Seminar on Business
Etiquette at Bangalore
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Brig. R. S. Murthy (Retd.), Consultant, Soft Skills Training, interacting with participants. |
The advent of electronic mail has expedited business communications - but at a great cost to clarity and basic business etiquette. Many electronic messages reach their destinations in a state of linguistic chaos, lacking the traditional hallmarks of good business correspondence: a clear purpose, logical organization, and appropriate punctuation and mechanics. Despite the conversational feel of much computer-based communication, e-mail is nonetheless a written form and must therefore observe many of the conventions associated with traditional business letters and memos. These observations were made by Mrs. Lalitha Murthy, a TCS Consultant at a Seminar on ‘Business Etiquette and Communication Skills for Global Workplace.’ The Seminar was organized by the Karnataka Chapter of FIEO in association with Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FKCCI) at Bangalore on 16th November, 2006. Senior executives from more than 90 companies attended the Seminar.
Mr. R C Purohit, President, FKCCI while addressing the Seminar spoke about the importance of continuously refining the soft skills like etiquettes and communication for sustained operations of business. "Etiquette, formerly perceived as soft skill, has been significantly instrumental for the success of most busy and result-oriented professionals because it differentiates them in a competitive market; helps in honouring commitments to quality and excellence; enables them to be confident in a variety of settings with a variety of people from all walks of life; modifies distracting behaviours and develops admired conduct." Said Mr. Purohit. According to him, for international business what ‘you say’ is not nearly as important as ‘how you say it!’
Mrs. Raj Bhasin, Chairperson, Information Technology & Knowledge Based Services Committee, FKCCI observed that while most SMSs give importance to training their people in technical and marketing skills, the soft skills like communication and etiquette were often left untouched or sparsely honed. "This is vastly a stumbling block especially for a smaller organization which is venturing into global markets to make a name, an image for itself and its products and services," she added.
Mr. S S Dhillon, Director, Small Industries Service Institute, Bangalore on this occasion stressed upon the importance of continuous training in the area of soft skills especially for micro, small and medium enterprises and informed that the assistance was being provided to the SSIs under the MDA scheme for the same. Brig. R. S Murthy (Retd), Consultant, Soft Skills Training and Mrs. Lalitha Murthy, Consultant in Business English and Foreign Languages Initiatives, TCS made a detailed presentation on ‘professional etiquette and business communication’. The presentation gave the participants an opportunity to re-evaluate the way they wield words in the workplace. According to Mrs. Lalitha Murthy, words are the currency of virtually every business transaction. Words persuade. They educate. They clarify needs and intentions. Words inspire. Nonetheless, many business professionals do not often stop to consider whether they are using words to their greatest advantage. The consequence: every day in every industry, organizational effectiveness is diminished by dull presentations, inappropriate e-mails, and wordy, jargon-laden memos and reports. Mrs. Murthy observed.
