Austrian Business Meeting Etiquette

Meetings are formal affairs and people would be expected to arrive well-prepared.

Austrians would be classified as pre-planners in terms of their approach to meetings. It would be unprofessional to arrive at a meeting and to start looking through the papers as the meeting is beginning. Brainstorming type meetings might occur but it would be obvious to all concerned that the meeting was not for decision-making or information exchange in advance and everybody would prepare accordingly.

Great emphasis is placed on punctuality and everybody is expected to arrive on time. It is considered to be extremely inefficient to arrive late and can be classified a stealing peoples time. On the whole, meetings will run to schedule and finish on time. (Meetings may be scheduled quite early as the typical working day runs from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm in Austria)

It is usual for the senior person present to control the meeting and agendas tend to be followed assiduously. The meeting leader will invite people to speak and it is not expected that people will be interrupted or that strong emotions are shown. Actions will be agreed, written down, distributed and acted upon.

In a culture which places great emphasis on specialisation, people are expected to speak when they have something to say within their area of expertise. Do not feel the need to speak if you have nothing relevant to say.

Author

This country-specific business culture profile was written by Keith Warburton who is the founder of the cultural awareness training consultancy Global Business Culture.  Global Business culture is a leading training provider in the fields of cross-cultural communication and global virtual team working.  We provide training to global corporations in live classroom-based formats, through webinars and also through our cultural awareness digital learning hub, Global Business Compass.

This World Business Culture profile is designed as an introduction to business culture in Australia only and a more detailed understanding needs a more in-depth exploration which we can provide through our training and consultancy services.

Author

This country-specific business culture profile was written by Keith Warburton who is the founder of the cultural awareness training consultancy Global Business Culture. 

Global Business culture is a leading training provider in the fields of cross-cultural communication and global virtual team working.  We provide training to global corporations in live classroom-based formats, through webinars and also through our cultural awareness digital learning hub, Global Business Compass.

This World Business Culture profile is designed as an introduction to business culture in Austria only and a more detailed understanding needs a more in-depth exploration which we can provide through our training and consultancy services.