Power distance in Australia is fairly low compared to Singapore's high power distance. In Australia, hierarchies are formed for convenience, meaning that managers rely on their employees knowledge and expertise. Employees in Australia are expected to make a contribution directly whether it be formally or informally. In Singapore, employees do not have much control over what they do, with power being primarily centralized on managers, bosses and rules.
Communication in Singapore is predominantly formal and indirect. Australia is a highly individualistic society, whereas Singapore is highly collectivistic. As an individualistic society, people in Australia are expected to look after themselves and immediate family. In Australian business, employees are expected to be self-reliant and display initiative.
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As a collectivist society, people in Singapore value the group rather than the individual: groups may include family, clans or organizations. Group members are loyal and look after each other. Maintaining harmony is also extremely important in collectivist societies: this involves ‘saving face’, and prioritizing politeness rather than honesty. Saving face refers to the process of avoiding humiliation and preserving the dignity of yourself or others.
Australia is fairly average when it comes to uncertainty avoidance, whereas Singapore has an incredibly low score Australia has a very intermediate score of 51 Singapore is currently the lowest scoring nation on Hofstede’s uncertainty avoidance theory. Which indicates that they are more than willing to accept uncertainty. Singaporeans have a lot of rules in their country, which allows them to be very flexible with regards to ignoring certain rules. Hofstede’s theory is potentially saying that Singapore is more creative than other nations.
The Singaporean culture views time different than Australians do. The Singaporean culture is more concerned about the future and the future goals, while The Australian culture is more concerned with the past and the present. These two ways of viewing time are respectively: long term time orientation cultures and short-term time orientation culture. Understanding the company’s culture time orientation is important because it plays a large factor when it comes to motivation. Employees in Singapore are expected to delay short-term emotional rewards in order to prepare for the future. Companies in Singapore value employees’ persistence and perseverance.
Australian’s entering the Singaporean business world should be wary of maintaining positive communication with co-workers, as well as current and potential business partners. Thus, Australian should attempt to overcome his individuality to maintain harmony in the workplace: this will involve being polite, respectful and saving others’ face. For example, if a coworker of Australian's were to propose an idea to him, he/she should respond politely rather than provide honest feedback. In order to succeed in the Singaporean company, Australian will have to be able to adapt to the way the Singaporean culture views time, which is a long-term perspective. Tom will have to put aside immediate gratification and aim for long-term fulfillment. For example, if he/she is assigned to do a project, he/she should consider not only the short-term outcomes that it would have, but especially the long-term outcome. When entering the Singaporean workforce, Australians would need to be mindful of the different communication styles and hierarchy structure used in the workplace. Singapore is regarded as a nation that would take more risks. They don’t perceive life as being stressful, they are known to maintain emotional poise. Thus, Australian should try and attempt to be more creative with his work. He/she should not be looking at the repercussions, he/she should be looking at the positive outcomes that may come out of it. He/she should be attempting new ideas to be presented, accepted and then implemented quickly. His/her decisions will need to be quicker with less exploration.
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