Global Environment,

In a global environment, religious practice frequently affects business practices within organizations. Religion impacts business and social interactions from meetings to greetings, holidays and community events and is an inherent factor of cultural values.

A culture’s belief systems are invaluable tools for encoding and reinforcing key value orientations within a given group or community, thereby lending it cohesiveness in outlook and perspective to the everyday challenges of life. Awareness of a culture’s religious practices and values play a major role in managing, negotiating or working with others from a different culture.

It is essential to keep religious preferences and practices in mind when conducting business, either outside one’s own culture, or while in one’s own culture among others whose religious preferences or practices differ from one’s own. At the same time, there will always be exceptions and the cultural values and subsequent business practices of individuals may very well differ significantly from those of the majority of the religion’s practitioners. The topics covered include:
• The Workplace and Religion o Dress o Women in Business o Gender Relations o Workplace Relationships o Workplace Advancement o Marriage o Funerary & Mourning Practices o Holidays o Worship
• Religion’s Impact on Negotiating
• Religious Implications on Financial Practices
The Workplace and Religion
Dress
Many workers wear traditional religious dress on the job as evidenced by the black and white outfits worn by Chasidic or orthodox Jews, the turbans worn by devout Muslims or Sikhs, and the saris worn by Hindu women. A manager who is unaware of religious difference and the importance of dress might consider the employee’s dress as an indication that the employee does not want to fit in with his or her co-workers, or – in a worst case - worry that a client might be offended.

While it is conceivable a client might find such dress practices offensive, it is