How to Main Work Etiquettes in Your Organization

"According to an alumnus of a premier business school in the United States, during an etiquette class, Asian students were advised not to order salads with iceberg lettuce during business meetings" in America or Europe. Order freshly cut fruit or skip the salad all together was the suggestion. The reason being this green vegetable is not a staple food in Asian countries, they may come across as clumsy when attempting to eat it.

As a fresher enter the workplace they can expect to be catapulted into tricky situations like this one.

Tapas Majumdar, General Manager, Human Resources, Cox and Kings recounts how they still pull the leg of a young employee because she referred to all her seniors as ‘Sir’. “At Cox and King we follow the first name culture and things are pretty relaxed so much so that we barge into cubicles sometimes without knocking,” says Tapas. Some companies prescribe code conduct for its employee and some don’t so we got professionals to share with us what worked for them in tricky situations.

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Icebreaker at a Meeting

Every now and then an important meeting gives the 24-year-old Siddhesh Gawde from Mumbai, the jitters.

I tend to freeze and don't know what to say and especially if I am meeting the CEO and  I usually wait for others to speak first and  he confesses suggests listening to what is  being to discussed and also asking clarifying questions could help to break the ice but Mr. Balu Pandian and  former corporate director and chairman of Brook field High School and Bangalore feels that being silent then waiting for things to pan out in a meeting is not ideal and

Mr. Balu's suggestions you

Introduce yourself right away and seek introductions from others and  People with initiative are admired and

Give a quick overview of your work responsibilities and enquirer about others in the meeting This gives everyone a chance to participate and open up and

Ask a few questions based on their answers  This indicates that you are eager to learn more about their area of work, and can open channels of addressing senior colleagues and

Ask people how they would like to be addressed For example Hi Shilpa is it okay if I call you that?

Be confident while you speak to your senior colleagues and phone calls.

Mr. Bibin Verghese's is working in the sales department at the mobikon Technologies and a web solutions provider to hospitality businesses in Pune and He spends more than half of his day interacting with potential customers and most of whom he speaks to for the first time an MBA student from Singhad Business School, Pune says. There was this one instance where I completely went blank while talking to the CEO of a hotel and had to simply hang up abruptly and I was so nervous and conscious of the fact that I was talking to a CEO and Lucky for him the company didn’t lose the client than Tapas advises emphatically and "Do not be casual on the phone, even if the other person is then  Maintain some distance and simply because you don't know the other person at all. then MR Sunder Ramachandran Managing Partner WCH Training solutions  New Delhi-based training company says a bit of planning before a first phone call can help and

Sunder's suggestions that Open the call with a standard professional greeting like a Good Morning depending on the time of the day and move on to introduce yourself and ask if it is a good time to talk and Be as direct as possible and don't beat around the bush and small talk can be an irritantAllow the other person plenty of time take to respond and use prompt words such as I see and really in a sincere tone then Do not repeat the name of the person too many time, three times every eight to 10 minutes is good enough Keep conversations brief with anyone.

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Lunchtime manners:

Lunchtime is a good time to find out the interests of your colleagues, says Shipra. Peoples usually tend to their guard in the cafeteria but there are some dos and don’ts here as well.

"It is natural to form groups, especially in the cafeteria. But you will never know when groups change so by forming groups don't form barriers",

 Advises Tapas.

Their suggestions:

Since groups are inevitable, it's a good idea to have lunch with different groups rather than sticking to the same cliques every day.

When in the presence of one group don't speak ill of the person in another group. In fact, try to not comment on a third person in his or her absence.

Try to not carry on any conversations from the Cafe to the workplace but discussing work while at lunch is not a bad idea.

finally, Shipra added,  "a little caution and  thought in the manner in which you interact at work will definitely benefit you professionally.” 

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