Question

2.7: Developing Your Business Etiquette COMMUNICATING ACROSS CULTURES Whose Skin Is This, Anyway? Generational differences abound in the workplace, but few are quite as visible as body art: tattoos, piercings (other than ear lobes), and hair dyes in unconventional colors. According to survey data from the Pew Research Center people younger than 40 are much more inclined than those older than 40 to display some form of body art. For example, people 26 to 40 years old are four times more likely to have tattoos than people who are 41 to 64 years old. With such profound differences, it's no surprise that in many workplaces body art has become a contentious issue between employees wanting to express themselves and employers wanting to maintain particular standards of professional appearance. As the employment law attorney Danielle S. Urban notes, the issue gets even more complicated when religious symbolism is involved. Who is likely to win this battle? Will the body art aficionados who continue to join the workforce and who are now rising up the managerial ranks force a change in what is considered acceptable appearance in the workplaco? Or will they be forced to cover up to meet traditional standards? So far, most companies seem to be relying on the judgment of their employees and managers, rather than enforcing strict guidelines. Many seem to accept that tastes and norms are changing and that body art has become a widespread form of self-expression rather than a mode of rebelion. Starbucks, which used to require employees to hide tattoos under long sleoves, recently revised its policy to allow employees to display tattoos everywhere except on their faces. The semiconductor giant intel even teatured photos of employee tattoos in its online technology newsletter plagiarism check-Google Sea × al Manager or n x a Chapter 02 Assignment E4SES42PB0R/page/aed2db26eddf41632a22154493058fb8815a0de09?deeplink-t VD Speed Dial Q 634 multi final Fla.. f Dóng Business Commu. 2.7: Developing Your Business Etiquette Job seekers and active employees are still advised to be discreet, however, particularly with facial piercings and large, visible tattoos. In one recent survey about a third of employers said they would be less likely to promote an employee with visible piercings or tattoos. The nonverbal signals you think you are sending might not be the signals a manager receives-or wants to receive. CAREER APPLICATIONS 1. Should companies have stricter standards of appearance for "customer facing" employees than for employees who do not interact with customers? Why or why not? 2. Should companies allow their employees the same freedom of expression and appearance as their customers exhibit? For example, if a firm's clientele tends to be heavily tattooed should employees be allowed the same freedom? Why or why not? Sources: "Employers Reveal the Top Factors Preventing Workers Chance of Promotion in New CareerBuilder Survey, CareerBuilder, 2 July 2015. www.careesbuilder comg Micah Solomon Starbucks to Allow Tattoos, Piercings: Wise or Risky Customer Service. HR MoveT Ferbes, 17 October 2014. www.forbes.com Inte! Tattoos Speak Volumes. 17 March 201.Inei Frec Press, www.intelfreepress.com; Rita Ryrillis, Body of Work Warkforce Maomt November 2018. www.workforce.com, Danielle S. Urban, "What to Do About 3ody Art at Work. Workferce March 2010, www,workforce.com Tattooed Gen Nexters, Pew Research Center, 9 December 2008, pewresearch.org. IM and other text-based tools have taken over many exchanges that used to take place over phone, but phone skills are still essential. Because phone calls lack the visual richness of the nversations, you have to rely on your attitude and tone of voice to convey some important tips for using phones at work for confidence and professionalisa Here are etiquette points specitically about mobile devices, sec itch . Be conscious of how your voice sounds. Don't speak in a monotone: vary your p PARIB 1. Complete the Communicating Across Cultures on page 58 and answer all questions based on this article . Answer both Career Applications questions on page 58. (Minimum 150 word response.) . What are the generational differences in acceptance of visible body art in the workplace? What is your opinion as to how this acceptance will continue to evolve in the next ten years? . With greater acceptance of body art in the workplace what percentage of employees are still less likely to promote an employee with visible tattoos?

Answer 1

1. As far as different attire for customer facing and different for non – customer facing is concerned, in my view this is not a good practice in any organization. Any rule in the organization should be either imposed on all employees irrespective of their grade and number of years in organization or their ethnicity, race or country they belong to.

Instead of imposing rules on things like tattoos and piercing, there should be a guideline which need to be developed for tattoos or piercing which kind is allowed and which kind is not allowed, too much restriction on such things are not good therefore organizations should be open for modest kind of tattoo or piercing. After implementing the basic guideline, it should be left to the employee to decide upon.

2. The question whether the level of freedom should match to the client is not justified, every organization is unique in sense of their own value system therefore these kinds of freedom should own organization dependent rather than client depended.

Generational difference in acceptance is still there as old school thought employees who are in the organization or industry for long enough time will face the difficulty due to generation gap while accepting such kind of freedom but going forward as the time passes and society become more evolved and look for more freedom these differences need to be accepted. As the young generation will move the ladder within the organization, these kind of issues of cultural and belief based will be subsided further and there will be more harmony among diverse culture employees. However as still we can see in the survey results that approx. 33% of employee are less likely to promote the employee with visible tattoo however in future this will further come down and more and more employee will be open to accept the same.