Many people working at Japanese companies believe that Japanese management is top-down. Whether we ask Indonesians employed by a Japanese textiles company or Germans working for a Japanese trading company, there appears to be consensus on this point. Furthermore, Japanese people make similar comments. However, if you are familiar with Geert Hofstede’s work on “Power Distance [Index],” then you will know that at least one researcher disagrees with this idea. After all, Hofstede’s data show Japan in the middle of the scale, at round the same level as Argentina and Poland (http://www.geert-hofstede.com/). Is this really the case? And what is “PDI” (“Power Distance Index”), anyway?

First of all, PDI. It is another continuum, with “Low PDI” at one end and “High PDI” at the other. Broadly speaking, Low PDI people expect there to be a small power gap between themselves and their bosses. A boss’s role is to consult and coordinate, after all, and to ensure that people’s energies are channelled so that everybody pulls in the same direction. Aligning personal and organisational goals is a challenge, and the way to do it is by including everyone. In German companies, for instance, the CEO is often involved in consultation with many stakeholders, including works councils (Betriebsrat) and executive boards. An article in BusinessWeek, for instance, noted that at Bertelsmann, which is one of Germany’s biggest and most prestigious companies, “[m]andates from the top never go down easily” (14 December, 2007). The German overall style is typically collegial and consensual, then (http://www.executiveplanet.com/).

In a High PDI culture, though, the gap between supervisors and subordinates is large. Managers are expected to tell their direct reports what to do, and team members are expected to follow orders. Managers have more experience, more skill, and usually bigger salaries - that’s why they are managers, after all. If people are High PDI, then they will see this style as being effective. Senior management aver that it is “our way or the highway,” and if they are competent managers, then that is all well and good. After all, who would not want to follow an outstanding manager such as GE’s Jack Welch (a man who vigorously defended the huge pay gap between senior management and rank-and-file)? Countries with High PDI tendencies include Malaysia, France, and China. A consultant working with an INTEC team commented last year that the corporate culture of a Chinese company typically reflects what the CEO thinks and demands - that is a reflection of China’s High PDI nature.

What are the implications of this for you as a business person? Well, for one thing, if you and your boss have different approaches, then there is likely to be friction. Imagine, for example, a High PDI manager and a Low PDI team member. The latter is likely to feel that his boss only tells him what to do without asking for his opinion or involving him in decisions. “I’m a smart person, so why doesn’t she just ask me what I think? I mean, I can make more of a contribution.” At the same time, the supervisor may wonder why her subordinate always has to question things: “Why doesn’t he just do what I ask? He’s not at all cooperative.”

How about if you have a Low PDI supervisor and a High PDI subordinate? In that case, the manager may wonder why her direct report is not cooperating with her. “I ask him his opinion, and he looks at me blankly. Does he dislike me that much?” Meanwhile, the subordinate wonders when his boss is going to start earning her salary and actually start making some decisions. “If she doesn’t tell me what to do, how are we going to get anything done? She’s a manager, but she certainly doesn’t behave like one. It seems like she doesn’t have any management skill.” Identifying gaps and either explaining them objectively or closing them consciously becomes important, then.

Now, please think about tendencies for Indian people in business. Do they tend to be Socratic or Confucian? If you have worked with Indians, then you will almost certainly have noticed that they discuss ideas and debate topics with gusto. At the same time, though, is your image of Indian culture Low PDI or High PDI? Chances are that you have the image that Indian organisations are top-down. In other words, however counter-intuitive it may sound, a Confucian system is not necessarily “top-down,” just as a Socratic system is not necessarily “flat” in nature. Consider the tendencies in France for further evidence of this. How about Japan and the United States, though? The former certainly appears to be High PDI, while the latter looks Low PDI. Whether or not that is actually the case will concern us in the next article.

Before that, though, and by way of practical advice, when giving instructions to High PDI people, be careful of accepting “yes” answers when you ask, “Do you understand?” - after all, if you ask a High PDI team member if he has understood what you want, his reflex may be to say “yes” (even if he hasn’t carefully thought it through). To avoid the frustration of not having your instructions followed as you would wish, then, what can you do?

Experienced managers tell us that they have found the best thing is to either ask that team member to repeat back the instructions in their own words, or to have the person follow those instructions under your supervision: “Just to confirm, please go over the instructions with me” or, “Please show me how you are going to go about this.” Be careful to do this when others are not listening in, though, particularly in cultures that emphasise face-saving, such as Indonesia, Thailand, and China. Instead, go somewhere quiet where the two of you can confirm your instructions. If your team member has truly understood, then thank him. If not, help him to understand by patiently explaining and showing him one more time. If others do happen to see him make a mistake, don’t draw attention to what was wrong (such as the order): “OK. Let’s do it again and focus on the order of the steps.”

One more thing: being High PDI doesn’t mean being rude. A High PDI manager should still be polite, and as we will see in a subsequent article, in many cultures, she needs to be in order to get the cooperation of team members. The difference between “Do this” and “Loxy, I need your help with this” can be huge. Before looking at expressions of power and whether or not power distance is obvious to casual observers, however, we need to consider the question raised above: where do Japan and the United States fit on this PDI scale? And how about the United Kingdom and Russia? Let’s talk about that next time.