Power distance index

Some people of an organisation were entrusted the responsibility of finding and analyse the cause behind the airplane crashes which had taken place in China, Korea and in some other countries.The team of the many people including the psychologist studied the data received from the black box voice recorder and specially the conversation which took place between the crew members and the ATC at different airports because most of the incidents took place near the airports while landing or before that.The results of the study of different crashes were an eye opener and had the link with the kind of the culture and the association the people managing the flight (captain,pilot, first officer, flight engineer etc.) and the people responsible for the air traffic control.In case of the air crash of Korean airline plane near the New York airport gave some clue to the people. While analysing the case , they found that long hours of work was one of the main causes, but the most important was something different which nobody had given any thought before.The upbringing and the culture in that country was that there was a lot importance given to the view and the opinion of the senior in position in any organisation and the subordinates were expected to follow the instructions of the seniors.This did not mean that the juniors were not allowed to put forward their views but this was expected that they would do so in a very polite and submissive manner.This was true for everyone and there were very few people who might have behaved otherwise.In the cockpit (which is comprising of many members)the senior is usually followed by the others and many cases that proved fatal to the people.If we take the case of the Korean plane crash and the study done thereafter, it was found that the pilot was aware of the problem and so were others, but not the ATC responsible for allowing the flight to land.As the ATC manages number of the flights every minute hence until they are told about the serious problem and the emergency by the pilot or the captain, they are likely to take it easy because they become habitual of listening to the problems usually told by the pilot and the most common of them being that the plane is running out of fuel.In this particular case, the crew members were told to wait in the air for several minutes and as the flight had already been in the air for quite long that is why the aeroplane had the problem of fuel.It was the general impression of the pilots that the ATC people at New York airport are slightly rude in their language and most of the pilots from the countries like Korea were not habitual of that so they would not argue much. The other observation of the investigating team was that the pilots of the Korean airlines were also very polite and not very assertive in conveying their point of view.When the ATC asked the pilot to wait for another few minutes, he could not say emphatically that he was running of the fuel very fast and should be allowed to land immediately.The reason for such behavior and attitude of the pilot was because they were habitual of following what was said by the person in authority. What was the conclusion of this study?

The team members studied the other airlines also and then the training schedule and the programmes of the crew. It was found that the country in which the people were able to give their views frankly and without any hesitation were less likely to be in problems than the country where it was the other way round.Then it was seen in context of other work places also and the happy and more productive place were the ones where the distance between the senior and the junior was not much. The point of view of everyone was given due weightage and that made the difference.They came out with the idea of Power Distance Index. This was found that the work place or the country in which the power distance index is low the problems in that organisation or the country seem to be less in comparison to the organisation or the country where the power distance index is high.In the organisations with low PDI the members have freedom to express their views to who so ever they feel appropriate.This is not necessary that their views will necessarily be accepted but whenever the seniors find them worth, they do not hesitate in accepting the same.Take the example of our own country where to me PDI seem to be high that is why despite there being the democracy in the country, the views of the so called low placed people are not that importance as these should be.Things are changing for better now and in many organisations the people are encouraged to share their thoughts and if found good their views are accepted.

After the crash of the plane in discussion the Korean Airline engaged the experts to change the PDI from high to low and the result today is that the number of the problems in the airlines have come down to the minimum.So if the problems are to be reduced than the power distance index should be brought down as low as possible. This should not happen at work place only but right from home to schools to colleges and ultimately the work place.Certainly at the work place it is the authority to decide the authenticity of the complications arising but they also have the right and the capability to sieve the insignificant. So, let everyone be made to learn this for the good of the individuals and the country.