Business etiquette

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When in Rome… Problems that business people face

Travelling abroad Good manners, good business

Doing business in Europe I didn’t mean to be rude!

Nobody actually wants to cause offence but, as business becomes ever more international it is increasingly easy to get it wrong. There may be a single European market but it does not mean that they behave the same in Greece as they do in Denmark.

In many European countries handshaking is an automatic gesture. In France good manners require that on arriving at a business meeting a manager shakes hands with everyone present. But Northern Europeans, such as the British and Scandinavians, are not quite so fond of physical demonstration. In France it is not good manners to raise tricky questions of business over the main course. Business has its place: after the cheese course. Unless you are prepared to eat in silence, you have to talk about something - something, that is, other than the business deal which you are continually chewing over in your head.

In Germany, as you walk sadly back to your hotel room, you may wonder why your apparently friendly hosts have not invited youout for the evening. Don't worry, it is probably nothing personal. Germans do not entertain business people with quite the same enthusiasm as some of their European counterparts.

The Germans are also notable for the amount of formality they bring to business. As an outsider, it is often difficult to know whether colleagues have been working together for 30 years or have just met in the lift. If you are used to calling people by their first names, this can be a little strange. To the Germans titles are important. Forgetting that someone should be called Herr Doktor or Frau Direktorin might cause serious offence. It's equally offensive to call them by a title they do not possess.

In Italy the question of a title is further confused by the fact that everyone with a university degree can be called Dottore - and engineers, lawyers and architects may also expect to be called by their professional titles.

Italians give similar importance to the whole process of business entertaining. In fact, in Italy the biggest fear, as course after course appears, is that you entirely forget you are there on business. If you have the energy, you can always do the polite thing when the meal finally ends and offer to pay. Then after a lively discussion you must remember the next polite things to do - let your host picks up the bill.

These cultural challenges exist side by side with the problems of doing business in a foreign language. Language, of course, is full of difficulties - disaster may be only a syllable away. But the more you know of the culture of the country you are dealing with, the less likely you are to get into difficulties. It is worth the effort. It might be rather hard to explain that the reason you lost the contract was not the product of the price, but the fact that you offended your hosts in a light-hearted comment over on aperitif. Good manners are admired: they can also make or break the deal.

Discuss these questions:

Which of the ideas in the article do you disagree with?

What would you tell a foreign visitor about «good manners» in Ukraine?

How much do you think international business is improved by knowing about foreign people's customs?

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