Professional Documents
Culture Documents
People choose to do something, buy something, or think a certain way for many reasons.
Often, its because they have seen something in the media promoting it. In this unit, you will
analyze print, visual, and film texts that are common in the media and advertising. You will
also investigate how advertising influences the lives of youth by critically reading and
viewing informational text and film. You will analyze the components of argumentation by
reading argumentative essays, news articles, and speeches. By the end of the unit, you will
become a skilled reader and writer of a variety of nonfiction texts, an engaged collaborator
in discussion groups, and an effective argumentative writer.
[Type a quote from the document or the summary of an interesting point. You can
position the text box anywhere in the document. Use the Text Box Tools tab to
change the formatting of the pull quote text box.]
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What effect does power distance have on how corporations actually work? An executive coach
who works in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines explains it this way: Seniorlevel people get no information, and believe that they have nothing to improve upon, and juniorlevel people do not bring ideas forward. Its hard to innovate under these conditions. Of course,
these are generalizations. Within each culture are people of different personalities, backgrounds,
and experiences. But whenever I ask if the power distance is playing out in an organization, I
always get a resounding yes.
Who owns the power distance conundrum? Everyone, of course. But this is one case where
change must start at the top. One executive, frustrated by his organizations insistence on treating
him like royalty, complains that he cant get them to change, I tell them all the time to come to
me with ideas the door is always open! They just need to knock! But this approach is too big
a leap. Here is what we have found that works:
Communicate your intention. Make it clear what you want, not through edicts, but
through conversations. Pay attention to how others react to you. Do they start or stop
talking when you enter the room? Do they agree to what you know to be a stupid idea or
an unreasonable demand? What follow-up can you provide in those moments of truth?
Take action. Act like you mean it. Put a plan in place as with any other change initiative.
For example, change the minds of key influencers, and use their relationship power to
change others. Stop broadcasting and start receiving.
Seek feedback. Designate a colleague to give you feedback on your attitudes, behaviors,
and actions. Better yet, open up the conversation with many people. Get a 360.
Dont let backsliding get you off track. Accept that you are human and that this is a tough
change.
Engage HR and create opportunities for others to learn how to speak up. Its not just
about you. Others in the organization need support changing their behavior toward
openness.
Designate an ombudsman. To enable the lower powered members of the organization to
stand up, they will need help. Establish a partner for them that can negotiate toe-to-toe
with higher level individuals.
Who gives up power willingly or easily? Only those motivated by the long game either for their
companies welfare, or for the societies their kids will inherit, or both. Those who believe they
can afford the status quo must consider that Asian growth is attracting highly competitive,
performance-based companies from the rest of the world who will do everything in their power
to succeed.
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