Impact of Power and National Cultures on Organizational Change in Singapore and Australia

Running Head: Organization Development and Change
Organization Development and Change

Organization Development and Change 1 | P a g e
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................................................. 2
Types of power in change programs.................................................................................................................2
Positive and negative aspects of power used in change programs.....................................................3
Positive aspects of power.................................................................................................................................. 3
Negative aspects of power................................................................................................................................ 4
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions........................................................................................................................... 4
Power Distance Index (PDI)............................................................................................................................. 4
Individualism Vs Collectivism (IDV).............................................................................................................4
Masculinity Vs Femininity (MAS)...................................................................................................................4
Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI)..............................................................................................................5
Long term orientation Vs Short term normative orientation (LTO)..............................................5
Indulgence Vs Restraint (IND)........................................................................................................................ 5
Power related aspects of Hofstede’s dimensions........................................................................................5
Power-related aspects of Hofstede’s dimensions between Australia and Singapore.................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................................................... 7
References.................................................................................................................................................................... 8

Organization Development and Change 2 | P a g e
Organizational change is a general term and this term focuses on all those stages that
companies go through as they evolve. Change in the organization is must as it helps the
organization to match up with the latest trends, changing customers’ demands and wants,
along with retaining its acquired position in the market as well as by originating
opportunities for attaining competitive edge over competitors. In terms of organizational
change is influenced by institutionalisation of power and the behaviour of interest groups
and around the organizations. Since last few decades, power embedded in formal
organizational structures and processes as well as the existing organizational
arrangements have been changed dramatically. Along with this, national cultures have also
a huge impact over use and the acceptance of power (Kleinman, et. al. 2014, 161-170).
National culture is a phenomenon which is learnt in the early childhood and it is basically
dependent upon the upbringing of an individual. Apart from this, an individual’s values,
behaviour, nature, personal characteristics also plays as the background in setting up
national culture. National culture consists of various societies and those societies have
different norms, values, etc. (Rose 2017, 33-48). With regards to this, social and cultural
acceptance of a large gap in power between those who do not have power in various forms
and those who do and this is known as PDI (power distance index).
This essay will focus over the impact of power and national cultures on organizational
change in Singapore and Australia. As change is must for every industry as well as for the
organizations, thus, it also necessary to analyse the criticality of the change management
with respect to the countries’ culture. Along with this, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions will
be implemented to Singapore and Australia with respect to analyse impact of power in the
change programs.

Organization Development and Change 3 | P a g e
Power is the ability of one individual to convince others on which others would not have
shown their consent otherwise. Apart from this, power is also considered as the ability of
one individual to make them ready to follow the shown path along with their efforts with
the vision in order to attain desired goals. Power has both negative as well as positive ends
because it is mainly practiced by the top level management and it has been recognised that
power is the main criteria to execute change successfully. Amongst the various forms of
powers, leaders and the managers are required to choose wisely amongst the available
options with the objective of attain positive outcomes (Button 2016). Following are some
of the types of powers available which could be used for the purpose of implementing
change at workplace:
Legitimate power: This type of power holds by the top level management and using their
position, they could implement their decisions on their subordinates. With regards to this,
it is necessary for them to analyse the criticality of this type of power and for the objective
of attaining positive outcomes, it is necessary to take right decision at right time for the
organization. As this type of power could easily be misused, thus, it is necessary for the
organizations to impose certain limitations like getting approval from a minimum number
of people from the senior management before imposing it in the workplace (Searancke, et.
al. 2014).
Coercive power: It is a type of power where a person leads with threats and forces. With
this power, leaders and managers could not gain respect and loyalty from their
subordinates. Thus, this type of power is not effective in terms of attaining positive results
in long term.
Expert power: This type of power is genuine and it is attained with experience and
superior skills. For example, a person is working in the marketing field since 10 years, thus,
he would have gained appropriate experience and knowledge of marketing field which are
necessary to lead group of individuals along with directing them towards appropriate
direction. Additionally, experts are also required to continue learning in terms of
improving their performance (Hacker 2017).