Business Etiquette in the Workplace
Etiquette is a set of unwritten rules that apply to social situations, professional workplaces, and relationships. In the business world, good business etiquette means that you act professionally and exercise proper manners when engaging with others in your
profession. Good business etiquette enhances your chances of success and helps you land the dream job. Maintaining etiquette helps you to progress professionally, take a new client, impress the audience, etc. People with good etiquette are rewarded for professional and polite skills. For example, an employee who arrives at a meeting on time can impress his supervisors. Workplace etiquette also includes habits, dress-up, behavior, etc. In Nepal, generally, if an employee wears half jean pants in the office, it makes him uncivilized. While speaking too, you do not speak in a monotonous way. Being courteous if you speak, it makes you civilized. While speaking in the business world, you should be positive and think positively.
Like a business conversation, in telephone conversation too, there is some etiquette such as listening carefully, personalizing the call, being courteous, good greeting, good manner, warm opening, etc. Good greet is related to Good Morning, Good Afternoon (according to time). While (opening) speaking too, you greet the caller and should ask the caller’s name which is called personalize the call. If you are a receptionist in a company, you should be smatter, and have well dressed and commanding voice.
Business Etiquette in Social Setting
Sometimes, you need to launch business conferences, at that time you should maintain your appearance and your action should be appropriate. While handshaking your senior, in Nepal, there is a culture of bowing down your head. While introducing each other, the Nepali businessperson tells the name at first and later surname. While meeting in a social setting, you should avoid the habit of drinking and chewing tobacco, etc.
In business talking, you should not include discussion about politics, religion, your family members, complaining, joking, backbiting, making rumors, etc. If you did, such conducts make you unethical. In meetings, you should not ask a personal question about your employee (about his son, wife, daughter, home, etc.)
Business Etiquette Online
Like social setting (place), you need to maintain etiquette online (Facebook, Twitter, etc).To maintain etiquette in electronic media, follow the following guidelines.
- Avoid personal attack: In a social network, you should not abuse and scold your audience.
- Stay focused on the original topic: While writing an email or 1M, you stay on the topic.
- Don’t present opinion as fact, and support fact with evidence: While communicating on online media, don’t present your opinion as a fact. Opinions can be true or false. If you present facts, you support them with evidence and proof.
- Follow rules of speaking, punctuation, and capitalization: Your written message should follow proper grammar.
- Use virus protection: You should install anti-virus software to save your data for the future.
- Ask if this is a good time for an IM: While chatting (1M), you need to know whether the person is busy or not, whether it is the right time or not.
- Watch your language and keep emotions under control: Language should be formal and business-like. So, you need to control your personal emotion and feeling.
- Avoid multitasking while using 1M and other tools while chatting online (1M): You don’t do several tasks while writing 1M or chatting urgently. Otherwise, you can give the wrong information to your recipient,
- Never assume privacy: If your audience does not delete your message, your sent message will store in the receipt’s inbox or chat box forever. So, do not write private and mission information, so that you didn’t get problems in the future. The social network also can be hacked and see your valuable secret message.
- Do not use “Reply All” in an email unless everyone can benefit from your reply: You just send a message only to an important person. While sending an email, do not use the bottom of “Reply All” or do not reply to unimportant people.
- Do not waste others’ time with sloppy confusing or incomplete messages: The audience wants a simple, sweet, interesting, and concise message. They do not want to spend their time reading confusing and ambiguous messages.
- Respecting boundaries of time and virtual space: Do not think that your audience will be available online every time. So, you should not write a message (1M) during their busy time. Similarly, without audience permission, do not write anything in their Facebook status.
Importance of Active Listening
Why to listen?
- To understand messages, instruct for plans and policies, etc.
- To get new ideas a To clear confusion.
- To enhance learning. a To be gentle
- To know the value of concentration.
Pre Requisites to Effective Listening
For effective listening
- The environment should be calm.
- You should be free from prejudices and pre-occupied ideas.
- You should be free from hasty generalization.
- Do not interpret the speaker.
- Listen top to bottom.
- Understand the speaker’s body language.
