Page 92 - Cultures and Organizations

74 DIMENSIONS OF NATIONAL CULTURES

This quote confirms the polarization in France between dependence and

counterdependence versus authority figures, which we found to be charac-
teristic of large-power-distance countries in general.
Visible signs of status in large-power-distance countries contribute
to the authority of bosses; a subordinate may well feel proud if he can tell
his neighbor that his boss drives a bigger car than the neighbor’s boss.
Older superiors are generally more respected than younger ones. Being
a victim of power abuse by one’s boss is just bad luck; there is no assump-
tion that there should be ways of redress in such a situation. If it gets
too bad, people may join forces for a violent revolt. Packaged leadership
methods invented in the United States, such as management by objectives
(MBO), will not work, because they presuppose some form of negotia-
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tion between subordinate and superior, with which neither party will feel
comfortable.
In the small-power-distance situation, subordinates and superiors con-
sider each other as existentially equal; the hierarchical system is just an
inequality of roles, established for convenience, and roles may be changed,
so that someone who today is my subordinate may tomorrow be my boss.
Organizations are fairly decentralized, with flat hierarchical pyramids and

limited numbers of supervisory personnel. Salary ranges between top and
bottom jobs are relatively small; workers are highly qualified, and high-

skill manual work has a higher status than low-skill office work. According
privileges to higher-ups is basically undesirable, and everyone should use
the same parking lot, restrooms, and cafeteria. Superiors should be acces-
sible to subordinates, and the ideal boss is a resourceful (and therefore
respected) democrat. Subordinates expect to be consulted before a decision
is made that affects their work, but they accept that the boss is the one who
fi nally decides.

Status symbols are suspect, and subordinates will most likely comment
negatively to their neighbors if their boss spends company money on an
expensive car. Younger bosses are generally more appreciated than older
ones. Organizations are supposed to have structured ways of dealing with
employee complaints about alleged power abuse. Some packaged leader-
ship methods, such as MBO, may work if given suffi cient management
attention.
Peter Smith, of the University of Sussex in the UK, through a network
of colleagues, in the 1990s collected statements from more than seven