Which fork should you use to eat the salad at a business lunch? What does business casual really mean? What's the one thing it's important not to do when meeting a Japanese businessperson for the first time? Good social skills are critical to success in today's competitive business world. Excellent manners not only grease the wheels of commerce, but an employee's positive professional image rubs off on the company and improves its reputation. The Essential Guide to Business Etiquette, a practical guide for interacting effectively with colleagues, customers, and business associates, details the social skills necessary to ensure personal and professional success. Good manners are like gold in today's fractious business environment-and thus provide an edge in getting and keeping new business.

The Essential Guide to Business Etiquette features 14 chapters covering the most critical areas that can help people succeed in the climb up the corporate ladder. From the basics of getting off on the right foot during the job interview to handling office politics to dining etiquette, this book covers everything today's businessperson needs to know to navigate the tricky world of etiquette whether at home or abroad. Learning to operate with grace in the business world could not be more important. Every day, poor manners ruin deals, derail promotions, and harm customer relations.

Lillian H. Chaney is Professor of Management Emeritus at The University of Memphis. She is the author of over 100 articles and presentations, with a specialty in intercultural business communication, and has received many teaching and research awards in the field. She has conducted training programs on communication, international and U.S. corporate etiquette, and business ethics for international corporations, educational institutions, and government agencies. She is co-author, with William Bonner, of Communicating Effectively in an Information Age and, with Jeanette S. Martin, of the textbook Intercultural Business Communication and the best-selling Global Business Etiquette (Praeger, 2006).

Jeanette S. Martin is Professor at the University of Mississippi, School of Business. She has served as associate editor of the Journal of Business Communication and is the recipient of several national awards and the author of dozens of articles, book chapters, and conference presentations on intercultural business communication, education, emotional and cultural intelligence, and management information systems. She is co-author, with Lillian H. Chaney, of the textbook Intercultural Business Communication and the bestselling Global Business Etiquette (Praeger, 2006).