what is the power distance index pdi 
the power distance index pdi is a measurement of the acceptance of a hierarchy of power and wealth by the individuals who make up the general population of a nation culture or business developed by dutch social psychologist geert hofstede the pdi ultimately provides insight into the extent to which regular citizens or subordinates accept or challenge the authority of the person or people in charge hofstede s pdi is lower in countries and organizations where authority figures work closely with subordinates the pdi is higher in places with a strong hierarchy understanding the power distance index pdi the power distance index focuses on increasing understanding between people from different cultures in a business setting an american car manufacturer planning to open a factor in latvia for example will find that latvians tend to show respect and deference towards management but younger workers in particular value an open and collaborative work environment latvia s pdi is a relatively low 44 highly structured businesses societies and institutions have high indices a high index indicates that the hierarchy is clearly defined present and unchallenged a low index indicates a less rigid or authoritarian system the people in a low index society or group are willing to challenge authority and readily interact with authority figures in the expectation that they can influence decisions 1the power distance index is one component of hofstede s cultural dimensions theory which was the first attempt to quantify the differences among cultures this theory is now applied extensively in fields including cross cultural psychology cross cultural communication and international business 1driven by factor analysis the cultural dimensions theory in its original form was based on the results of hofstede s global survey of the values of ibm employees testing and collection of the results were conducted between 1967 and 1973 2based on these and other results hofstede determined that there are six distinct dimensions to every culture power distance uncertainty avoidance individualism versus collectivism short term versus long term masculinity versus femininity and self restraint versus indulgence 3the pdi of the united states1the original model had only four dimensions but was later expanded to six long term versus short term was added after hofstede performed independent research in hong kong and indulgence versus self restraint was added in 2010 2business and the pdihofstede s theory gained considerable notoriety because of its analysis and conclusions about cultural and national differences it has been particularly influential in the business world with the growth of the global economy the pdi and the factors that contribute to it have been used to foster an understanding of cultural differences and how they affect international business dealings the differences in perception of power seem particularly relevant during business negotiations for example austria has a power distance index of approximately 11 while many arab nations have indices of around 80 employing austrian business practices or management styles in an arab country may be counterproductive or at the very least can produce a degree of culture shock 1the united states by the way has a pdi of 40 1