Work Culture in USA - from the TV series ‘The Office’

Do you know the sitcom "the office"? It shows you the American work culture. As a Korean, I thought that it is quite different the work culture in Korea form the one in the states. One of our members want to share the differences through the situation comedy TV show. If you have any thoughts or comments, let us know!

Work Culture in USA

- from the TV series ‘The Office’

Hyun Jin LEE

Graduated from KyungPook National University

Dept. of French Language and Literature

As globalization advances, many people go abroad to work and corporate with foreign companies. Due to the cultural backgrounds, work culture in each country has its unique style. If you are willing to work for foreign or international companies, it is necessary to know about the work culture that can lead you to adapt quickly into a new environment. American famous TV series ‘The Office’, which is set in a paper products company called Dunder Mufflin, shows us the common daily life of office workers. As it is a situation comedy (sitcom), personalities of characters and the stories are somewhat exaggerated, but it is enough to know about American work culture in general.

When people think of American companies’ working style, they usually make focus on the casual atmosphere and ‘from nine to five’ working hours. It is half correct and half not. The atmosphere in U.S companies is usually casual, but sometimes it’s vertical. For example, in ‘The Office’, every worker is free to express their own ideas to others and even to their boss. The appellation among workers isn’t divided into great detail like the things in Korea. They just call others by their name or add simply ‘sir’ to their boss which is in contrast with Korean companies where workers call each other depending on their varied positions. However, from the scenes where workers force a laugh at their boss’s lame pranks and jokes to curry favor and even do constrainedly some unreasonable tasks ordered from boss, it is possible to assume that the atmosphere isn’t fully unconstrained like common thought. Moreover, as the companies put more emphasis on individual achievements and ability, most workers try to work efficiently during their working hours. Therefore, it is unusual to work overtime at night in U.S. contrary to the habituated overtime work in Korea.

Work culture is different owing to its country’s unique cultural background. It’s not important to say which one is better as all different work cultures have advantages and disadvantages. Ultimately, it is important to have a correct understanding of your workplace’s culture to build and continue your career, regardless of where you are from.