A study on power distance in cross cultural communication = nghiên cứu về triển vọng năng lực trong cuộc truyền thông văn hóa

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VINH UNIVERSITY
FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT
********************

A STUDY ON POWER DISTANCE IN CROSS CULTURAL
COMMUNICATION

GRADUATION THESIS
Field: Cross Cultural Communication
Student:

Trương Hữu Quý, K52B1

Student Code:

1157513575

Supervisor:

Mr. Nguyễn Hữu Quyết, Ph.D.

NGHE AN – MAY, 2015
i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For the completion of my graduation thesis, I would like to express my deepest
gratitude toward many people who supported me all the time.
First of all, I am greatly indebted to my supervisor, Dr. Nguyen Huu Quyet, for his

absolutely undeniable assistances and expert advice, without which my graduation thesis
could not have been completed.
I am extremely thankful to the Foreign Languages Department of Vinh University
for giving me an opportunity to carry out my study. I would also like to extend many
sincere thanks to all the great teachers of the Foreign Languages Department for their
excellent support and guidance. I really appreciate what they have taught me during my 4
years at Vinh Univeristy. They not only gave me the knowledge as well as the
experiences of life but also showed me the way to be a good man.
I also acknowledge with a deep sense of reverence toward my family who has
always supported me morally as well as economically.
Last but not least, my thanks go to all of my fellows at the Foreign Languages
Department. It would have been very hard for me to complete the graduation thesis
without their help and kindheartedness.
For those who were not mentioned in the acknowledgement, I would like to extend
all of my deepest gratitude for having supported, helped, and motivated me during the
time I had been doing my graduation thesis. Thank you very much!

Vinh , April 2015

Truong Huu Quy

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ABSTRACT
As we entered the 21st century, globalization has made intercultural communication
inevitable. Communicating with other cultures characterizes business, school, and
community. In theory of cross cultural communication, power distance value plays an
important role which forms verbal and nonverbal communication of communicators. In
this study, the author aimed to clarify the understanding about power distance in

communication process, provide knowledge about small power distance cultures and
large power distance cultures. The study has 3 main purposes. The first purpose is to give
basic understanding about cross cultural communication. The second purpose is about
power distance values and small-large power distance cultures. And the final purpose, the
author gives some advice to students on avoiding culture shocks and communication
breakdown.

iii


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................... 1
1.1. RATIONALE ................................................................................................. 1
1.2. AIMS OF THE STUDY ................................................................................ 2
1.3. SCOPE OF THE STUDY.............................................................................. 2
1.4. DESIGN OF THE STUDY ........................................................................... 3
CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ........................................... 4
2.1. CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION ............................................... 4
2.1.1. Communication ............................................................................................. 4
2.1.2. Culture. ......................................................................................................... 5
2.1.2.1. Definition of Culture .................................................................................. 5
2.1.2.2. The Iceberg Metaphor of Culture .............................................................. 6
2.1.3. Concept of Cross Cultural Communication. ................................................. 7
2.1.4. Why study Cross Cultural Communication. ................................................. 8
2.2. POWER DISTANCE ................................................................................... 12
2.2.1. Definition. ................................................................................................... 13

2.2.2. Small Power Distance Cultures. ................................................................. 16
2.2.3. Large Power Distance Cultures. ................................................................. 17
2.2.4. Possible reasons for the differences in Power Distance values .................. 17
CHAPTER 3: DEVELOPMENT ...................................................................... 20
3.1. POWER DISTANCE IN COMMUNICATION ....................................... 20
3.1.1. Communication within Small Power Distance Cultures ............................ 20
3.1.1.1. Features of Small Power Distance Cultures ........................................... 20
3.1.1.2. Verbal Communication ............................................................................ 21
3.1.1.3. Non-Verbal Communication .................................................................... 23
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3.1.2. Communication within Large Power Distance Cultures ............................ 26
3.1.2.1. Features of Large Power Distance Cultures ........................................... 26
3.1.2.2. Verbal Communication ............................................................................ 27
3.1.2.3. Non-Verbal Communication .................................................................... 30
3.2. Culture-shock caused by Misunderstanding of Power
Distance in Communication ............................................................................... 31
3.3. Importance of Student’s Recognition about
Cross Cultural Communication ........................................................................ 34
CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION .......................................................................... 35
4.1. SUMMARY OF THE STUDY ................................................................... 35
4.2. SUGGESTION ............................................................................................. 35
4.2.1. Suggestions for Avoidance of Culture Shock
and Communication Breakdown. ......................................................................... 35
4.2.1.1. Communicating with people from large power distance cultures. .......... 36
4.2.1.1. Communicating with people from small power distance cultures. .......... 37
4.2.2. Suggestions for further research. ................................................................ 38
REFERENCES

v


CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY
There are more than 200 countries all over the world. Each country has their own
culture which has come into existence and has been preserved and developed for a long
time. Throughout their history, cultures remain a unique valuable symbol of a country. As
time goes by, they have made the world looks like a colorful painting known as “culture
colors”. Nowadays, the world is in a global trend; human community is getting closer.
We are no longer bound inside the border of a territory or a country. Human community
has been making evolutional steps in bringing people closer and closer. People are
finding ways to get through the barriers of language, culture, geography to connect with
others. The establishment of the international organizations (WTO, WHO, UNESCO,
etc.), multinational corporations, and the openness of foreign policies in light of
integration have also created a free flow of trade and investment, people and labor,
making trans-border travel, work and communication much easier. As a result, the
globalization and integration require people who come from different countries to
accumulate more and more knowledge about cultures. Lacking knowledge about a
“global village” multicultural communication can lead to misunderstanding and culture
shocks. In this situation, we need a knowledge system to provide us a clear look at
communication process among cultures and equip us with the necessary communication
skills. It is obviously resulted in the birth of “Cross Cultural Communication”. It is not
only the theory but also a variety practical skills for everyone in the integration era.
In “Cross Cultural Communication theory”, power distance plays an important role
in communication. Hofstede and Bond (1984:419) defined “Power distance as the extent
in which the less powerful members of institutions accept that power is distributed
unequally”. In fact, the respected power distance is a culture value of Eastern countries
such as Vietnam, China, etc., which stay in contrast with almost all Western countries
where people emphasize the equality among individuals. This difference can make people

from collectivistic cultures versus individualistic cultures confused in communicating in
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cross cultural communication settings. Culture shocks and communication breakdown are
likely to occur without understanding about different, if not contrastive, cultural values.
In fact, the globalization and integration has been creating great opportunities for
students, especially those of English Major, to understand about power distance in
communication to get well-prepared for their future job. However, students are lack of
knowledge as well as skills in cross cultural communication. This does inspire me to
choose the topic “A Study of Power Distance Dimension in Cross Cultural
Communication” with an effort to raise awareness of readers about the importance of
power distance in communication to help them communicate across cultures effectively
as well as avoid culture shocks.
1.2. AIMS OF THE STUDY
The aims of the thesis are:
- To raise people’s awareness about the importance of power distance in
communication.
- To clarify the differences between small power distance cultures and large power
distance cultures.
- To give some advice in avoiding culture shocks and communication breakdown.
1.3. SCOPE OF THE STUDY
Power distance value is a large aspect of cultural values. Misunderstanding about
power distance can cause culture shocks and communication breakdown, so, in this
study, attention will be paid to how power distance affects the communication process.
Power distance also affects the many ways of life, for example: life styles, thoughts, etc.
So the author limited the range of thesis in communication aspect.
The study also clarifies the communication within small power distance cultures
and large power distance cultures to offer an insight into diverse cultures. The study also

2


gives some recommendations to avoid culture shocks for students, especially English
Major Students, when communicating across cultures.
1.4. DESIGN OF THE STUDY
The thesis has 4 chapters:
- Chapter 1: Introduction covers Rationale, Aims, Scope and Design of the study.
- Chapter 2: Theoretical background has 2 sub-sections:
+ Section 1 provides the theoretical background of communication process,
culture and cross cultural communication.
+ Section 2 provides the theoretical background of power distance value
- Chapter 3: Development presents the importance of power distance in process of
communication; clarifies the differences in small power distance cultures and large power
distance cultures; and shows the consequence when communicating across cultures
without understanding of power distance.
- Chapter 4: Conclusion summarizes the findings of the study; gives some
suggested solutions to avoid culture shocks and suggestions for further research.

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CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.1. CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION
2.1.1. Communication
In

our

everyday

life,

communication is an indispensable act.
We communicate with others to share
information,

to

exchange

thought,

feeling, etc. Oxford Dictionary defined
communication as “The imparting or
exchanging

of

information

by

speaking, writing, or using some other
medium”.

According

communication

is

the

to
process

that,
of

transiting messages by exchanging thoughts, feeling or information via speeches, signals,
behaviors, etc. Communication requires a sender, a message, a communicate channel and
a recipient. It is a complicated process but basically has 4 steps:
- Brainstorming: To make a communication, the sender will think about the content
of what are going to be transited.
- Transiting: The sender conveys the message to the recipient through languages
system (verbal communication), gestures, postures, body language, eye-contact, etc.(nonverbal communication)
- Interpreting: The recipient receives the message from the sender and interpret it by
his/her own ways.
- Responding: The recipient responds to what was conveyed.
All our communication messages are transited through 2 channels: Verbal and
nonverbal. Verbal messages are made up of language systems. (Language is a special gift
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of human being which makes them different with other mammals). In a verbal
communication process, we use languages to share information, messages. By using
languages, we can speak out, write down, type, and carve, etc., to communicate.
Meanwhile, nonverbal communication is the process of communication through sending
and receiving wordless cues between people. When we communicate wordless, we use

our body languages, eye contact, gestures and other behaviors to express ideas.
Intracultural communication (communication within culture) happens relatively
favorable in our life, except for some cases, because all communicators are similar in
culture. When we communicate interculturally (communication among cultures), it is
more complicated. Each culture has different communication styles, behaviors, norm,
beliefs, etc. That’s why understanding about other cultures and communication behaviors
are necessary.
2.1.2. Culture
2.1.2.1. Definition of Culture
Culture is an enigma. It is hard to define the term “culture”. The scholars have been
finding the way to define it for many decades. There are more than 160 different
definitions of the term “culture”.
D’Andrade (1984:116) conceptualized “culture” as: “Learned systems of meaning,
communicated by means of natural language and other symbol systems… and capable of
creating cultural entities and particular senses of reality. Through these systems of
meaning, groups of people adapt to their environment and structure interpersonal
activities… Cultural meaning systems can be treated as a very large diverse pool of
knowledge, or partially shared cluster of norms, or as intersubjectively shared,
symbolically created realities.”
In 2002, the UNESCO defined “culture” as: “Culture should be mentioned as a set
of characteristics of the soul, physical, and emotion and knowledge of a society or group

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people in society; and it contains, in addition to literature and art, the way of life, mode
of living, value systems, traditions and beliefs”.
President Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam also defined “culture” as: “Because of the
existence and purpose of life, people invented and created language, writing, ethics, law,
science, religion, literature, art, applications for daily life of clothing, food,

accommodation and the using methods. The whole of these creation and invention is
culture. Culture is the sum of all modes of living with its manifestation that mankind has
produced in order to adapt to the demands of life and survival demands”
In general, “culture” is a product of mankind. It was created and developed in the
interactive relationship between human and society. However, culture attended in
forming human and building the sustainable of the society. In social life, “culture” can be
understood as the activities which satisfied the human’s spiritual life demands. Culture is
an important factor of every countries which making them unique.
2.1.2.2. The Iceberg Metaphor of Culture
Culture is like an iceberg. The
surface of “cultural iceberg” is what
people see and hear in a culture. The
uppermost layer of cultural iceberg are
shaped by fashion, food, music, art, trends,
etc. A little bit deeper in cultural iceberg
metaphor, the cultural artifacts are shown
in languages, verbal symbols as well as
nonverbal behaviors.
The next level of the iceberg metaphor is the deeper layer which contains cultural
norms, symbolic meanings, cultural values, cultural beliefs and cultural traditions. We
cannot see or hear this part of culture. We have to discover and learn about it.

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- Cultural traditions include myths, legends, ceremonies, and rituals which are
passed on from one generation to the next generation via an oral or written medium.
- Cultural beliefs: refer to a set of fundamental assumptions that people hold with no
doubt.
- Cultural values: refer to a set of priorities that guide “good” or “bad” behavior,

“desirable” or “undesirable” practices, and “fair” or “unfair” actions.
- Cultural norms: refer to the collective expectations of what constitute proper or
improper behavior in a given situation.
2.1.3. Concept of Cross Cultural Communication
The term “Cross Cultural Communication” is used to refer to the process of
communicating among members of different cultures. For example, the lessons
discussion between an American teacher and a Vietnamese students; they come from
different cultural communities and each has individual beliefs, habits, etc.
“Cross cultural communication is defined as the symbolic exchange process
whereby individuals from two (or more) different cultural communities negotiate shared
meanings in an interactive situation” (Stella Ting-Toomey, 1999:16).
This definition contains 5 smaller concepts:
- Symbolic exchange: Two (or more) communicators share messages to each other
through verbal messages or nonverbal behaviors.
- Process: Cross cultural communication have transactional nature in which
communicators simultaneously encode (the senders choose words, behaviors, etc.) and
decode (the recipients interpret the signals from the senders into possible meanings).
- Different cultural communities: is the concept used to refer to the differences in
culture. Culture can be found in a whole nation, a region or a group of people which

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share the same cultural values, behaviors, beliefs, etc. For example, the Islamic culture
can be found in Middle East of Asian countries.
- Negotiate shared meanings: is the goal of communication process. The final goal
of all the communication process is to succeed in sharing messages.
- Interactive situation: refers to the interaction scenes among communicators.
Cross cultural communication takes
place when our communication process

between 2 (or more) cultural communities
is affected by our own cultural factors
(behaviors, words using, etc.). All people
in cross cultural communication process
can realize the differences among them.
However, in some cases, cross culture
communicators are not aware of these differences; if they keep ignoring the different
culture factors, it is possible to lead to the culture shocks, or communication breakdown.
2.1.4. Why study Cross Cultural Communication.
To improve the quality of cross cultural communication process, communicators
have to acquire the knowledge about other cultures as well as communication skills.
What presented below are the main reasons for this contention.
Global Diversity Trends
The world is now in a global trend. We have many global organizations (WTO,
WHO, UNESCO, etc.), multinational corporations, international universities, etc. These
organizations attract a lot of people all over the world to work, study and live within
them. It leads to a situation that the communication environment is multicultural. This
means it embraces both opportunities and challenges for communicators.

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In the integration trend, the cultural diversity in workplace is a challenge to leaders.
In order to keep the works run smoothly, give the best conditions to employees and
ensure the equality, the leaders have to equip employees or subordinates a clear culture
vision as well as good intercultural communication skills. Adler (1995) suggested 5
requirements to the leaders in integration era: “(1) Understanding the worldwide
political, cultural and business environment from a global perspective; (2) developing
multiple culture perspectives and approaches to conducting business; (3) being skillful at
working with people from many cultures; and (5) learning to interact with international

colleagues as equal, rather than from a superior-inferior stance”. Based on these
requirements, we easily realize the importance of a leader’s understanding about cross
cultural communication process.
In the global economic market, the cultural understanding can be the key to succeed
of a businessperson. Successful business now depends on effective globalization.
Effective globalization depends on dealing with a diverse workforce. A businessperson
runs a business within a diverse workforce environment has to equip himself/herself the
knowledge about cultures and communication skills.
In parallel with economic development, living standards have been improving.
Therefore, human also needs to increase quite a lot as compared to the past. Thanks to the
openness of foreign policies of governments, trans-border free movement of people to
other countries becomes easier. It is like a stimulating dose to develop international
tourism. According to the statistics from Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, in
April 2015, the number of international tourists to Vietnam reached 690.400 arrivals.
Generally, in the first four months of 2015, Vietnam had 2.698.324 international visitors.

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April 2015
(Arrivals)

First 4 months
of 2015
(Arrivals)

April 2015

April 2015

compared

compared with

with last

April 2014

month (%)

(%)

Summary

690.440

2.698.324

111,7

92,6

1. By Airline

534.507

2.234.987

99,2

88,2

6.142

24.200

66,4

103,1

149.791

439.137

213,7

112,0

2. By sea
3. By Road

Source: Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (2015)
With the interaction between cultures, countries become easier to get closer, and it
also sets out requirements for the tourists as well as companies providing tourisms
services. For tourists, the knowledge about the culture of the host country is essential to
avoid unexpected cultural misunderstanding. For example, young people in Vietnam
often use the index and middle fingers forming a V, with the remaining fingers holding
inward meaning Hi. If you travel to Australia and use this gesture to the local people, it
will leave a bad impression on them; as in Australia, when you create a V and finger
inward, it means “Up yours” used to insult others. For the tourism services providing

companies, understanding about customer’s culture is a fundamental criterion which can
help result in success in negotiation. It also makes their customers relax and comfortable.
Domestic Diversity Trends
Immigration is one of the main reasons for the Domestic Cultural Diversity
nowadays. The United States of America is a typical example. The U.S. is the country
which has the biggest number of immigrants throughout history, making it especially
diverse in culture. The Negro community in the U.S. has made the “Hip Hop and Rap
culture” which is famous worldwide.

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Moreover, within a nation, the cultural diversity has already existed. Based on
region, the cultures have different features. For example, in Vietnam, there are 64 ethnic
group which shared similarities and differences in cultures. It requires us to accumulate
the knowledge about other cultures as well as cross cultural communication skills
whenever we visit them.
Interpersonal Learning Opportunities
In our daily life, most of us spend time with people who are similar to us rather than
different ones. As we are now in 21st century, living and working with dissimilar people
in different cultures are inevitable. It offers us both opportunities and challenges. In
intracultural communication settings, we can predict the interaction of others.
Meanwhile, among people with different habits, communication styles, we can
experience unpredictable interaction. Living, studying and working with people from
other cultures help us train how to deal with uncertain issues. It also brings the
opportunities of encountering new ways of thinking and behaving. Furthermore, it’s
easier for us to learn something from dissimilar people rather than similar one. All of the
things mentioned above are true at society level. So, cross cultural communication
knowledge and skills are very important to enrich our understanding of a diverse range of
cultures.

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2.2. POWER DISTANCE

Take a look at the picture above. The man on the left is a Japanese businessman; the
woman on the right is an American businesswoman. They come from two different
cultures with differences in behaviors and communication styles. At the first time they
meet, the Japanese bows, and the American are ready to give a handshake. This is a
typical example about the effects of power distance value to cross cultural
communication. Japanese is a large power distance culture; while American is a small
power distance culture. Differences in cultural values have formed the ways of people’s
greeting. The situation above may happen in the interaction among communicators from
different cultures. It also shows the differences between small power distance cultures
and large power distance cultures.
Let’s take another example. Imagine that you’re on your first day at office. When
you get in, everybody is silently doing their work in the booths. After setting up your

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place, the boss comes and starts yelling at you without any causes. He leaves before you
could say a thing. This scene can really happen in large power distance cultures.
So, these example set out questions:
- What is power distance?
- What are features of power distance?
- What are large and small power distance cultures?
- How the power distance affects cross cultural communication process?
This part of the study will answer these questions.

2.2.1. Definition.
We have to accept a thing that people are not equal in power distribution. In a
company, the directors surely have more power than the employees. It means the
decisions of business work are dependent on the directors. Even in the Board of
Directors, there will be person who has more power than other. Similarly, in a university,
a teacher is more powerful than a student, the Board of Administration holds the control
over teachers. Or in family, the older receives more respect than the younger. At higher
level, at society level, people who have higher rank, or higher education are more
powerful than others. All the gaps between these people in society result in the power
distance. In cross cultural communication theory, power distance is defined as “the extent
to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions accept and expect
that power is distributed unequally” (Hofstede and Bond, 1984:419). Depending on each
cultures, the degree of power distance is different. See the table below for illustration.
Power Distance Index
120

21-40

41-60

61-80

13

81-100

101-120


Country

PDI

Country

PDI

Malaysia

104

Thailand

64

Guatemala

95

Zambia

64

Panama

95

Chile

63

Philippines

94

Portugal

63

Mexico

81

Uruguay

61

Venezuela

81

Greece

60

China

80

South Korea

60

Egypt

80

Iran

58

Iraq

80

Taiwan

58

Kuwait

80

Czech Republic

57

Lebanon

80

Spain

57

Libya

80

Pakistan

55

Saudi Arabia

80

Japan

54

14


United Arab Emirates

80

Italy

50

Ecuador

78

Argentina

49

Indonesia

78

South Africa

49

Ghana

77

Hungary

46

India

77

Jamaica

45

Nigeria

77

United States

40

Sierra Leone

77

Netherlands

38

Singapore

74

Australia

36

Brazil

69

Costa Rica

35

France

68

Germany

35

Hong Kong

68

United Kingdom

35

Poland

68

Switzerland

34

Colombia

67

Finland

33

El Salvador

66

Norway

31

Turkey

66

Sweden

31

Belgium

65

Ireland

28

15


H
Ethiopia

64

New Zealand

22

64

Denmark

18

64

Israel

13

64

Austria

11

o
f Kenya
s
t Peru
e
d

Tanzania

e
’s Power Distance research. (PDI: Power Distance Index)
The table shows the result of Hofstede’s survey in 50 countries and 3 regions. As
shown in the table, the higher number of PDI presents for large power distance cultures,
whereas the lower number for small power distance cultures.
2.2.2. Small Power Distance Cultures.
Small power index values are found in individualistic cultures, for example,
Scandinavian countries or Northern European countries (Norway, Finland, Sweden,
Denmark), the U.S., U.K, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, etc. Hofstede wrote in
his classic book Culture's Consequences: “Power is something of which power holders
are almost ashamed and they will try to underplay. I once heard a Swedish (low PDI)
university official state that in order to exercise power he tried not to look powerful.
Leaders may enhance their informal status by renouncing formal symbols. In (low PDI)
Austria, Prime Minister Bruno Kreisky was known to sometimes take the streetcar to
work. In 1974, I actually saw the Dutch (low PDI) prime minister, Joop den Uyl, on
vacation with his motor home at a camping site in Portugal”.
In a small power distance family, children have the rights to seek their dreams and
their parents respect it. Even children can move out of family and live independently. In
the workplace, the boss is the one who gives the task for subordinates (they’re often

called co-worker), the subordinates are expected to give ideas, build the ways to do. The
16


ideas of the boss play the commentary role. In fact, the boss doesn’t care about how the
work is done, he/she just cares about the effectiveness and quality of the works.

17


2.2.3. Large power distance cultures
Large power distance cultural values are found in almost all East Asia countries
(Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, China, etc.), Arab countries (U.A.E, Arabia Saudi,
etc.), Cuba, Venezuela, etc. Large power distance values are also found in almost
Socialist countries. In these countries, power is something important that people seeks for
it, use it to have more rights. Some people have more power and influence than others
and this power is often emphasized. People in large power distance cultures tend to
accept the inequality of power distribution, hierarchical rights based on seniority, age,
rank, and title. The power hierarchy respectful in every level of organizations is the basic
nature. In a family, children are taught about “the hierarchical power respect” at a young
age; parents have almost power on making decision; decide what their children can do or
not. There is a fact in Vietnam, parents often decide to which university that their
children will come, in order to give the children (as what the parents thought) the best
conditions for the future. Because of the hierarchical power, children barely give up their
dreams and accept the arrangement. In workplace, the subordinates always tend to listen
and follow boss’s ideas.
2.2.4. Possible reasons for the differences in Power Distance values
In this part, the author will show some possible reasons for the differences in power
distance values. We accept that small power distance values are found in Individualistic
cultures; and large power distance values are found in Collectivist cultures.

- History: In history of Collectivist cultures, the feudalism lasted for a long time. In
Vietnam, the feudalism lasted for 4000 years; In China, the feudalism even lasted longer.
In feudalism, the power of dominating and controlling over the countries is centralized in
the King. The King called himself as “Son of God” The King required everyone to
worship him. He also set out the ruling apparatus. Under the aegis of the king, people
must obey the ruler. This situation lasted for a long period of history which has shaped
the culture of power respect.
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Whereas in Individualist countries, they passed the feudalism and came to capitalist
era soon. These countries had driven the Science and Technology Evolution to
Industrialization very early. The Declaration of Independence of the U.S. and France
referred to the terms “equality and freedom” which meant people are treated equal and
nothing can harm that right. The values of equality has been built in people along the
history.
- Politics: Large power distance cultures follow the authoritarian power.
Throughout the history of almost collectivist countries, these countries were the colony of
powerful capitalist countries. One-party state led the nation to independence by
successful revolutions. Since then, the Party has taken over the power of controlling
country. The Party is the delegation of citizen’s power, needs and aspiration. In fact,
every policy is issued to centralize and maintain the power of the state. Even in state
apparatus, the hierarchy is a characteristic. The person in higher position in government
has more power than the lower one. As a result, the lower power person has to respect the
more powerful people. In other monarchial countries, for example: Brunei, Myanmar,
Thailand, etc., the power of controlling the whole country is centralized at the King.
Similar cases could also be found in semi-authoritarian states like Malaysia, Cambodia,
China, and so on.
Whereas in small power distance culture, the democracy plays the main role in the
government. There is multi-party political system. Let’s take American as an example to

clarify. American now has two pre-dominant parties: Democratic and Republican. To
elect the President, the delegations of the two parties will take part in the General
Election run. The delegation will come to every state to get the electoral votes from
citizens. The equality is also shown in which the seats at the Congress are distributed to
state’s delegations. Moreover, there are many policies to ensure the equality among
people in small power distance cultural communities. The citizens have the “freedom of
speech”, “freedom of press”, and “freedom of religion”, etc.

19


- Economics: Economy of large power distance cultures is under the control of the
government. The government has issued policies to concentrate economic power on the
state which has constrained the development of a market economy. In the integration era,
the global market economy is an opportunity for the countries to develop the economy.
Tackling the market economy in order to concentrate the management power of the
economy in the hands of the state is a provident of power centralization and power
distance.
Meanwhile, in small power distance cultures, the market economy is developed
very early thanks to the openness of economic policies. The state does not take over the
power of controlling economy but promotes competition among the private companies in
accordance with market principles. This characteristic of market economy helps foster
small power interaction in almost all Northern and Western European cultures, as well as
North American ones.

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