Is Calling Your Boss by Their First Name Respectful or Disrespectful?

[Bigthraex]

In the light of events of what transpired between  CEO UBA plc and the graduate trainee that addressed him by his first name Tony and he correct her immediately by saying he doesn't subscribe to that Oyibo style. He asked that she addressed him as Mr Tony or CEO more like include a title. I have worked for a corporate foreign company and we were asked not to use sir, Mr, Mrs or miss but address everybody including the boss by their first name. I also learned that in corporate offices even some banks train their staff to do the same. I think given she doesn't work under Mr Tony Elumelu directly she should have called him Mr Tony or CEO especially because we are in Nigeria. Our cultural value is big on respect and how we address older people whether in the work place or not. Do you think she was naive, ignorant or unprofessional.

[Charles-Tim]

It is highly inappropriate. I like Anthony Onyemaechi Elumelu for correcting him. I do not care about the Oxford University interviewed or whatever that the interviewer called him Tony in the past that some people referenced to.

Western culture and our culture are different. If it is in the Western country, no problem. But as long it is in our country, it is highly inappropriate and we all know that.

We are in a country that if a lady calls his boss name, people only will think about one thing which is sexual affairs.

[Somto9Light]

We are in a country that if a lady calls his boss name, people only will think about one thing which is sexual affairs.

Exactly, when I was going through comments on social media, a lot of people were already suspecting that something was going on between Tony Elumelu and the girl in question because it is rare for a lady to have that boldness to call her boss by his first name except they are having sexual relationship. You know people can read meanings to situation like this. Then again, I'm not saying that something like that might be happening between both parties but it raises an awareness to an employer never to have a romantic relationship with any of their female workers because most women automatically removes the etiquette in addressing their bosses when they start having a secret affair. But in real sense, even if such a thing is happening, inasmuch as they are in a corporate environment she was supposed to accord him that respect, coupled with the fact that we're Africans and our culture is to accord our elders respect regardless of the environment they find themselves.

[Jostern]

I must tell you that what that young lady did is absolutely wrong, it was more like he was talking to his classmate, the way she said it, Tony, Like she was talking to her junior brother and it was a very wrong way to address your elder, I wonder if that girl can call her dad by the first name, let me assume that her fathers name is Kent, would she be calling her father Kent? Which is why I think what that young lady did is once again absolutely wrong, I can’t just assume is the Oyibo in her speaking, but if that is the way she was brought up it’s totally wrong and I would blame bad parenting or upbringing, I think here in Africa we have different cultures on how we can show someone respect to Elders, her choice of calling him “Tony” was a wrong approach, I hope she must have learnt something when she was corrected.

[Wiwo]

In the light of events of what transpired between  CEO UBA plc and the graduate trainee that addressed him by his first name Tony and he correct her immediately by saying he doesn't subscribe to that Oyibo style. He asked that she addressed him as Mr Tony or CEO more like include a title. I have worked for a corporate foreign company and we were asked not to use sir, Mr, Mrs or miss but address everybody including the boss by their first name. I also learned that in corporate offices even some banks train their staff to do the same. I think given she doesn't work under Mr Tony Elumelu directly she should have called him Mr Tony or CEO especially because we are in Nigeria. Our cultural value is big on respect and how we address older people whether in the work place or not. Do you think she was naive, ignorant or unprofessional.

The timing is both wrong and right for the young lady.

Wrong in the sense that, she should have address the CEO based on his official title, MR/CEO etc. Is disrespectful the way and manner that young lady addressed her boss and someone old enough to be her father by Name without any respect for his person or office.

The young lady ks trending now; she gets more attention and also some special treatment for doing the wrong thing, but I hope she is wise enough to offer a public apology to Mr Tony Elumelu.

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

In the light of events of what transpired between  CEO UBA plc and the graduate trainee that addressed him by his first name Tony and he correct her immediately by saying he doesn't subscribe to that Oyibo style. He asked that she addressed him as Mr Tony or CEO more like include a title. I have worked for a corporate foreign company and we were asked not to use sir, Mr, Mrs or miss but address everybody including the boss by their first name. I also learned that in corporate offices even some banks train their staff to do the same. I think given she doesn't work under Mr Tony Elumelu directly she should have called him Mr Tony or CEO especially because we are in Nigeria. Our cultural value is big on respect and how we address older people whether in the work place or not. Do you think she was naive, ignorant or unprofessional.

So are you trying to say maybe you happens to meet "Donald Trump" today, are you trying to say you will address him by his name "Donald Trump" or you will address him by his title and his name like "President Donald Trump"?. And this tells you that irrespective of where you find yourself, a courtesy of respect is always very important when addressing people that are far above you in age and also career wise. And it is left for those people to tell you to address them by their name and not adding title to it, just like you claim your boss in corporate foreign companies do tell you to address them by their real name only. So to be honestly speaking, what that young lady did was absolutely wrong and should not be encouraged in our Nigerian society.

[Yablee0]

Her conduct was absolutely wrong based on our  Nigeria culture. Because we Nigerians we don't joke with respect especially when dealing with the elderly once, you must accord them the respect they deserve regardless. But to the western world she might be right because that how they behave. Although, Mr Tony the CEO of uba was fast enough to correct the impression on the sport and that settled it. However, several comments in regards to this has been trending on socials that she was disrespectful, some was even suggesting that they were having an affair or stuff like that . But I don't think that was the case, what I can say is that maybe she was only trying to be professional on what she does or trying to showcase so oyibo lifestyle according to Mr Tony.

[kingstep]

I think given she doesn't work under Mr Tony Elumelu directly she should have called him Mr Tony or CEO especially because we are in Nigeria. Our cultural value is big on respect and how we address older people whether in the work place or not. Do you think she was naive, ignorant or unprofessional.

Wether she works for Tony Elumelu or not, in our African society there is no justification for calling someone that is old enough to be your father by his first name talk more of the fact that she is addressing someone that by all standard is ahead of her. the fact that the environment where the incident took place is a cooperate gathering does not even make any different because even with the concept of cooperate culture, there are still some level of imitation to it.

Simple courtesy demands that regardless of your mentality and physical upbringing, you give respect to who respect is due and the lest thing that is expected of you is to honor people that are ahead of you by at least calling them a sir or Mr.

[Bitcoin.com97]

She addressing him by his  name is inappropriate, considering the fact that we are in Nigeria, it should have occurred to her that we value respect more than any other thing , his old enough to be her father , using mr, sir or ceo won’t be a big deal , but this gen Z don’t really care of so many things , even if they are train to address people by their name , but it should have occurred to her that his not her mate and that should be respected,  to me this is just a courtesy, even people who are not my parents but older than them I addressed them respectfully, sincerely what she did was very disrespectful even after given correction , she couldn’t even say I’m sorry sir , she went ahead with what she was saying , she lack courtesy and many are applauding her on social media and she is gaining audience from that , that is the world we are now , people treating wrong behavior as if it’s a good thing .

[Africolo]

In the light of events of what transpired between  CEO UBA plc and the graduate trainee that addressed him by his first name Tony and he correct her immediately by saying he doesn't subscribe to that Oyibo style. He asked that she addressed him as Mr Tony or CEO more like include a title. I have worked for a corporate foreign company and we were asked not to use sir, Mr, Mrs or miss but address everybody including the boss by their first name. I also learned that in corporate offices even some banks train their staff to do the same. I think given she doesn't work under Mr Tony Elumelu directly she should have called him Mr Tony or CEO especially because we are in Nigeria. Our cultural value is big on respect and how we address older people whether in the work place or not. Do you think she was naive, ignorant or unprofessional.

Addressing your boss by his first name is highly inappropriate and doesn't show courtesy and respect and we shouldn't forget that we are in Nigeria where respect and work ethics is valued, now let me narrow it down to his Excellency Governor Sim Fubara, will any right thinking person call him by his first name considering the position he holds as a sitting governor of a state?, it's a no. So the lady was wrong in addressing the CEO by his first name and secondly we should always take cognizant of the environment we find ourselves and learn.

I do not subscribe to what she did and I wasn't really happy that sowore came out to say that the CEO oppress the lady and I asked myself how?,  does it mean he has forgot the values of our culture and everyone deserves to be respected even outside the position Tony holds as the CEO of UBA Bank, he's far older than the girl and as such should be addressed properly so it's very wrong and inappropriate to address your boss by his name because it doesn't show respect.

[Sammye3]

Just like OP mentioned, in the corporate world most workers are trained to address people by their name and leave out the titles and that should be the case with this woman's situation. This does not make her disrespectful but she was putting what she was taught into practice which came out the wrong way. She should have at the back of her mind before the whole orientation that people are supposed to be addressed as Mr/Mrs, because that's the native here in Nigeria.

People are quick to criticize without finding out the reason for such actions. I'm not taking sides with this conclusion but viewing the situation from both perspective. Tony Elumelu was not wrong to correct her on the way he wishes to be addressed and the woman should have taken that correction already, let's not be too hard on her.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

In the company I am working with, it's a financial institution, their employee's policy states that you must refer to everyone (colleagues, manager,etc) by their first name but you must add the Mr, Mrs, and Miss. In my opinion, calling my boss by their first name is abnormal expect they asked for it, because I can understand very well that there are someone boss that will still ask you to call them by their name without any title, however if you don't tell me to call you by your name, I will either call you boss, sir, or Mr. [What ever]. Everyone organization have their policy and you must learn to follow it if you find yourself in such place.

Some people were arguing that if it was in the West that someone had called the UBA director by his first name, that he would not correct the person but because it's in Africa. These people that are raising such argument, what they fail to understand is that the White people have their culture while African have theirs too and there's a saying that, " If you go to Egypt, you will behave like the Egyptian" That's just to say, where ever you find yourself, you will try to adopt the culture there to survive your stay there.

[Charles-Tim]

Some people were arguing that if it was in the West that someone had called the UBA director by his first name, that he would not correct the person but because it's in Africa. These people that are raising such argument, what they fail to understand is that the White people have their culture while African have theirs too and there's a saying that, " If you go to Egypt, you will behave like the Egyptian" That's just to say, where ever you find yourself, you will try to adopt the culture there to survive your stay there.

It has happened before, which I mentioned on my first post. He was interviewed in Oxford University and the black women or so that interviewed him called him Tony. He did not correct the lady, but he is right because of what you said which is he is in their land, not ours. But as far as it is Nigeria, Mr is what many people are used to. Just like I have posted earlier, there are some people in Nigeria that are following the Western culture and which is not good. I am not implying that Western culture is not good, but accepting it in Africa in this regard is not good because we have ours.

[Jasmyne]

It is highly inappropriate. I like Anthony Onyemaechi Elumelu for correcting him. I do not care about the Oxford University interviewed or whatever that the interviewer called him Tony in the past that some people referenced to.

Western culture and our culture are different. If it is in the Western country, no problem. But as long it is in our country, it is highly inappropriate and we all know that.

We are in a country that if a lady calls his boss name, people only will think about one thing which is sexual affairs.

Let’s even leave culture aside, this is a professional settings, work related, she’s a trainee under his company, which makes him her boss and I believe even in foreign countries or even in western culture, employees don’t refer to their employers by their name.
If it was not in a professional settings or maybe she met him in an interview or anywhere else and she decides to call him by his name, that’s fine but not when she is employed under him, that’s very wrong.

[Marykeller]

We are in a country that if a lady calls his boss name, people only will think about one thing which is sexual affairs.

Exactly, when I was going through comments on social media, a lot of people were already suspecting that something was going on between Tony Elumelu and the girl in question because it is rare for a lady to have that boldness to call her boss by his first name except they are having sexual relationship. You know people can read meanings to situation like this. Then again, I'm not saying that something like that might be happening between both parties but it raises an awareness to an employer never to have a romantic relationship with any of their female workers because most women automatically removes the etiquette in addressing their bosses when they start having a secret affair. But in real sense, even if such a thing is happening, inasmuch as they are in a corporate environment she was supposed to accord him that respect, coupled with the fact that we're Africans and our culture is to accord our elders respect regardless of the environment they find themselves.

Those people thinking of a sexual relationship between them are really madt for coming up with such a reason for that. People should stop making up a terrible reason for someone's inappropriate behavior. You address someone old enough to be your father by his name. Is the person okay? Is that how mannered Africans can be recently? Thank God no issue of past affairs was raised on Elumelu in the past. It would have been by now; the Internet would be on fire about Elumelu and his sidechick questioning him