Australian Managers More Optimistic and Happier than UK Counterparts

A report released today (27 August 2008) indicates that managers in Australia are more optimistic about their organisations performance as than their UK counterparts.

Some 65.5% felt that their organisation was growing whilst only 48.7% in the UK were as positive. In addition 71.2% of Australian managers are satisfied with their job against 62.2% of managers in the UK

The report was published jointly by Chartered Management Institute and the Australian Institute of Management and is based on replies from 2,500 members.

The findings, says the report, may be as a result of the countries differing economic cycles and that the current economic slowdown had not impacted on Australia when the research was collected.  It may also reflect the different age profiles of the respondents as 17.2% of the Australian sample were under 30, compared to 8.3% in the UK.

The research shows that UK and Australian managers have reactive and bureaucratic as two of their top three prevailing management styles.  Australian managers, however, are seen as more accessible and innovative compared to their UK counterparts.

UK research has demonstrated that accessible and empowering managerial styles were most associated with growing businesses and these styles are clearly yielding very positive results in Australia.  These findings are further endorsed by this report which found that Australian managers have substantially more trust and confidence in their senior managers 62.3% to the UK’s 46%.   Furthermore 73.4% of Australians felt they were fairly treated by their organisation, whereas only 59.6% of UK managers felt the same way.

However, the work life balance seems to be stronger in the UK as managers work fewer hours and have less health problems. The Australian manager has a longer working week (averaging 46.4 hours per week to the average UK manager’s 45.6 hours).  Both sets of managers felt the long hours culture had a range of impacts on their health.

www.managers.org.uk

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Tagged as: job satisfaction, management styles, optimism, work/life balance, working hours