What if Miss Manners had written a book on office relations?

July 16, 2012 1:54 PM

I would like some recommendations for books on office etiquette, including things like dress, getting lunch with people, how introductions to superiors should be properly handled, dealing with my intern being sidetracked by someone else's request, etc. If it helps, I currently work in media, East Coast U.S. I work on the tech side, but I'm having to deal with this stuff a lot anyway, and it's all new to me coming out of mostly technical positions in the past.
posted by anonymous to human relations (5 answers total)

This isn't a book but you should check out Ask a Manager - she covers all kinds of workplace issues, and is really helpful when you email her with a question. Also, her readers are a great group of people - I am never bored reading the comments on her posts.
posted by 9000condiments at 3:03 PM on July 16, 2012

I don't have a book recommendation either, but a build on 9000condiments' suggestion. You might have some luck with the career tools podcast. Or perhaps some parts of the Back to Work podcast might appeal. Some of the things you've raised like how to manage sidetracked workloads or competing priorities will be covered by those guys.

On the media front, the industry can have wildly varying expectations on behaviour and etiquette depending on which part of the very broad industry you're in. Things like dress code can be inferred from your immediate team, the greater organisation and similar businesses to yours. Observation there, plus perhaps befriending a peer in your organisation (but not on the tech side) can help give you some guidance too.

I get the impression that there are some other media folk around on the site - perhaps asking a question about a specific thing you're looking to answer might throw up something interesting for you (as well as the terrific non-media specific advice you'd get too).
posted by pymsical at 4:14 PM on July 16, 2012

They Don't Teach Corporate in College is sort of okay. It's geared for college graduates, but that could be good since it assumes they know literally nothing.
posted by ramenopres at 8:52 PM on July 16, 2012

Seconding Ask a Manager. It's always entertaining and informative, and the commenters are almost always polite and helpful (if not a bit feisty).
posted by itsamermaid at 9:41 PM on July 16, 2012

from the use of the word "superiors" i'm guessing you are not originally from the US.
can you have a mod post where you are coming from?
maybe a book/podcast/column about business stuff in the US written for people coming from your country would be helpful.

i think things like that exist for US folks going to Japan and such where the customs are a bit different, so i would think there might be some resources that go the other way.
posted by sio42 at 1:56 PM on July 17, 2012