In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell wrote an entire chapter on The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes. It discloses that a number of plane crashes are attributable to "high power distance" (Hofstede's Cultural Dimension) that undermined communication among flight crew members and between flight crews and ATC. Illustrations are lively made through "playing back" conversations in the cockpits that had been recorded by the black boxes of Avianca 52 and KAL 801 shortly before the planes crashed. When communicating to parties of higher authority, the flight crews did not speak out but mitigated and hinted even in cases of emergency, for instance, the First Officer of Avianca 52 to the ATC, and the First Officer and the Flight Engineer to the Captain in KAL 801.
It cited "clear correlations between a nation's plane crashes and its score on Hofstede's dimensions" which was said to be showed by safety data published by Boeing.
The power distance index (PDI) of Hong Kong is 68, ranking 44 among the 68 countries and regions in ascending order on the list. It even ranks higher than Columbia (recall the flight crews on Avianca 52 were Columbians) and South Korea (recall the flight crews on KAL 801 were South Koreans). Hofstede commented "Hong Kong's Power Distance score is 68 compared to the other Far East Asian countries average of 60. This is indicative of inequality of power and wealth within the society. This condition is not necessarily subverted upon the population, but rather accepted by the society as their cultural heritage."
One can imagine how weak bottom-up communication can be if high power distance is coupled with bureaucratic Role Culture in the public sector.
Bureaucracy is structural and extrinsic, and can just be deliberate. Power distance, however, is cultural, intrinsic and deeply rooted. It is a social norm attributed to national culture and customs. It shaped a "standard" for the style, tone, manner, protocol and wordings that people adopted in communication. Non-compliance with such "standard" is often regarded as rude, disrespecting, misbehaving or even disobeying.
There can be similar mishaps in any workplace, particularly in the public sector, although outcomes may not be fatal.
