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Business Etiquette Seems To Have Gone Out The Window

Guest post by: Andrew Bailey

Article Overview: Proper business etiquette seems to be sorely lacking today. With people getting fired with an email, has proper business etiquette gone out the window?

Business Etiquette Seems To Have Gone Out The Window

It's a subject not often talked about but business etiquette and communication in business in general seems to be a thing of the past. When I was running an office, email and texting was the new wave of communication in an office environment. However, there was still some sort of business etiquette in place which ensured that some things were still proper to communicate to someone face to face. Our communication culture has gone from something personal to hiding behind electronic gadgets. The other day I heard of someone being sacked from their job on a Sunday morning no less via an email sent to his personal email address. Now, being sacked is one thing but finding out by checking his email on a Sunday morning? I think that's quite lame and gutless on the part of his employer don't you? That's like being dumped by your partner with a text message on your mobile phone (I speak from experience on that one)! To make matters worse, his job wasn't the type that he had to go into the office at all so when he called the boss to find out what was happening, his boss didn't initially take his call and we he did return the call, he said it was economic reasons why he had to be let go, meaning, he was an expensive employee to have around. You would think though that if that was the case, his boss would have called him in and sat him down, explained what the story was and renegotiate his package. There was nothing wrong with his work as he was a top notch employee so you think his boss would have done everything to keep him on.

Whatever happened to the face to face communication around an office where someone was let go by their boss? I think common decency between employer and employee is sorely lacking in the business world today. While we are making huge steps forward to making our lives easier with all these electronic gadgets that we use in business, our communications culture has taken a huge step backwards because of them at the same time. I think in management, business etiquette and good communication in business is absolutely essential. I also think that if anyone in authority, such as a manager, hides behind electronic gadgets instead of doing important things face to face, is a coward and shouldn't be in a management position. Remember, you are there to manage people and dealing with people dictates you treat them with respect regardless of what information you have to share with them.

I have said it quite a few times that what goes around, comes around. Put yourself in their shoes before you hide behind electronic gadgets to do your dirty work as sometimes in management you will have to do. Act like a grown up and do things of a more delicate nature, such as having to let someone go, with proper business etiquette and don't follow the more prevalent communications culture that has been adopted lately by lazy and uncaring managers.

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Article Tags: business etiquette, communication etiquette, communications culture, communications in business, email, proper business



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