Appearance/Clothing

This past week I decided to watch what everyone in our department wore to work. One day I wore a green sweater that was somewhat provocative. The neckline had a plunge and a collar that looked like a choker. The next day I wore a pink sweater and it had tie-up, similar to shoestrings.  Both days I wore jeans and black shoes. My hair was not put together the first day and the second day my hair was pulled back into a pony tail.  I received more compliments on the provocative sweater with frumpy hair then I did wearing the pink sweater. 

Colors were vibrant on some days and other days it seemed like the whole department got the memo on what color to wear. What I have noticed some of us dress casual and others dress business casual. We all dress businesslike when we put on workshops or go to conferences. What this tells me is that we are comfortable at how we dress in the workplace. However, our dress does not say that we are not competent at what we do.  In our office everyone has a job to do and we do it quite well. 

Business dress                                               Casual dress

After reading the article I found that the codes of yesterday are still around today on campus in different departments, especially in corporate America.

Reference

Kaiser, S. B., (2008).  Women’s Appearance and Clothing within Organizations. In L.K. Guerrero & M. L. Hecht (Eds.), The Nonverbal Communication Reader, (pp. 74-81). Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. 

Article Critique

Effects of Teacher’s Styles of Dress on Student Learning

In today's society the way we dress tends to have some effect on many individuals including those students attending college. My research will be about the effect an instructors' dress has on student learning. What I have found in this article critique is there is little evidence that an instructor's dress has a effect on student learning. I also believe that if Rollman's analysis did not isolate one variable he would have received better data to support his research questions. This is an area where instructors are at opposing viewpoints and students are questioning. I feel that this study is important not only for students, but also for the instructor as well. Rollman's research, although flawed, has shown there needs to be more research in this area.

Reference

Rollman, S. A. (1980). Some Effects of Instructors' Styles of Dress.

Interaction with Greetings 

Observation:

Conference in Ann Arbor for patients with Sarcoidosis. The interaction I saw were those of hugging, handshakes, and passing out of business cards. Some of the patients knew each other through Facebook and that prompted a hug as a way of saying finally we meet. 

• Brisk handshakes - during introductions and passing out of business cards
• Hugs - friendly greetings
• Pat on the backs (letting someone know they are there) a way of not interrupting the conversation
• Rubbing of the back (letting someone know they are there) a way of not interrupting the conversation

One interesting thing happened is when I gave my business card to someone looking to be in a support group. She acknowledge the card and said thank you. As I was turning away I noticed another women approaching the person I had just gave my card to. She took my card from the individual and wrote her information on the of it, but before she did that she asked me for an ink pen.

After reading the section in the book about business cards used in introductions I thought how rude and inappropriate the woman was who wrote her information on the back of my card. The Japanese have a tradition of presenting the business card to the individual with the lettering face up. As they are doing that they are also bowing to the individual. It was also stated that it is rude to put the card in your pocket, write on it, or any other defaming as this is a way of attacking the individual identity (Axtell, p. 109). I felt like my identity was attacked when another person wrote their information on the back of my card. 

America is a melting pot of cultures, we take a bit of every culture and make it our own. I think that people should pay more attention to their actions and gestures when interacting with another person. We never know who we will offend. 

Reference

Axtell, R.E, Initiating Interaction: Greetings and Beckonings across the World, Chapter 12. The Nonverbal Communication Reader, 3^rd ed., pgs. 109-118, Waveland Press, Inc., Long Grove, Illinois.