Business Etiquette
In today`s multicultural and global business environment knowing a lot about your area of expertise isn`t enough. The ability to get along with others, demonstrate good manners and make others feel comfortable is becoming increasingly important to career success. Without these skills you risk losing customers, support of colleagues and associates.
The changes in work environment. We have all noticed how informal the work environment has become. Have a look at the way we dress, meet, greet and interact with one another. Even business interaction has become more casual. There are increasingly sensitive issues to be aware of as we work and cooperate with a variety of people from different cultures and countries. No matter how bright or intelligent a person may appear, landing the job or success at work will not happen without good human relation skills. That`s where business etiquette comes in. Where do our students learn and develop the skills they need to maneuver in an even more complex society? Many of our students don`t learn these skills at home. They don`t know how to handle very basic social or business situations. Many of them are comfortable with casual family gatherings but are not familiar with more formally organized events. If they are not learning such things at home, someone else must give them a hand. But the question is: who. Business etiquette skills are very important especially for the students of economic specialities. Future human resources managers, economists, finance managers are to be able to handle different business situations which need the skills of etiquette.
How to integrate business etiquette into the course of English? A foreign language teacher can do a lot in this area. He can organize a lot of various activities devoted to teaching business etiquette. At such lessons and seminars students can discuss table manners, review the basic table settings. The teacher can present workshops where students can learn the main rules of writing resume, formal dressing, the rules of introduction. We are living in a new millennium and becoming reliant on technology as our primary means of communication with each other. It`s a teacher`s responsibility to assist students in becoming proficient in human, social and business relations. Success in the business world will be impossible without these skills.