The Effect Of Power Distance On Employee And The Organisational Outcomes Essay

In the paradigm of management, empowerment is viewed as losing authority and control over people and resources. Generally, people resent being driven, controlled and being seen as part of company equipment. This breeds apathy in employees towards the organisation’s intents in the market place and destroys accountability.

Refers to how society accept or does not accept the differences between people, as per hierarchies at workplace, also in politics and so on. Culture with high power distance accept that a boss is “higher” so deserve more authority and respect. Countries like Mexico, Philippines, and Japan are high power distance countries.

On the contrary, in small power distance countries there is limited dependence of subordinates on bosses, and a preference for consultation. The emotional distance between hierarchies will tend to be relatively small:

According to Hyde (2008), “Culture is determined by how people behave, and the only way to change culture is to change behaviors” (p. 6). A key aspect of changing behavior is enabling (empowering) employees to make decisions and create change within their work scope. By giving employees the power to make changes not only improves their morale, but also benefits the company in which they work by increasing their productivity. According to Marshall, et. Al (2006), “Allowing employees to make decisions increases their job satisfaction and sense of responsibility and translates into improvements in the quality and timeliness with which duties are performed, freeing management for more significant matters” (p. 39). By giving decision making authority to followers, transformation leaders are using what Bass (1991) referred to as psychological empowerment. In other words, empowerment influences follower outcomes.

The power in the office is not undefined, the leader is still monitored and controlled the rules of the organization (Grimsley). Loyalty is a big part of this power. If the loyalty is not shown in the company, then the employees may not comply with what the company demands. A president or manager may look for different to supplement their power. Such as charismatic

According to Nesan and Holt (1999), the collective definition of empowerment is “the process of giving employees the authority to take decisions, relating to their work processes and functions, and within the limits provided by management but requiring them to assume full responsibility and risks for their actions”.

Kanter also asserts there are two power sources within an company such as 'formal' and 'informal' power which are within the leaders of the organization (Wagner et al, 2010). With formal power, the main concentration is self-governing decision making which in compasses the high profile professions and informal power arrives from developing unions and connection with coworkers(Wagner et al., 2010). Research on Kanter's model demonstrates that work contentment, dedication, credence, and low burnout are powered by all six aspects of structural empowerment (Laschinger et al.,

In many companies, operational employees also need information to handle tasks and make decisions that were assigned to supervisors. This trend, called empowerment, gives employees more

Power has been addressed in academic literature in several ways but most commonly describing “power as the ability to control valued resources and administer rewards and

Managers should explain to employees what empowerment is and how it could have an impact personally. Managers need to be able to provide examples of what kind of authority the employee now has in making decisions. Will it include the ability to resolve customer complaints or determine work and vacation schedules? Alternatively, will empowerment be

It is important for managers to understand the sources of power and influence as they must rely upon the cooperation of subordinates in order to be successful. Strong managers rely upon more than just authority they also use leadership skills and power to obtain the most productivity from their staff. According to French and Raven (1959) there are five sources of power. Referent power seems to be the most influential and the least affected by change. To quote Paul Argenti,

Power Distance is the dimension that deals with the fact that all individuals in societies are not equal it expresses the attitude of the culture towards these inequalities amongst us. At 80 China sits in the higher rankings of power distance a society that believes that inequalities amongst people are acceptable, therefore subordinate-superior relationship tends to be polarized and there is no defence against power abuse by superiors. Individuals are influenced by formal authority and sanctions and are in general optimistic about people’s capacity for leadership and initiative. People

The dimension of power distance affect the HR activities by reactions to management authority differently among cultures. There will be greater status and authority differences between superiors and subordinates if the power distance increases. The next factor is individualism which it can up to which people in a country prefer to act as individual in the group. Asian countries more toward to group-oriented meanwhile United Stated more prefer to individualism. The last factor are masculinity and femininity which means masculine is for men and femininity is for women. The person with assertiveness, success, and competitiveness well known as masculine meanwhile feminine known by quality of life, close personal relationships, and

Power distance is defined as ‘the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions accept and expect that power is distributed unequally’ (Hofstede 1991, p.28). Global brands, luxury items and expensive

Power/distance (PD); this dimension is concerned with the degree of prevailing inequality. It can be said to be low or high. It is acceptable among people with or without power. A high PD prevails when the score reveals that the people understand their places in the society and accepts the unequal distribution of power. On the other hand a low PD is said to prevail when the score shows that equality exists among the members of the society. With reference to the United States and France and the Euro Disney Company, it is evident that high PD prevails in the French environment while a low PD prevails in the American environment. The French embraced the centralization system of the affairs of the company and strong hierarchies. There also existed large gaps in authority and respect in the French environment. The French system greatly acknowledged the leaders’ power and preferred getting information or responses from the top management. On the other hand the United States labor culture embraced team work and involving of as many people as possible in the decision making process. The supervisors and the workers are considered almost equal in the work place. It improves the relation among the employees both the junior and the seniors (Mind tools, 2011).