this perspective, inequality means who gets what, how they get whatever they need, and why they need it in the first place (Diez, 2013). Power can either lead to social equality or inequality. In order to explain this in detail, the author of this paper explains two incidences, the first one in which the author was in power and the second one in which the author was a perpetrator of discrimination.

Hofstede defines culture as 'the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another '”. (Kirkman, Lowe &Gibson, 2006, p. 286). He started his research in the 1960’s, by examining the concept of culture within one of the largest multinational companies in the world – IBM. Thousands of interviews were held across 66 countries, although results were only used from only 40. As a result of his investigation, four dimensions of culture were identified: individualism-collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity-femininity. Years later Hofstede and Bond added another dimension, long-term orientation. (Hofstede and Bond 1988). First dimension, power distance is defined as the extent of willingness that societies accept the hierarchical power structure (Morrison 2006). Cultures, which are considered low power distance, tend to have preferences towards equality and decentralization of terms of power and

1. Power distance index (PDI): The degree to which the less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally.

A few disadvantages of India’s social system are that Religion, caste, and language are major determinants of social organizations. According to the US Department of State-Background Notes website, even though the government has declared the caste system as illegal, it still has a presence in occupational and societal hierarchies (The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs, 2010).