Australian Workplace Culture

Book review of G’Day Boss!  Australian Culture and the Workplace

As a well travelled, tertiary educated career professional, I thought I knew a lot about attitudes, perceptions and various cultures, within the Australian workplace.  However after reading G’Day Boss! Australian Culture and the Workplace from the authors Barbara West and Frances Murphy, I realised that the way I perceived other people from various cultures was quite narrow and generalised.

G’Day Boss? Australian Culture and the Workplace is an eye-opener, and a must read, not just for migrants new to Australia, but anyone that works with someone from overseas.

The book clearly outlines how many unconscious aspects of being Australian, can hinder communication with non-Australian’s including those from other Western nations.  By being aware that we are a product of our culture, we can adapt to other cultures, (not assimilate), including the Australian workplace culture.

The authors do a great job of outlining the values and communication styles within the Australian workplace, and then contrast these values with other cultures, including individuals from Hong Kong, India, Switzerland, Brazil, United States, France, South Africa, Malaysia, Britain, Iran, Ethiopia, Iran, Ireland, Philippines, Pakistan, China, Malaysia, Sudan, Greece, Egypt, Serbia, and Iraq.

The values and communication styles covered include those relating to:

Relationships within the workplace
Equality versus hierarchy; informality versus formality; personal connections versus remote connections

Conflict within the workplace
Confrontation versus avoidance; competitions versus cooperation; details versus the big picture

Other key value contrasts
Change versus tradition; youth versus age; single sex versus mixed groups; religion versus secularism

Orientation towards time
Use of time versus passage of time; past, present, future; long versus short orientation towards time; planning versus wait and see.

Mastering communication
Linear versus circular; direct versus indirect; attached versus detached; intellectual versus relational; low context versus high context.

Communication Channels
Tone and volume; silence; touch; eye contact; hand and body movement; distance or space; timing

What I found fascinating was how even just subtle variations between cultures could have such a huge impact and result in misunderstanding.  

The other fascinating element was how perceptions varied depending on the cultural background of an individual.  For example while the French person observed that Australian workplaces were really loud, the individual from the United States commented that the Australian workplace was so much quieter. 

If you are interested in cultural diversity within the workplace, or want to understand more fully the Australian workplace as a migrant, then this book is a great read.

I found a copy of the book in my local library, or you can buy it online at the Tribuslingua bookshop.

Reviewed by Carolyn Smith 2009 

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