Page 97 - Cultures and Organizations

More Equal than Others 79

people trust the police, fewer young people join a political party, and fewer
29
people have ever participated in debates with policy makers. Even in the
most democratic system, journalists and whistle-blowers exposing scandals
have a difficult time. In less democratic systems they risk their lives.

Institutions from small-power-distance countries are sometimes copied
in large-power-distance countries, because political ideas travel. Political
leaders who studied in other countries may try to emulate these countries’
political systems. Governments of smaller-power-distance countries often
eagerly try to export their institutional arrangements in the context of
development cooperation. However, just going through the moves of an
election will not change the political mores of a country if these mores
are deeply rooted in the mental software of a large part of the population.
In particular, underfed and uneducated masses make poor democrats, and
the ways of government that are customary in more well-off countries are
unlikely to function in poor ones. Actions by foreign governments intended
to lead other countries toward democratic ways and respect for human
rights are clearly inspired by the mental programming of the foreign help-
ers, and they are usually more effective in dealing with the opinions of the
foreign electorate than with the problems in the countries supposed to be
helped. In Chapter 11 we will come back to this dilemma and possible ways
out of it.

Power Distance and Ideas

Parents, teachers, managers, and rulers are all children of their cultures; in
a way, they are the followers of their followers, and their behavior can be
understood only if one also understands the mental software of their off-
spring, students, subordinates, and subjects. Moreover, not only the doers

in this world but also the thinkers are children of a culture. The authors of
management books and the founders of political ideologies generate their
ideas from the background of what they learned when they were grow-
ing up. Thus, differences among countries along value dimensions such
as power distance help not only in understanding differences in thinking,
feeling, and behaving by the leaders and those led but also in appreciating
the theories produced or adopted in these countries to explain or prescribe
thoughts, feelings, and behavior.