Power distance essay

Power distance is a measurement for understanding the degree to which people in a country or a company view inequality. For a multinational company, conflicts can occur when power distances mix at the cultural boundaries. Being aware of these cultural views of power is important for conflict resolution and for understanding local laws.

Definition of Power Distance. Power distance is a term that describes how people belonging to a specific culture view power relationships - superior/subordinate relationships - between people, including the degree that people not in power accept that power is spread unequally.

Power distance is one of five cultural dimensions developed by Geert Hofstede. It basically measures how a culture views power relationships between people. Cultures demonstrating high power distance view power as distributed unevenly, according to a hierarchy of authority.

The Power Distance Index Hofstede has created “does not reflect an objective difference in power distribution, but rather the way people perceive power differences.” By looking at the power distance index, we can begin to understand why certain cultures have the values and rules that they do.