Australians in a corporate culture: the national characteristics, are they intrinsic? : a study of cultural behaviour of Australian employees in a multi national [sic] corporation : a measure of change of national culture over time and it's relevance to corporate culture in Australia

The idea that collective characteristics or cultural traits exist and that it is convenient to categorise these by national boundaries is reflected in the common beliefs and attitudes held by groups tribes, regions or nations. Environmental conditioning over many years in education, language, geographic and economic circumstances create differences that are not easily changed. Dominant values and beliefs inculcated over lifetimes often are exhibited as national characteristics. With the explosive growth of communications - Tattler's global village1 - and the pervasive expansion of transnational corporations then strong organisational cultures, if such exist, may have eroded national beliefs and attitudes. Edgar H Schein2 remarked on this phenomenon suggesting that Companies with cultures of their own were sometimes strong enough to override or at least modify local cultures. A visit by Schein to Australia (and Singapore) reinforced this observation.