Can I Speak To Your Superior?
Oh my god, this is a sign of getting old… I caught myself reminiscing about the first years of my career. I can still vividly remember my first business trips to various cities in Russia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Ukraine, and Belarus at the end of the 90s and the beginning of the 2000s; real cultural experiences for a Finnish girl not even turned 30 and responsible for the sales of Finnish Benefon mobile phones in the region. Oh, those were the days, I should have written a diary! Well, I still remember a lot and thanks to my cultural studies can now analyze my experiences on power distance better.
Cultural Dimensions – Power Distance
As the most important cultural differences in business are based on the deep values of people, they are not often easy to see on the surface. However, some differences are easier to see than others. Professor Hofstede says that about 70% of cross-cultural problems are caused by differences in relationship to power (Power Distance Index). In fact, this difference is also the easiest to see and understand, as it is striking to see how different the lives of the people in the world are in this respect. Furthermore, as individuals we see and interpret what is right and what is wrong through our own cultural lenses.
POWER DISTANCE INDEX (PDI)
”This dimension expresses the degree to which the less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. The fundamental issue here is how a society handles inequalities among people.
People in societies exhibiting a large degree of Power Distance accept a hierarchical order in which everybody has a place and which needs no further justification. In societies with low Power Distance, people strive to equalise the distribution of power and demand justification for inequalities of power.”
Importance of Status Symbols in Russia and Azerbaijan
One of my first observations from Russia at the end of the 90s was that the teleoperator business in regional cities desperately seemed to need investments in service systems and networks, etc. As the business was lucrative, business people were active investors.
Through my own Finnish cultural lens it seemed that sometimes the order of investments was totally wrong when the companies gained more income. The first signs of business growth were reflected in the personal wellbeing and status of the top management: they wore branded expensive clothing and accessories, drove fancy cars (black Mercedes, of course) and had a large, ornate office with all the trimmings of success often before the business had really even started to flourish. I could feel the respect when the boss entered the room, everyone fell silent and greeted them respectfully. Status symbols seemed to be extremely important.
The importance of showing your status as a manager became very apparent when I got to know some managers of our distributor in Moscow better. They told me about their observations in Finland. They had been joking about buying a new coat for my Finnish boss, as they had noticed that she had been wearing the same one all year round. They also asked me: Was it true that the boss sometimes even rode the bike to work? They simply could not believe a boss could behave like that. Also, for many Russians, it is hard to understand how a manager and a subordinate can share a common hotel room on a business trip to save costs. They think that it would be unthinkable to share a room with a boss, a person from different level.
In Azerbaijan one time, a new distributor met me and me colleague at Baku airport with a limousine. The point was simply to show respect to us as managers of a well-established foreign company, and at the same time, to show the status of the young hosts. In fact, the local guys told us afterwards that they had rented the car just for our visit. They also organized a big party to celebrate our distributorship contract and as a guest of honour I could not even go to the ladies’ room without an escort!
Power Distance: Everybody Should Know Their Place
In hierarchical countries, the above is what feels right. Special treatment for special people. Respect for superiors and distant behaviour by the superiors to emphasize their superior status – it is all expected. As a boss you must make decisions on people’s behalf, give orders and control their fulfillment. This is why people in high Power Distance countries feel the need to meet the boss, the decision maker. In high Power Distance countries you should emphasize your status in the hierarchy with status symbols.
In more equal countries, on the contrary, you try to minimize the differences in the hierarchy. You should behave and look like everybody else. To me, coming from a low Power Distance country, the usage of status symbols seemed ridiculous. But I adapted over the years to dress in a certain way, feel less awkward to have a driver and behave according to expected status in these countries, because I did not want to risk the prestige status a decision maker is entitled to. You want to be taken seriously, so you must adapt.
In my job as Regional Manager my partners asked me so many times: don’t you need to ask your CEO’s permission to negotiate the contract with us? I learned to say firmly that I negotiate the terms of contracts and the CEO will sign the contract. They accepted that, as they had no choice. But, when I got the CEO to pay a visit to the clients, I understood how important the visit was for them as a sign of respect from our side. I understood that it was the inner need of the partners to get to speak to the ’big boss’. For me coming from a more equal culture, it felt a bit painful sometimes. But it made it easy for me sometimes to go behind the boss’s back and explain that it was him who had turned down some requests. I could save my face for the future as I did not have to explain why I refused something they asked.
Due to the fact that in high Power Distance countries decisions are made on the highest level possible, it is natural that business people from those cultures always want to get to the boss, also with their foreign partners.
A Manager’s Perspective in High and Low Power Distance Cultures
The expectations for a manager are very different in the two worlds: low and high power distance.
Coming from less hierarchical Finland, my gut feeling of a good manager behaviour is: A good manager will downplay the power difference, as hierarchy is there for convenience only. All members of an organization should have equal rights, and the superior should be a coaching leader; management’s role is to empower and facilitate. Managers are expected to count on the experience of their team members and only consult them when needed. And, employees also expect to be consulted in all matters that concern them.
In Finland, your role as a boss probably gets emphasized when something goes wrong. Otherwise you are just like everybody else. No prestige. Do your tasks, don’t expect any special treatment. Give the guidelines, consult and support, but don’t micromanage or control people. Micromanagement is a swear word in countries with low hierarchy.
When working as a Head of Representative Office in Moscow, it was a new experience having local subordinates who showed me respect by not questioning my ideas or decisions – just because of my superior status. In the beginning it felt strange (but also good), when subordinates always said ‘yes’.
In the hierarchical culture, a leader should be more decisive than consultative in order to reassure people. Micromanagement is often even expected: it means you as the superior think that the task the person is doing is important and you show that you care by controlling that it gets done.
But, in Russia, I soon realized your team members don’t always tell you how things really are as they can fear punishment, which is related to the power distance. And, with superior status comes the responsibility for everything. When something goes wrong, the one with power should make the important decisions to fix it. Subordinates do not take the initiative.
In the relatively more equal Finland, in turn, it is nice to have subordinates who take a lot of responsibility and initiative. But there the boss is usually not really an authority and his/her decisions are often questioned. The role of the boss is often to be a consultant, coach and sometimes motivator. The respect of subordinates must be earned, the job title will not guarantee anything. And, being questioned often is not always convenient.
So, nothing is really black or white from a manager’s perspective.
These were my first year experiences working with Russia and ex-Soviet countries – I’d love to hear yours. What are your real-life experiences of Power Distance differences when working as a manager abroad?
Photo by Michael Parulava on Unsplash (Can I speak to your superior)