Comments on: A Polo Shirt, Please http://www.generationwhy.com/whysperspective/management/a-polo-shirt-please/ Millennials large and in charge Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:08:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Tom Gray http://www.generationwhy.com/whysperspective/management/a-polo-shirt-please/comment-page-1/#comment-45 Tom Gray Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:46:08 +0000 http://www.generationwhy.com/whysperspective/?p=306#comment-45 The other thing that this conversation points out is how the work place has changed in fundamental ways that don't even register until they become an issue. Dress codes is one of them. It used to be taken for granted that people would dress a certain way, there was a certain uniform that was mandatory and pretty much standard. Now? Who knows. How we address people is another issue. Everybody, managers and workers, were Mr. or Mrs. or Miss or Ms. and Sir or Ma'am. Now? Everybody's John, Bill, Janey, Maggie. There's an informality in relationships that's presumed as a right rather than a privilege to be earned through accomplishment and advancement. I'm not saying that dress codes or formality in address are right or wrong; I'm just noting that it makes work place expectations and relationships that much more prone to misunderstanding and miscommunication and makes the necessity for clarity and consistency in establishing and enforcing expectations that much more critical. The other thing that this conversation points out is how the work place has changed in fundamental ways that don’t even register until they become an issue. Dress codes is one of them. It used to be taken for granted that people would dress a certain way, there was a certain uniform that was mandatory and pretty much standard. Now? Who knows. How we address people is another issue. Everybody, managers and workers, were Mr. or Mrs. or Miss or Ms. and Sir or Ma’am. Now? Everybody’s John, Bill, Janey, Maggie. There’s an informality in relationships that’s presumed as a right rather than a privilege to be earned through accomplishment and advancement.

I’m not saying that dress codes or formality in address are right or wrong; I’m just noting that it makes work place expectations and relationships that much more prone to misunderstanding and miscommunication and makes the necessity for clarity and consistency in establishing and enforcing expectations that much more critical.

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