Business Etiquette Today: A Guide to Corporate Success

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

A strong chapter on manners appropriate to the international business community is the highlight of this slim volume.

Dunckel presents her “dos and don’ts” in brief point form, making it easy to skim this book for specific points or to review a section in a few minutes. Most of the suggestions are traditional, well-accepted, and self-evident. A few are vague to the point of uselessness: for example, “keep gifts in good taste” is not a useful directive as “good taste” is very subjective.

The book covers business etiquette during job interviews, when starting a new job, when fired, within the department or work unit, for business entertaining, when travelling on business, and when using the telephone.

Throughout, the author differentiates between social and business manners and states clearly when itwould be appropriate to bring social manners to a business situation.

As the style is strictly business and the con-tent neither new nor comprehensive, the strengths of the book are its brevity and outline presentation.