Cultural Differences in the Work Place

I have just been reading Malcolm Gladwell’s book ‘Outliers’. It is a very interesting read and like his other two books ‘Blink’ and ‘The Tipping Point’ he somehow manages to put across ideas that are specifically relevant to actual work that I am doing at the time. Now that is gifted writing!!!

In ‘Outliers’ he talks about cultural differences in aeroplane cockpits and references Geert Hofstede’s 5 Cultural Dimensions (1980). The first of these cultural dimensions- Power Distance Index was used to explain the high rate of air accidents Korean Airlines suffered in the 80s and 90s. The Korean culture has a high Power Distance Index, meaning that underlings do not question people in positions of authority. After reviewing the cockpit recordings of famous Korean Air disasters, it was concluded that the cause was often the reluctance of first officers and engineers to question the pilot and say ‘hey mate, what they hell are you doing? Turn the window wipers back on or we’re going to crash!” Instead the timid lower echelon in the cockpit were recorded asking things such as “don’t you think it rains more in this area?” where in actual fact they knew the situation was so desperate that they may not be making it home for supper. On one particular recording the pilot actually slaps the first officer when he subtly asks a question out of concern of crashing.

Following the discovery of this power-distance effect, Korean Airlines put a lot of resource into training their flight crew and of recent times they have had one of the best safety records. Gladwell contends that these findings had a huge impact of pilot training globally and emphasised the need for onlookers to speak up and be assertive if they thought the person behind the wheel had made or was about to make a human error.

This section in the book in cleverly wrapped up by Gladwell suggesting that when you get onto plane you should be hoping that the less experienced pilot of the team is in the driver’s seat. This seems a little counter-intuitive but it definitely makes sense when considered in light of the Power Distance Index.

If you want an easy to read, engaging and informative book then I would recommend Outliers.