"Dressing Down" in the Business Communication Curriculum

Abstract

Corporate America is changing the way it dresses. Students who are preparing for careers in business should be aware of this change, because dress-down days are becoming a part of American corporate culture. Casual dressing is popular, and people-friendly companies are capitalizing on its popularity. This article discusses this corporate trend and offers discussion on the need to include this concept in the business communications curriculum.

Effect of Dress Code of Sri Lankan Female School Teachers on their Job Performance

“…This shows that teachers spend quite a lot of money for this dress and since Saree can hardly be used other than at work, it is completely an additional cost. Hence, these findings prove McPherson's (1997) and Sharkey's (2000) idea of cost savings for employees if they are to wear casual dresses. Furthermore, as per data, teachers comparatively spend more time to handle and maintain Saree.…”

“…Teachers' efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction at work is important and those can directly or indirectly affect students. As per the prior researches, the dress that teachers wear at school can affect non-verbal behavior and communication (Rosenfeld & Plax, 1977;Sampson, 2016;Hughes, 2002), approachability and familiarity (Slepian, 2015;Furnham et al, 2014), morale and quality at work (Sharkey, 2000), satisfaction (McPherson, 1997), productivity and effectiveness at work (Kaser et al, 2009;Gutierrez &Freese, 1999), work quality (Sharkey, 2000), comfort (Nickson et al, 2005), savings (McPherson, 1997;Sharkey, 2000 ), time taken to get ready (Gentile & Imberman 2010), and vulnerability to risks and accidents (Kumar et al, 2006;Yadav et al, 2016;Gupta et al, 2016). Hence, the job performance, effectiveness and the efficiency of the duties that teachers perform are likely to be affected by their dress as the prior researches have proved psychological, sociological, economic and safety implications of the dress.…”

“…The self-administrative questionnaire consisted of questions split under 14 sub topics. Dimensions, variables and the measurements were decided and designed based on prior researches adopting operational definitions: satisfaction/motivation (McPherson, 1997), attractiveness (Sampson, 2016;Hughes, 2002), personal preference (McPherson, 1997), exposure of body (Jayasooriya, 2016), communication (Nath et al, 2016 ;Rosenfeld & Plax, 1977), formality (Slepian, 2015), social distance (Slepian, 2015), pressure to conform (Thinada & Rujirutana, 2008), professionalism (Slepian, 2015), time (Gentile & Imberman, 2010), comfort (McPherson, 1997, Risk of injuries/accidents (Kumar et al, 2006;Yadav et Gupta et al, 2016). Demographic details and information on working conditions and the career were derived from the first 4 sub topics.…”

“…affects satisfaction (McPherson, 1997). Studies on dress codes of doctors, nurses, teachers and lawyers have shown relationship between suitability of attire and productivity and effectiveness at work (Kaser et al, 2009;Gutierrez &Freese, 1999).…”

“…Cost is another crucial determinant in deciding a dress code. Employees tend to save money when they wear casual dresses for work because casual business wear is generally less expensive and requires less professional care than traditional business attire (McPherson, 1997). Time is also a factor that affects productivity.…”