As it pertains to Walmart and the article that we discussed in class today, I feel whether the workers are wearing the "smock" or blue polo's or even a neon blue Walmart unitard one factor will always be present - team unity. Yes, some employees may feel degraded being forced to wear one uniform over another. The big picture that I think Walmart is enforcing is the culture of customer service. If Walmart employees were allowed to wear whatever they wanted to work there would be no way for customers to seek out help. I agree that the type of dress code that Walmart enforces leads people to think a certain way about the company or being a part of the organization. I think that the key to the Walmart dress code and their culture is that whatever uniform their general employees are wearing, they are all going to be dressed identical as a way of expressing team unity. Also, with their smocks Walmart also influences employees to care about customer service, since that is clearly what they will (and should) be representing. After all, when you apply for a job as a general Walmart team associate you should be expecting to provide customer service as part of a team.
As for dress codes being an enforcer of corporate culture, I feel that the uniform helps employees feel unified for a common purpose (with any service that is being provided). I have personally experienced this in many of the past retail jobs that I have had. The summer before my freshman year of college, for example, I worked for Home Depot and wore and orange apron as a part of the companies dress policy. Whenever I got to work and dawned the orange apron I felt like quite the handy women, even though I was only a cashier and had little experience in the home improvement department. The point was that I felt like I belonged with the culture of the Home Depot organization, and was able to learn a lot in order to provide the best customer service.
I agree with you have to say about a sense of unity. The dress code does definitely play a huge role in making the employees of Wal-Mart feel like a team. And I think that is a good approach to excellent customer service since the jobs that require the smock, or maybe one day the khaki pants and a polo, don't exactly require a high skill level.
ReplyDeleteI would also agree that it does provide a sense of unity. When the employees feel more important they may take their job more seriously, which in return would provide a better environment for both employees and customers. I think the new attire would help the company gain a sense of unity and importance, which might help them gain the new customer base they are looking for.
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