Power Distance
(google images)
Power Distance refers to how much a culture does or does not value hierarchical relationships. Countries with high power distances are those where ranks stand out and class division is greatly encouraged. Countries that clearly reflect this are China, India,Russia, France, among others ( see graph). Germany is also an example of this, as a matter of fact there was a case where a German family lived in the United States for a year and when they returned to Germany they were surprised to see how much the power distance differences among the two countries reflected in a simple scenerio in the supermarket. They were in the supermarket and were scolded by the cashier who told them to hurry up packing the grocieries, something that is not seen in a country such as the United States with a lower power distance.
WHY DID THE CASHIER SCOLD THE CUSTOMER? In socialist Germany, cashiers had great power and could speak whatever way they pleased to the customers since they were the ones who provided the things you needed and had the ¨power", which is why the cashier felt complety normal treating the cashier this way, however this same kind of behaviour is completely unacceptable in countries such as United States or low power distance countries.
This minor example comes to show us that cultural differences play an important role when it comes to business implications because culture affects the way people act, think, and see the world around them and it is important to understand this in order to avoid unpleasant situations in the business field.
(as part of task #4)
ResponderEliminarKaren: i enjoyed the case it really shows the power distance in a clear easy example, also the rest of the blog looks really nice.
but for some reason i don't understand the 1st image, and is missing some references.
speaking of power distance how is this portrayed in the Latin American countries as well?
btw. we have the same theme for our blog :)
Hi Karen,
ResponderEliminarI am afraid I have to criticise your article a little bit:
The situation you are explaining to us must have happened at least 20 years ago before the fall of the Berlin Wall, if you really want to show high power distance with it. Because while Germany was seperated in two parts your statement was true, I guess. As there already existed a shortage of goods supermarket workers had some power (more or less) because in the socialist regime, their jobs were save (because of the GDR's dogma of full empolyment) and the people had to come again to buy their goods.
BUT: the situation in (East) Germany changed after the reunification and the graph you integrated from Hofstedes website actually shows the opposite of the described situation: THE PDI in Germany is actually lower than in the United States. This means that although we have a saying "Der Kunde ist König" (the customer is the King) you MIGHT (not necessarily) have some small talk with the cashier on a more a less equal level (or an interaction where both might think the other one is stupid ;-) ).
I am sorry for criticising that, it is just to make clear, that the situation in Germany changed a lot since 1990!
Furthermore, I don't really know what you want to express the picture of a German (in a "Wehrmachts"-Uniform from the army of the 2nd World War) and the American guy planning on ruling the world. For me, that is kind of a questionable and equivocal picture :-/ Im sorry, I don't wanna play a typical, hypercritical German, I just think it's kind of outta place....
Besides that, I really like the appearance of your blog and that you always try to explain the topics of the course with practical expample of reality.
Your blog-selection is very interesting, international politics orientated. I like that! Keep on going like that!
Karen, I am very glad to see how many comments, your blog has. This is an indicator that you managed to bring attention to your Blog. You used eyecatching images, original ideas and few words. Nevertheless It´s interesting to observe the constructive comments from your colleagues. This shows we have to be careful and try to be more sensitive towards different perspectives and use accurate information. Good Job!
ResponderEliminarYour post is really interesting.
ResponderEliminarI lived in Germany for a year, and I did not see much power distance.
I personally think Colombia is a much better example of power distance than Germany.
The funny thing is that in German supermarkets, after the purchase people like to pack their own stuff, (even Wall-Mart had problems with this; they wanted to pack the things for the customer to save time and to provide the service, but the people were not comfortable with this).
If think that if you have been living in USA for a year, where the stuff is packed for you, and then go back to Germany and shop in Aldi (German supermarket), you may be lacking practice and let a long line build up behind you. I think is totally normal for the cashier to get upset if you are slow, especially in a culture where time is highly valued.
I believe the comparison between USA and Germany is not possible in this context, because in USA cashiers pack the things for you, and in Germany you do it by yourself.
But I really do like your post. I believe it’s really good. I don’t care if it’s right or not. I like it because it´s interesting and makes people think. That’s what a blog is supposed to do. I just have to post a comment, and this is what came to my mind :)