A Short Guide on Personal and Social Etiquette

etiquette is a code of conduct or behavior defines the social expectations. The word is derived from French word etiquette which means a tag or label. It however varies from society to society; culture to culture. One of the hallmarks of a civilized society is the manners and customs it exhibits!

Like culture, the word Etiquette gradually evolved to become a plural. It encompasses a wide range of expectations in business, social, personal and life situations. There is a different set of protocols for different situations. For example there is dining etiquette, social etiquette and personal etiquette each of which applies to particular situation. Further there are no hard and fast rules on protocols or something that we may call as a universal code of conduct. What may be etiquette at one place or in one culture may be a shock at other!

Quite naturally, the code of behaviour helps standardize behaviors at gatherings and smoothen the act of gathering. For example, there are business etiquette that are meant to formalize behaviors and enable people to go on smoothly with the business transactions. Non standardized gestures, body language distract people and they convey wrong messages to the other person.

It has become very important to behave at social gatherings. Since there are a lot of people around, new and known, it becomes very important to behave and present oneself in a way that does not infuriate other people. In fact it is one of the key requirements to be successful in the present world.

Why is it important to have good etiquette?

While many did not agree on importance of etiquette for success in professional and personal spheres till yesterday; slowly there is a shift in the mindset with people starting to realize the importance. Today people who behave well, look suave are the ones who have increased chances to succeed. Businesses, societies, institutions are increasingly getting more sensitized to this fact. No wonder there are finishing schools inside every university to prepare students for the world of work in behavior and mannerisms.

Today more and more business meetings are held over dining table than conference rooms and the way you present yourself decides whether or not you will get the business. It is therefore very important that you feel confident on the dining table with the table manners.

There are in addition toilet, lift and e-mail etiquette and all this is taught within organizations so that employees, when they go out are able to create good positive impressions about the latter. No doubt we are living in a fast paced world where there is a multitude of things to take care of and learn but etiquette is one that should not miss our attention!