3. Multitasking.

From the earliest time people have been trying to do several things simultaneously. They can read a book, cook dinner, talk on the phone and do many other things at the same time. As cars have become available, the time of multitasking has increased.

Now an arsenal of new technology makes it possible for everyone to multitask all day.

The computer industry introduced the word ‘multitasking’ into the vocabulary. Mainframe computers that handled networks were the original multitaskers. Apple’s and Microsoft’s software turned millions of personal computers into multitaskers.

While multitasking is not bad for computers, it may be a bad thing for some people. Psychologists say it is possible for the human brain to process two or more tasks at the same time, but only one of them receives full attention. Experts say that although a lot of people believe that multitasking enhances their productivity, in fact it can reduce it.

Because of the limitation of the human brain, multitaskings can lead to many mistakes. Indeed, a person who is doing several things at a time may put the wrong number in a spreadsheet or send a message to the wrong e-mail address. Moreover, people on the other end of the line don’t usually like to talk to a person who is doing something else while talking to them. It may alienate the people from the multitasker.

Multitaskers also like to do more than one thing at once even in their leisure time. They cannot watch television without reading a newspaper or have dinner without watching TV.

Now multitasking takes place nearly everywhere. A lot of businessmen and managers are never far from their notebook computers and cellular telephones. They are almost always doing two or three things at once, driving and dialing, speaking and typing on their computers. On airplanes they are using their notebook computers to answer e-mail messages. “Why wait?” they ask. “That’s the world we live in right now.”

4. International Business

Nobody actually wants to cause offence but as business becomes ever more international, it is increasingly easy to get it wrong. There may be a single European market but it does nit mean that managers behave the same in Greece as they do in Denmark.

In many European countries handshaking is an automatic gesture. In France good manners require that on arriving at a business meeting a manager shakes hands with everyone present. This can be a demanding task and in a crowded room may require gymnastic ability if the farthest hand is to be reached.

Handshaking is almost as popular in other countries – including Germany, Belgium and Italy. But Northern Europeans, such as the British and Scandinavians, are not quite so fond of physical demonstrations of friendliness.

In Europe the most common challenge is not the content of the food, but the way you behave as you eat. Some things are just not done. In France it is not good manners to raise tricky questions of business over the main course. Business has its place: after the cheese course. Unless you are prepared to eat in silence you have to talk about something – something, that is, other than the business deal which you are continually chewing over in your head.

Italians give similar importance to the whole process of business entertaining. In fact, in Italy the biggest fear, as course after course appears, is that you entirely forget you are there on business. If you have the energy, you can always do the polite thing when the meal finally ends and offer to pay. Then after a lively discussion, you must remember the next polite thing to do – let your host pick up the bill.

In Germany, as you walk sadly back to your hotel room, you may wonder why your apparently friendly hosts have not invited you out for the evening. Don’t worry, it is probably nothing personal. Germans do not entertain business people with quite the same enthusiasm as some of their European counterparts.

The German are also notable for the amount of formality they bring to business. As an outsider, it is often difficult to know whether colleagues have been working together for 30 years or have just met in the lift. If you used to call people by their first names, this can be a little strange. To the Germans, titles are important. Forgetting that someone should be called Herr Doctor or Frau Direktoring might cause serious offence. It is equally offensive to call them by a title they do not possess.

In Italy the question of title is further confused by the fact that everyone with a university degree can be called Dottore – and engineers, lawyers and architects may also expect to be called by their professional titles.