ABSTRACT
This chapter describes research on influence and power sharing among senior levels of management in successful modern organizations. A previous research team attempted to re-draw the map of the world by revising geographic distances between countries on the basis of their similarity in managerial decision-making attitudes. The Social Science Research Council and the International Institute of Management made the major contributions. A comparison of the average decision-making patterns of managers from the various countries reveals quite consistent results across the various measures the author used. A non parametric test was employed by splitting the managers into three approximately equal groups on the basis of each variable, for instance "high", "medium" and "low" education, and cross-tabulating with other variables. The literature on comparative management and industrial relations is divided between cultural convergence and divergence protagonists. Managers seem to adjust their decision behavior to their perception of skills among subordinates.
