Power Distance and Workplace Conflict - Article Example

CHAPTER 1
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Many organizations carry out their operations across the world either directly or through their affiliates. As such, the organizations employ staff from diverse backgrounds. In fact, staff diversity is one of the attributes that makes giant organizations popular. However, such diverse staff has their own cultural backgrounds, which, in some cases, may not be compatible with the cultural backgrounds of their colleagues. Therefore, organizations that have staff from different countries and cultures will find an obstacle in relation to their training, namely synchronizing their dissimilarities. Depending on the extent of the cultural differences, the training may be a smooth activity; however, it may be complex require a lot of investment in both time and resources (Nixon & Dawson, 2002).

The term culture refers to the socially transmitted behavior patterns, beliefs, norms, and values of any given community. People who share similar cultural backgrounds, or who come from the same community, utilize elements of their culture to help them to interpret their surroundings and also guide their interactions with other persons. In addition, culture is a phenomenon that is derived from an interaction between social and psychological factors. As such, individuals internalize messages about given sets of rules, values, beliefs, and preferences, as well as expectations from their environment. Hence, culture is a derivative of individual experience, that is, something that is learned or developed by individuals on their own or that is passed on to them socially through ancestors or contemporaries. Culture is also a pattern of behavior that is transmitted to members of a given group from previous generations of the same group (Vance & Paik, 2006, p. 37; Banfield & Kay, 2008, p.198; Performance Research Associates & Performance Associates, Inc., 2007, p. 101; Koontz & Weihrich, 2006).

When people within an organization do not share a cultural background or do not have an understanding of such culture, difficulties arise in interpersonal relationships. Thus, multicultural workplaces are not devoid of conflict, while productivity is reduced through misunderstandings. Indeed, if such a situation persists in the workplace, it may lead to communication breakdown and curtail the effective operations of the organization. Nevertheless, it is possible to train workplace members to conform to the organizations’ policies and work regulations. However, due to inherent cultural differences between the various groups, differences in work performance may nevertheless remain (Ling, Ang, & Lim, 2007).

Four dimensions were identified by Hofstede (2001) as a tool to compare cultures: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, and masculinity (see table 1). From such a viewpoint, this dissertation examines the extent of the workplace cultural differences between the Japanese and the French. While there are many differences as well as similarities, between the two cultures, one of the most outstanding workplace attributes that distinguishes the Japanese and the French are the concept of power distance. Therefore, this paper will therefore review the two cultures, with specific reference to power distance in the workplace.

Dimension High Low
Power distance Supervisors are distant supervisors are close to their staff from their staff Supervisors are close to their staff
Uncertainty avoidance High risk-taking is encouraged Risk-taking is discouraged
Individualism Individual initiative, as well as private life, is valued Individual initiative is discouraged. Instead, collectivist culture is regarded as significant
Masculinity Assertiveness valued Warm, caring values are significant
Source: Boella (2000), p. 267 (originally taken from Hofstede)

Power distance is one of the four national cultural variables that pertain to the development of an organization as identified by Hofstede (2001). The other variables are uncertainty avoidance, (high versus low), individualism versus collectivism, and masculinity versus feminism (Hofstede 2001; Yaeger, Head, & Sorensen 2006, p. 47; Boella 2000, p. 267).