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Business Etiquette for Entrepreneurial Success

High School, ELA & Reading

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Description of Unit

Either with a partner or in a small group, high school students exploring personal communication in either English language arts or CTE courses will use a variety of resources or methods to research culturally accepted business and industry practices. Students will investigate how micro-messaging, interpersonal skills, and appreciation for diversity impact employability. As part of this process, students will create a skit or digital production depicting a scenario that includes appropriate business practices and interpersonal skills for a specific culture. 

This guide links the Business Etiquette unit to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for high school students. Business Etiquette is an English language arts and CTE unit that allows students to generate an understanding of using interpersonal skills to facilitate effective teamwork. The unit also gives students the opportunity to develop and use problem-solving models and critical-thinking skills to make informed decisions by studying interpersonal communication and its nuances. Students will discover how micro-expressions affect communication and perception, and they will research the evolution of the communication process, including cultural differences in the workplace. Students will then use this knowledge to create a skit or digital public service announcement demonstrating professional standards/employability skills as required by business and industry. The following document includes the applicable TEKS and the details of the Business Etiquette unit. The final section of this document presents the applicable Texas College and Career Readiness Standards adopted by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) on January 24, 2008. 

Phase I. Learning Experiences

Students will develop their understanding of culturally acceptable business practices in the workplace. Students will also utilize online research, interviews, or observation in a professional setting (i.e., shadowing) to learn how micro-messaging, interpersonal skills, and appreciation for diversity affect employability. The following articles may be useful to help build background knowledge:

  1. Students will begin to develop a common definition of business etiquette through video clips, guest speakers from business or industry, information from credible Internet sources, or a combination of these approaches.
  2. The teacher will guide the students to an understanding of various acceptable cultural practices within the global business market through a whole group discussion. Some ideas and examples to begin the discussion are as follows:
    • Tipping is illegal in China, but encouraged in Mexico.
    • The first person who enters the room in China is assumed to have seniority.
    • Japanese business cards are accepted with two hands and should not be used for note taking.
    • Spanish people do not share the same concept of punctuality as individuals found in other western European nations.
  3. Students will build additional background knowledge by viewing invited outside speakers from business and industry (e.g., business school faculty, human resource specialists).
  4. Following a whole group discussion and presentations from outside speakers, students will begin the research process.

Phase II. Independent Research

A. Research process

  1. Selecting a topic. Students will work individually, in pairs, or in small groups to select a previously discussed country from Phase I. The students or small group will further investigate this country’s global business practices.
  2. Guiding questions. Students will create and select questions to guide their research. Examples of guiding questions include the following:
    • What are some taboo topics for business meetings?
    • What are preferred speaking distances in various cultures? How do the preferences differ?
    • What is considered appropriate business dress and attire?
    • What are some specific aspects of dining etiquette (e.g., when, how, pacing, food choice, portions, table manners)?
    • What cultural traditions/holidays may impact business practices?
    • What are appropriate social mores (e.g., greetings, handshakes, introductions, seniority)?
    • What are the meanings of certain facial expressions and body language cues?
    • What are some differences between informal and formal setting etiquette?
    • What is proxemic communication and how does it impact interaction?
    • How does having knowledge of various cultures and points-of-view help prepare an individual for personal success?
    • In your research, what comparisons can you make between cultures regarding acceptable business practices?
    • How do social mores compare across cultures?
    • What is the benefit of learning about other cultures?
    • How does understanding differences of others influence the economy?
    • Why is critical, deliberative, and empathetic listening important?
  3. Developing a research proposal. Students will decide what they want to know about the specific country or culture and how they will research all aspects of business in that culture. They will list what resources are needed to find the answers to the guiding questions. Students will generate an idea for skit or video, create a plan for completion (including a timeline and potential group roles/duties), and gain project approval from the teacher.
  4. Conducting the research. Students will continue researching the topic and planning for the final product (including creation of a storyboard). When ready, they will begin producing a short video or skit incorporating knowledge gained from preparatory lessons and research. Students will view the final draft of the product within the group and complete the editing process. They will complete a graphic organizer, such as a T-chart or Venn Diagram, that compares global business practices to those in the United States.

    5. Students should critically analyze the information sources they are using in their research and presentation. The Cornell University Library provides 10 things to look for when evaluating an information source.

    Students will reflect on their research by answering the following questions before their final presentation:

    • What did you learn about business etiquette?
    • In terms of planning your skit or video, what did you find helpful? Why?
    • After having gone through the editing process, what would you go back and change or do differently?
    • After viewing your finished video, what works and what does not?
    • What role did you play in your group? How or what did you contribute (be specific)? How might you have improved your contribution?

B. The product

Students will create and produce a five- to seven-minute video or skit incorporating knowledge gained from the preparatory lessons and research. This product will include a storyboard thatwas used in the planning process. In planning the video, students will consider these key questions:

  • What do you want people to know?
  • What understanding about other countries and their business practices do you want others to have?
  • What do you want people to think?
  • What do you want people to do?

C. Communication

Students will communicate their learning with a presentation to their peers and a graphic organizer of their choice that compares and contrasts business practices amongst various cultures.

Unscripted questions should be asked by the class after the presentation

D. A completed project consists of:

  1. The research proposal, including guiding questions.
  2. A Works Cited Page with at least 10 credible references
  3. A storyboard and student created five- to seven-minute video or skit
  4. A screening or performance for the class
  5. A completed graphic organizer (such as a T-chart or Venn diagram) comparing and contrasting acceptable business practices/etiquette across cultures


This unit may address the following TEKS.

110.31, English Language Arts and Reading, English I

110.31(b)(1)
Reading/Vocabulary Development. Students understand new vocabulary and use it when reading and writing.
110.31(b)(2)
Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Theme and Genre. Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about theme and genre in different cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.
110.31(b)(12)
Reading/Media Literacy. Students use comprehension skills to analyze how words, images, graphics, and sounds work together in various forms to impact meaning. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater depth in increasingly more complex texts.
110.31(b)(13)
Writing/Writing Process. Students use elements of the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing) to compose text.
110.31(b)(17)
Oral and Written Conventions/Conventions. Students understand the function of and use the conventions of academic language when speaking and writing. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity.
110.31(b)(20)
Research/Research Plan. Students ask open-ended research questions and develop a plan for answering them.
110.31(b)(21)
Research/Gathering Sources. Students determine, locate, and explore the full range of relevant sources addressing a research question and systematically record the information they gather.
110.31(b)(23)
Research/Organizing and Presenting Ideas. Students organize and present their ideas and information according to the purpose of the research and their audience. Students are expected to synthesize the research into a written or an oral presentation that:
110.31(b)(24)
Listening and Speaking/Listening. Students will use comprehension skills to listen attentively to others in formal and informal settings. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity.
110.31(b)(25)
Listening and Speaking/Speaking. Students speak clearly and to the point, using the conventions of language. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity. Students are expected to give presentations using informal, formal, and technical language effectively to meet the needs of audience, purpose, and occasion, employing eye contact, speaking rate (e.g., pauses for effect), volume, enunciation, purposeful gestures, and conventions of language to communicate ideas effectively.

110.32, English Language Arts and Reading, English II

110.32(b)(1)
Reading/Vocabulary Development. Students understand new vocabulary and use it when reading and writing.
110.32(b)(2)
Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Theme and Genre. Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about theme and genre in different cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.
110.32(b)(8)
Reading/Comprehension of Informational Text/Culture and History. Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about the author's purpose in cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. Students are expected to analyze the controlling idea and specific purpose of a passage and the textual elements that support and elaborate it, including both the most important details and the less important details.
110.32(b)(9)
Reading/Comprehension of Informational Text/Expository Text. Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about expository text and provide evidence from text to support their understanding.
110.32(b)(12)
Reading/Media Literacy. Students use comprehension skills to analyze how words, images, graphics, and sounds work together in various forms to impact meaning. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater depth in increasingly more complex texts.
110.32(b)(13)
Writing/Writing Process. Students use elements of the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing) to compose text.
110.32(b)(20)
Research/Research Plan. Students ask open-ended research questions and develop a plan for answering them.
110.32(b)(21)
Research/Gathering Sources. Students determine, locate, and explore the full range of relevant sources addressing a research question and systematically record the information they gather.
110.32(b)(24)
Listening and Speaking/Listening. Students will use comprehension skills to listen attentively to others in formal and informal settings. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity.
110.32(b)(25)
Listening and Speaking/Speaking. Students speak clearly and to the point, using the conventions of language. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity. Students are expected to advance a coherent argument that incorporates a clear thesis and a logical progression of valid evidence from reliable sources and that employs eye contact, speaking rate (e.g., pauses for effect), volume, enunciation, purposeful gestures, and conventions of language to communicate ideas effectively.

110.33, English Language Arts and Reading, English III

110.33(b)(1)
Reading/Vocabulary Development. Students understand new vocabulary and use it when reading and writing.
110.33(b)(2)
Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Theme and Genre. Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about theme and genre in different cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.
110.33(b)(12)
Reading/Media Literacy. Students use comprehension skills to analyze how words, images, graphics, and sounds work together in various forms to impact meaning. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater depth in increasingly more complex texts.
110.33(b)(13)
Writing/Writing Process. Students use elements of the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing) to compose text.
110.33(b)(14)
Writing/Literary Texts. Students write literary texts to express their ideas and feelings about real or imagined people, events, and ideas. Students are responsible for at least two forms of literary writing.
110.33(b)(16)
Writing/Persuasive Texts. Students write persuasive texts to influence the attitudes or actions of a specific audience on specific issues. Students are expected to write an argumentative essay (e.g., evaluative essays, proposals) to the appropriate audience that includes:
110.33(b)(20)
Research/Research Plan. Students ask open-ended research questions and develop a plan for answering them.
110.33(b)(21)
Research/Gathering Sources. Students determine, locate, and explore the full range of relevant sources addressing a research question and systematically record the information they gather.
110.33(b)(23)
Research/Organizing and Presenting Ideas. Students organize and present their ideas and information according to the purpose of the research and their audience. Students are expected to synthesize the research into an extended written or oral presentation that:
110.33(b)(24)
Listening and Speaking/Listening. Students will use comprehension skills to listen attentively to others in formal and informal settings. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity.
110.33(b)(25)
Listening and Speaking/Speaking. Students speak clearly and to the point, using the conventions of language. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity. Students are expected to give a formal presentation that exhibits a logical structure, smooth transitions, accurate evidence, well-chosen details, and rhetorical devices, and that employs eye contact, speaking rate (e.g., pauses for effect), volume, enunciation, purposeful gestures, and conventions of language to communicate ideas effectively.

110.34, English Language Arts and Reading, English IV

110.34(b)(1)
Reading/Vocabulary Development. Students understand new vocabulary and use it when reading and writing.
110.34(b)(2)
Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Theme and Genre. Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about theme and genre in different cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.
110.34(b)(6)
Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Literary Nonfiction. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the varied structural patterns and features of literary nonfiction and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. Students are expected to analyze the effect of ambiguity, contradiction, subtlety, paradox, irony, sarcasm, and overstatement in literary essays, speeches, and other forms of literary nonfiction.
110.34(b)(8)
Reading/Comprehension of Informational Text/Culture and History. Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about the author's purpose in cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. Students are expected to analyze the consistency and clarity of the expression of the controlling idea and the ways in which the organizational and rhetorical patterns of text support or confound the author's meaning or purpose.
110.34(b)(11)
Reading/Comprehension of Informational Text/Procedural Texts. Students understand how to glean and use information in procedural texts and documents.
110.34(b)(12)
Reading/Media Literacy. Students use comprehension skills to analyze how words, images, graphics, and sounds work together in various forms to impact meaning. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater depth in increasingly more complex texts.
110.34(b)(13)
Writing/Writing Process. Students use elements of the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing) to compose text.
110.34(b)(15)
Writing/Expository and Procedural Texts. Students write expository and procedural or work-related texts to communicate ideas and information to specific audiences for specific purposes.
110.34(b)(17)
Oral and Written Conventions/Conventions. Students understand the function of and use the conventions of academic language when speaking and writing. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity.
110.34(b)(18)
Oral and Written Conventions/Handwriting, Capitalization, and Punctuation. Students write legibly and use appropriate capitalization and punctuation conventions in their compositions. Students are expected to correctly and consistently use conventions of punctuation and capitalization.
110.34(b)(20)
Research/Research Plan. Students ask open-ended research questions and develop a plan for answering them.
110.34(b)(21)
Research/Gathering Sources. Students determine, locate, and explore the full range of relevant sources addressing a research question and systematically record the information they gather.
110.34(b)(23)
Research/Organizing and Presenting Ideas. Students organize and present their ideas and information according to the purpose of the research and their audience. Students are expected to synthesize the research into an extended written or oral presentation that:
110.34(b)(24)
Listening and Speaking/Listening. Students will use comprehension skills to listen attentively to others in formal and informal settings. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity.
110.34(b)(25)
Listening and Speaking/Speaking. Students speak clearly and to the point, using the conventions of language. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity. Students are expected to formulate sound arguments by using elements of classical speeches (e.g., introduction, first and second transitions, body, and conclusion), the art of persuasion, rhetorical devices, eye contact, speaking rate (e.g., pauses for effect), volume, enunciation, purposeful gestures, and conventions of language to communicate ideas effectively.

130.11, Professional Communications

130.110(c)(1)(A)
explore opportunities in training, education, and certifications for employment;
130.110(c)(1)(B)
demonstrate professional standards and personal qualities needed to be employable such as oral and written communication, leadership, teamwork, appreciation for diversity, conflict management, customer service, work ethic, and adaptability;
130.110(c)(1)(C)
demonstrate skills related to seeking and applying for employment;
130.110(c)(1)(D)
create a resume and cover letter/letter of interest to document information such as work experiences, licenses, certifications, and work samples;
130.110(c)(1)(E)
demonstrate skills in evaluating and comparing employment opportunities.

130.384, Entrepreneurship

130.384(c)(1)
The student demonstrates professional standards/employability skills as required by business and industry.
130.384(c)(1)(A)
communicate effectively with others using speaking, listening, and writing skills;
130.384(c)(1)(B)
demonstrate collaboration skills through teamwork;
130.384(c)(1)(C)
demonstrate professionalism by conducting oneself in a manner appropriate for the profession and workplace;
130.384(c)(1)(D)
demonstrate a positive, productive work ethic by performing assigned tasks as directed;
130.384(c)(1)(E)
demonstrate integrity by choosing the ethical course of action and complying with all applicable rules, laws, and regulations;
130.384(c)(1)(F)
demonstrate time-management skills such as prioritizing tasks, following schedules, and tending to goal-relevant activities in ways that use time wisely and optimize efficiency and results;
130.384(c)(17)
The student understands the importance of a business's social responsibility to society as it relates to shareholders, employees, customers, the community, and the environment. The student is expected to discuss the responsibility of business.
130.384(c)(18)
The student understands business ethics and legal responsibilities.
130.384(c)(18)(A)
explain ethical actions in business operations, including ethical considerations in providing information, confidential information, and information appropriate to obtain from a client or another employee;
130.384(c)(18)(B)
manage internal and external business relationships to foster positive interactions by explaining the nature of human resources and workplace regulations, discussing employment relationships, and analyzing the impact of ethical decisions.

Dependent upon the topic of the pseudo-documentary, these TEKS and additional English TEKS may be addressed.

This unit may address the following Texas College and Career Readiness Standards.

Cross-Disciplinary Standards:

CDS.I.A.1
 Engage in scholarly inquiry and dialogue.
CDS.I.A.2
 Accept constructive criticism and revise personal views when valid evidence warrants.
CDS.I.B.1
 Consider arguments and conclusions of self and others.
CDS.I.B.2
 Construct well-reasoned arguments to explain phenomena, validate conjectures, or support positions.

English Language Arts:

ELA.V.A.1
Articulate and investigate research questions.
ELA.V.A.2
Explore and refine a research topic.
ELA.V.A.3
Devise a plan for completing work on time.
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