Egalitarian Notes

In an egalitarian culture, for example, an aura of authority is more likely to come from acting like one of the team, (interdependent)

On the scale and from now on we’ll use the word egalitarian instead of low power distance and hierarchical instead of high power distance.

“The extent to which the less powerful members of organizations accept and expect that power is distributed unequally.”

So a first historical point is that the countries that fell under the influence of the Roman Empire (including Spain, Italy, and, to a lesser degree, France) tend to be more hierarchical than the rest of Western Europe.

The countries most influenced by the Vikings consistently rank as some of the most egalitarian and consensus-oriented cultures in the world today. So it is no surprise that, even today, when you walk into a meeting room in Copenhagen or Stockholm, it is often impossible to spot the boss.

Our third historical clue relates to the distance between the people and God in particular religions. Countries with Protestant cultures tend to fall further to the egalitarian side of the scale than those with a more Catholic tradition. One interpretation of this pattern is that the Protestant Reformation largely removed the traditional hierarchy from the church. In many strains of Protestantism,the individual speaks directly to God instead of speaking to God through the priest, the bishop, and the pope. Thus, it’s natural that societies in which Protestant religions predominate tend to be more egalitarian than those dominated by Catholicism.

Egalitarian feeling can also be gauged in a country's corporate culture.  How frequently do upper managers delegate tasks to their underlings?  Out of 139 nations surveyed by World Economic Forum, here are the top 20:

Another way to look at the question is through 'Power Distance.' On one end are those who welcome a strict hierarchy and the inequality that implies; on the other end are those who seek a more flat, egalitarian...