How are nonverbal signals sent by casual dress in the workplace?
Business Communication
Apr 11, 2005
How are nonverbal signals sent by casual dress in the workplace?
The phenomenon of casual dress in the business place has come full circle. Many companies are now moving away from casual dress. Many business leaders have come to realize that the nonverbal signals sent by casual dress, conflict with the image the company is attempting to portray. A trend that was seeing more and more companies opting for casual dress, now has companies considering a complete withdraw from this popular business fashion. Companies will need to completely overhaul their dress codes if casual dress is to survive.
The History
The concept of business casual dress began in the early 1990’s in Silicon Valley, California. In the beginning, it was a method of getting out of those hot suits in the summer, allowing people to be more comfortable in their work environment. It was expanded to console or placate workers during hard times. “Casual Fridays were introduced, experts say, to improve morale among cynical white-collar folks who saw their coworkers falling like flies during the layoffs of the 1980s and early 1990s. Generally, the casual look was never meant to replace traditional Monday-through-Thursday business attire” (McPherson, p. 134). Business casual was hyped as an employee benefit.
The casual experiment quickly gained popularity. The attitudes toward casual dress began as positive and at its peak in the mid 1990’s the business industry reported that 63.7% of all businesses were allowing some form of casual dress (Cotton, Inc., 1997).
Positive Thinking
Whether true or perceived, some businesses and workers have stated a positive outcome to casual dress. “Some of the more commonly touted benefits include improved employee morale, a lack of cost to the employer, increased worker productivity, more open communication between staff and managers, cost savings to employees because casual business wear is less expensive, and improved work quality (Gutierrez & Freese, 1999).
Casual dress was received so well by the employees that most companies thought they had tapped into the morale gold mine. ”Take Morgan & Finnegan LLP, a Park Avenue law firm in New York. It started a Casual Friday routine during the summer of 1998. It was so well received the firm decided to allow bu...
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...ished and then policed.
References
Allen, F. L. (2003, December). Dress for the Occasion: Your Attire - Your Image. Retrieved April, 5 2005, from http://www.blacksocietypages.com/advice.html
Cotton, Inc. (1997, January, 23). Corporate Casual Daze?. Retrieved April 5, 2005, from http://www.cottoninc.com/lsmarticles/?articleID=373
Cotton, Inc. (2001, November 1). Casual Dilemma. Retrieved April 5, 2005, from http://www.cottoninc.com/lsmarticles/?articleID=392
Emily Post Institute (2003). Many businesses today have a "Dress Down Friday" policy. Do you think this is a good idea?. Retrieved April 5, 2005, from http://www.emilypost.com/surveys/results/poll2.htm
Gutierrez, T., & Freese, R. J. (1999, April). Benefit or burden? Dress-Down Days . Retrieved April 5, 2005, from http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/1999/0499/Features/F320499.HTM
McPherson, W. (1997, March). "Dressing Down" in the Business Communication Curriculum. Business Communication Quarterly, 60(1), 134-146.
Taub, S., & Parsi, K.JD, PhD (2003, Feb). The Trend Toward Casual Dress and Address in the Medical Profession. Retrieved April 5, 2005, from http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/6563.html
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