Okuzeka
Management & Leadership vocabulary · Leadership Styles and Skills

Power distance

Meaning in management & leadership, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In management & leadership, power distance means: The extent to which unequal power is accepted and expected by less powerful members of a group or society.

In Turkish: güç mesafesi

How it is used

Use as a cultural dimension, without assuming that every individual shares a group-level tendency.

Example sentences

  1. The facilitator considered power distance when junior staff hesitated to question senior managers.

    Expectations about hierarchy may influence participation, alongside other explanations.

  2. A low power distance did not mean the team had no formal leader.

    Acceptance of inequality is distinguished from the existence of formal roles.

Common collocations

  • high power distance
  • low power distance
  • hierarchyA system in which the people in an organisation are arranged in levels, with each level having more authority than the one below it.
  • psychological safetyA shared belief within a team that people can speak up, ask questions, admit mistakes or disagree without being punished or embarrassed.

More terms: Leadership Styles and Skills

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: