Local managers are deemed less authoritarian, less set in their methods, easier to access and more innovative than their counterparts in the United Kingdom, the Quality of Work Life survey showed.
The survey of more than 2,500 executives from the two countries in the private and public sectors was carried out for the Chartered Management Institute in the United Kingdom and the Australian Institute of Management (AIM) in Melbourne.
Only 19.6 per cent of Australian managers were deemed by the survey to be authoritarian, compared to 30 per cent in the UK.
Some 35.1 per cent of local bosses were considered bureaucratic in comparison with 41.3 per cent of British top dogs.
Australian bosses were also found to be more accessible, at 35.6 per cent to 28.9 per cent, and thought of as being more trusting, at 17.2 per cent to 14.8 per cent.
AIM chief executive Susan Heron said the research reflected well on Australian executives.
"Overseas companies that are looking to invest money to establish operations in Australia or develop existing assets here will welcome the survey results," Heron said.
However, more than half the managers in both countries, (53.4 per cent in the UK and 55.6 per cent in Australia) said their long working hours are having a bad impact on their health.
Heron said the working hours were "not sustainable".
"The long hours worked are comprising the health of managers, causing unrest in the workplace and are restricting organisational performance," Heron said.
Managers had to look after their staff if they wanted improving results, she said.
"Those organisations that will prosper long-term are those that think creatively to ease the pressure on managers and their staff, improve work life balance and thereby boost the prospects of retaining key employees," she said.
More than half the respondents in both countries said working long hours had a detrimental effect on their time for exercising, health, relationship with their partner and social life.
Meanwhile 45 per cent of respondents said their long working week lowered their productivity in the workplace.
