How are nonverbal signals sent by casual dress in the workplace? Essay

How ar gestural signals sent by day-after-day dress in the workplace?Business CommunicationApr 11, 2005How are nonverbal signals sent by mundane dress in the workplace?The phenomenon of day-after-day 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, encounter 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 ordain need to completely overhaul their dress codes if casual dress is to survive.The HistoryThe concept of business casual dress began in the early 1990s in Silicon Valley, California. In the beginning, it was a method of getting out of those hot suits in the pass, allowing people to be more comfortable in their work environment. It was spread out to conso le or placate workers during hard times. quotidian 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 eighties 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 1990s the business industry reported that 63.7% of all businesses were allowing some form of casual dress (Cotton, Inc., 1997). Positive ThinkingWhether true or perceived, some businesses and workers have stated a positive outcome to casual dress. Some of the more ordinarily 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 theory 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... ...ished and then policed.ReferencesAllen, F. L. (2003, December). Dress for the Occasion Your Attire - Your Image. Retrieved April, 5 2005, from http//www.blacksocietypages.com/advice.htmlCotton, Inc. (1997, January, 23). Corporate Casual Daze?. Retrieved April 5, 2005, from http//www.cottoninc.com/lsmarticles/?articleID=373Cotton, Inc. (2001, November 1). Casual Dilemma. Retrieved April 5, 2005, from http//www.cottoninc.com/lsmarticles/?articleID=392Emily 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.htmGutierrez, T., & Freese, R. J. (1999, April). pull in or burden? Dress-Down Days . Retrieved April 5, 2005, from http//www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/1999/0499/Features/F320499.HTMMcPherson, 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 visit in the Medical Profession. Retrieved April 5, 2005, from http//www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/6563.html