Organizational Change Management: A Comparison between Singapore and Australia

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ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT
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Introduction
Organizational change is a vital part of the business’ today. The management, operations,
communication, etc. are very crucial for the success of any organization. The recent
developments have facilitated the business as well as cultural exchanges. The trade barriers as
well as the cultural barriers are fading rapidly. Thus, organizations, leader, managers, and
employees should be able to work with a diverse group of people. The globalization and
liberalization along with technological advancement has made it a need to accept and manage
this change effectively. People have different cultural backgrounds and they belong to different
countries. Sometimes the culture becomes a barrier in the individual growth and development. In
cases where people are tightly connected to their cultures, they fail to adapt change and
resistance hinders the development in thought process. In order to overcome this, several tools
and mechanism have been developed. The Hofstede’s Cultural Dimension is one of them and it
helps identifying the similarities and differences in various countries. In addition, the has a
major role to play in the organizational management and the research presented by French and
Raven helps in making the best use of personnel by developing their bases.
Comparison between Singapore and Australia
The Hofstede cultural dimension theory was propounded by Geert Hofstede. This theory
is generally used to identify the differences that exist between cultures of different countries and

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also to get a better understanding of the business processes in these cultures. The theory divided
cultures into six categories, namely- power distance, individualism/collectivism, uncertainty
avoidance, feminity/masculinity, long term/short term orientation, and restraint/indulgence1.
The power distance index refers to the degree to which inequality and power are
tolerated. The viewpoint of the lower level of the society is considered here2. It is about handling
inequality in a society. Singapore is a multi-cultural region that has a mix of Chinese, Indian,
Malay, and expatriates. Inequality is a common issue all around the world. It mainly has a
Chinese background and Sinagpore score 74 on the power distance index. It has centralized
power where hierarchy is valued. The managers depend on their bosses and employees rely on
orders from superiors. The flow of communication is rather indirect. However, in Austarlia, the
power distance dimension is comparatively lower, i.e. 34. The information sharing is good and
frequent and managers are able to communicate with superiors easily.
The individualism/collectivism dimension deals with the interdependence of the members
maintained by the society. In individualist societies, people are bothered by their immediate
families, whereas in collectivist societies ‘groups’ are seen to depend on each other and loyalty is
a strong factor. Singapore is a collectivist society with a score of 20.1 It indicates that ‘We’ is
valued and the focus is not just on ‘I’. The conflict avoidance strategy is used and morality is of
much value. As for Australia, the society believes in individualism. In this particular dimension
the score is 90. The society is not closely knit and people focus on themselves and their families.2
1 Hofstede Insights, "Country Comparison - Hofstede Insights", Hofstede Insights, 2019,
https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/australia,singapore/.
2 Administrator, "Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions EXPLAINED With EXAMPLES | B2U", B2U
- Business-To-You.Com, 2017, https://www.business-to-you.com/hofstedes-cultural-dimensions/.

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The third dimension is uncertainty avoidance wherein society deals with the future and
ithe uncertainty, i.e. whether it should be accepted or changed. There is a certain level of threat
that stresses people and the way people try to deal or avoid them according to their culture is
seen in this dimension. Singapore scores 8 on this dimension, whereas Australia scores 51. It
means that because of higher levels of PDI, the people of this region follow the rules. 3
Source- www.cleverism.com
The other dimension masculinity/feminity refers to the motivation of people, i.e. desire to
become the best-masculinity or following one’s heart-feminity. The high masculinity score is an
indicator of competition, achievement, etc., whereas the high feminity ratio shows values and
quality of life are more important. In this dimension, Singapore scores 48 that shows that the
3 Anastasia, Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions, image, 2015,
https://i2.wp.com/cdn.cleverism.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/WORKING-CAPITAL-
CYCLE2-e1439887164191.png?fit=740%2C411&ssl=1