Ethics n whistleblowing Outline Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Ethics n whistleblowing - Outline Example ....14 According to statistics published by Public Concern at Work (www.pcaw.co.uk) more and more people are willing to whistleblow about wrong doing in the workplace. In light of this, evaluate how organisations can develop an effective approach to workplace whistleblowing which takes account of the needs of their stakeholders? Introduction Throughout the years, businesses have evolved. The days on the industrial age is over and the increasing vast improvement in technology has given way to an improvement in communication that may not have been perceived in the last two decades or so. Consequently, this has paved the way for more information and ultimately knowledge to be accessible for almost anyone that has a computer and can surf the internet. Likewise, a new breed of workers has been identified that are more fluid and are quite different from the traditional 8-5 employees. These are called knowledge workers and companies are increasingly reliant of these professionals as an inte gral part of their businesses (Serrat 2008). However, knowledge workers or not, companies and stakeholders must recognize the fact that their workers have just gone smarter and are more empowered than ever. This brings a more empowered and smart breed of employees that are more capable of blowing the whistle to call attention to and maybe put a stop on wrong doings in a company. This also brings about a culture of higher ethical standards wherein employees adhere to principles and values in the conduct of their work. Whistleblowing as an Ethical Dilemma This simple truth described above has likewise increased the possibility of employees blowing the whistle on unfair labor practices or unsafe working standards and of course anomalies or illicit activities by the company or by employees, officers or even owners of the company. Some years back, an incident struck the attention of the public when a ranking NHS (National Health Service) official was sacked for supporting a subordinate i n an apparent expose’ of irregularities within the organisation’s system. Of course, the official reason for the dismissal was not about the whistle blowing incident but about some issues regarding management. This was quite questionable though since the person in question has been with the NHS for over a decade and a half and was a recent recipient of a management award (BBC News 2003). This incident can be regarded as a crossroad where whistle blowing and ethics ran smack into each other. The company or its management cannot openly use the whistle blowing as a reason to terminate an employee that has, well to put it simply, earned the ire of the head honchos. In effect, this leads whoever is in charge of taking care of the company’s problem personality to orchestrate an inglorious exodus usually for the company to save face and avoid a repeat of the incident. Defining Whistleblowing Whistleblowing is defined as a† disclosure of illegal, immoral, or illeg itimate practices that are under employer control by either former or current organization members to

Literature Review Saudi Stock Market Research Paper - 1

Literature Review Saudi Stock Market - Research Paper Example In most cases, this volatility is caused by unavoidable risks. It is therefore not surprising that any investor would want to anticipate the amount of unavoidable risks they are exposed to. As such, the Saudi Arabian stock market has been of great interest to economic researchers. Factors that affect volatility will also be referred to as market influencers in this paper. Studying market influencers will promote the market as a viable opportunity to external investors and globalize the securities for better market performance. This means market stability (Ibp Usa & USA International Business Publications, 2005). Despite being exposed to major turbulent and market-moving events, the Saudi Arabian stock market has shown tremendous improvements. A reflection of this can be seen in the share price movements and the flourishing economy. The peak of this performance was in February 2006, but this was affected by the severe global and economic downturn in the late 2008. Another factor that fuelled this backdrop was the unprecedented unrest in the Middle East during almost the same period. The market has however shown improvements in the past several years to become one of the best in the region. In an attempt to study the market stability and progression of the Saudi Arabian stock market, several researches were done. While some research has focused on the quantitative and qualitative data, others have focused on external influences and comparisons made against stock markets in a bid to explain the performance of the Saudi Arabian stock market. Stock market indexes of specific companies in that country are used for purposes of this study. Consequential studies have unearthed that the Saudi Arabian stock market has distinct and clear cut differences with other markets. Firstly, the shares are traded through commercial banks. Secondly is the absence of bourse makers and thirdly is the liquid characteristic of the market (Mohamed, 2010). Both

Iran Country Assessment Essay Example for Free

Iran Country Assessment Essay The Islamic Republic of Iran is a country governed by a regime that began with a revolution headed by Ayatollah Khomeini over two decades ago. Khomeini was the first to label the United States as the ‘Great Satan. ’ Although the Iranian government denies it, terrorism has been actively supported, both materially and morally, for years by Iran and Iran supports efforts damaging to the U. S. If the more extreme elements in Iran continue to hold power and arm themselves with nuclear weapons, the international repercussions would be far-reaching. Understanding of Iran is important for members of the U. S. Armed Forces in order to comprehend the scope of Iran’s extremist’s leanings. On the other hand, many of Iran’s citizens love the United States and are resentful of Iran’s oppressive regime. The anti democracy and hindrance of personal liberty have taken a large toll on the Iranian youth. Iran’s younger generation has put forth a lot of resistance against this oppressive regime. Over two thirds of Iran’s population is under the age of 30, which is good from an operational standpoint. This massive amount of young people generally feels that there is hope to moderate if not remove the oppressive regime. Recently a few young Iranians have been frustrated to the point of actively demonstrating against the regime. It is also important to mention many younger Iranians want improved relations with the United States. Most urban Iranians have access to the Internet and satellite television and are able to compare their standard of living with that of the United States and Western Europe. The Kurdish people believe that they are a nation in itself that are deserving of a sovereign homeland. After the formation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, many Kurdish sided with the Iranian leftist and protested against Ayatollah Khomeini and his regime. In 1979, the Kurdish formed a rebellion, which ended with thousands of Kurdish dead. Shortly after this, Khomeini centered his power and banded Kurds from serving in government office and greatly enforced freedom of expression. The Party of Free Life of Kurdistan is a militant group that is based out of Iraq but has been consistently performing operations in Iran. Iran has prepared to conduct military action against the group and has moved a large portion of Iran’s military to Kurdistan to hinder the uprising of the militant group. The Party of Free Life of Kurdistan would be a great asset to possible future operation in Kurdistan. The party is semi supportive of the United States but will most likely be more than willing to help in U. S operations in Iran due to their long-term goal of destroying the regime. Iran is a tough operational problem set due to their advanced military and technical power. Operations in Iran should be focused on using the people of Iran to include the youth and Kurdish people. Intelligence operations would be better suited for using Iran’s youth because they are more supportive of the Untied States and have the ability to work in Iran’s government and military. The Kurdish are not trusted in the government and would not be able to provide accurate intelligence. Operations should be held out of North East Iraq due to the likelihood of Iraq cooperating with the United States during operations. Iraq has a large portion of Kurdistan and it would be easy to work with the Kurds right out of Iraq. Iran and Iraq have a long history of war which only furthers Iraqs likelihood of helping the U. S. Iran is a very dynamic and technologically advanced country, which presents many intelligence issues. The help of Kurdistan, Iranian youth and Iraq would greatly increase the likelihood of operational success in Iran.

Population Geography Essay

Population Geography Essay Understanding Population Geography Crystal Mullen What did you learn this week that you did not know before or that you found interesting? What outside resources did you use this week? I remember growing up in the 70s and 80s the term â€Å"Zero Population†. At the time, I didn’t really know what it meant except a term to encourage teenagers to use birth control and thereby avoid having children while they’re still a child as well. As it turns out I wasn’t that far off from my view of the concept. It actually originated by the prime minister of Singapore in 1972. He was concerned that his island country was facing overpopulation with its current count of 1 million people. So he legalized abortion and sterilization and banned maternity care and benefits for women who have more than two children. However by the mid-1980s, the Singapore’s birthrates plummeted to below the levels that are necessary to replenish the population. The prime minister’s plan to reduce his country’s population backfired because the abortions performed in the country were terminated more than one-third of all the country’s pregnancies. Th is lead the prime minister to reverse his policy in 1990 to encourage multiple births for mothers under 28 by offering long term tax rebates and thereby restore population loss suffered in Singapore (Getis, Bjelland, Getis, 2014, p. 111). This reversal of policy is an example of an unbending population reality: how a country’s infrastructure is controlled today will determine how it is controlled in the future. This means the size, characteristics, migrations and even growth trends are what determines the overall health of those yet to be born. This information is necessary when considering the locations and numbers of people as it relates to the necessary background to all of the aspects of population geography (Getis, Bjelland, Getis, 2014, p. 111). Population geography is an aspect of human geography. This branch of geography focuses scientifically studies people in their spatial distributions and the density (Briney, 2014). Population geography provides geographers and scientists with the theories and concepts need to better comprehend and thereby forecast the composition, size, and the distribution of human population (Getis, Bjelland, Getis, 2014, p. 111). In order for population geographers to study this factors, they review the data that documents the increase and decrease in an area of population, general settlement patterns, peoples movements over time, and even topics like occupation. This is what develops the geographic character of a particular region (Briney, 2014). Population geography is closely related and yet differs from demography. Demography statistically studies human population as well, however, demography is more concerned with spatial analysis – pattern, location, and density. Instead, population g eography studies a region’s resources such as standard of living, economic development, and food supply as they affect a population’s health and well-being. These characteristics are the essential ingredients for human population geography (Getis, Bjelland, Getis, 2014, p. 111). Population geography is a large branch in the geography tree. It contains quite a few different topics that relate to the worlds population issues. The first of these topics is called population distribution. Population distribution is described as the study of where people are choosing (or not choosing) to live. Our world’s population tends to be quite uneven. Some regions are considered to be rural and are thereby sparsely populated. Meanwhile, other locations that are more urban are consequently more densely populated. In order to learn more about population distribution population geographers often study past population distributions of that region’s people so that they can understand how and why certain spatial locations areas have blossomed into major urban centers we have today. Sparsely populated areas are usually harsh places to live such as areas in Alaska, Siberia, and Canadas northern territories. On the other hand, densely populated areas like Hong Kong, or cities such as New York City or Los Angeles, California are far more hospitable. A second topic in population geography is population density. While closely related to population distribution, population density however studies a region to determine the average number of people that live in an area. This is done by dividing the number of people that currently live that area by total area available. These numbers usually are noted as persons per square mile or persons per square kilometer. Population density are often affected by several factors which, coincidentally, are often subjects of population geographers study. These factors tend to relate to the population’s physical environment such as topography and climate. For example, regions with harsh climates such as Californias Death Valley are thereby sparsely populated. Other factors that affect population density can also be related to the region’s political environments as well as the social, economic culture of an area. For example, Singapore and Tokyo have mild climates with healthy political, social, and economic and are thereby densely populated. Another area of study for population geographers consists of overall population growth as well as changes in population. This topic is of great interest to population geographers because the population of the world has grown so dramatically since the 1800s. In order to properly study overall population growth, population geographers study the population’s areas natural increase birth rates as well as death rates. The number of infants born per 1000 people in the area’s population every year is considered the birth rate. Likewise the number of deaths per 1000 individuals every year is considered the death rate. Historically speaking, the increase rate of population used to naturally be near zero. This didn’t mean that no one being born nor that no one was dying. Actually, this meant that the area’s births roughly equaled the area’s deaths. However, many regions now host populations with that are living much longer because of access to better health care as well as higher standards of living. These factors have reduced the overall death rate. Birth rates are now known to either increase or decrease based on the wealth of the nation. For example, birth rates are actually lower in developed nations. However, in developing nations, the birth rate is still high. Therefore, the population of the world has grown tremendously. Along the same lines of natural increase, population geographers study population changes as it relates to a population’s net migration for an area (Briney, 2014). They compare and contrast data found in a population’s in-migration and out-migration patterns. Therefore, a region’s overall rate of growth or population change is the result of a population’s natural increase as well as their net migration. Finally, though certainly not exhaustively, an essential tool in population geography that is essential to the study of growth rates around the world as well as changes in population is called the demographic transition model. This model looks at the four stages of a country’s development and considers how population changes are thereby affected. The first stage of a country’s development takes place when the new country’s birth rates and death rates are both high, resulting in a small amount of natural increase and an equally small population. The second stage of a country’s development reveals an increase in birth rates and a decrease in death rates resulting in a high growth period in the population (surprisingly, this is normally the stage where least developed countries actually fail). The third stage of a country’s development show a change in trends with a decrease in birth rate as well as a decreasing death rate, thereby once again slowing d own the growth of that country’s population growth. The fourth and final stage of a country’s development shows a balance in birth and death rates both being low, resulting in a low natural increase (Briney, 2014). I can see how using a demographic transition model enables population geographers forecast the future health and wellbeing of a nation by studying the four stages of development that nation experienced. Conclusion: After reviewing the concepts of population geography, I have a better understanding of the actions of the Singapore’s prime minister in 1972. While I don’t agree with his extreme measures of limiting care for more than two children per family and legalizing abortions and sterilizations, I can see how charting a country’s birth and death rates and considering how those numbers affect his nation’s resources could lead him to believe his nation would be picked clean by an over-abundance of his own people and for the good of his nation, At the same time, I can see how population geography was at the heart of prime minister’s reversal of policy because he can now see how his policies were leaving his country vulnerable to constant poverty because there simply were not enough citizens avail to care for and protect their land. Therefore, I have a better appreciation of how population geography is used to study health and well-being of a population anywhere in the world. References Briney, A. (2014). Population Geography An Overview of Population Geography. Retrieved February 1, 2014, from Geography.About.com: http://geography.about.com/od/populationgeography/a/populationgeography.htm Getis, A., Bjelland, M., Getis, V. (2014). Chapter 5, Population Geography. In A. Getis, M. Bjelland, V. Getis, Introduction to Geography 14th Edition (p. 111). New York: McGraw Hil.

Corporate Culture Essay -- Business Company Goals Essays

Corporate Culture Utilising the video case study of ‘Egg Finance’ (Slave Nation, Channel 4), critically examine the extent to which corporate culture is used as an effective tool for the achievement of organizational goals. Corporate Culture is widely used in many organisations and has a variety of definitions. It has been defined by Koozes, Caldwell & Posner cited by Moorhead/Griffin, (1989:494) as: â€Å"a set of shared, enduring beliefs communicated through a variety of symbolic media, creating meaning in people’s work lives.† The argument to be taken in this essay will identify the usefulness and necessity for corporate culture to gain organizational success. In order to do this the argument will be utilized by supporting the theories of Emile Durkheim, Carol Axtell Ray, Terrance Deal and Allen Kennedy. Qubein (1999:2), cited by Sadri and Lees, states that,† corporate culture encompasses several key elements.† He adds, â€Å"It is fostered not merely by a mission statement, but by a clear corporate vision which is a mental picture of the company’s desired future.† It is not only the managers who should have this clear vision, the employees ought to perceive this as well. They should feel the need that they want to help to achieve the organizations goals. When organisations follow corporate culture, they try to make their employees feel that they belong and are accepted for who they are, thus making them want to work for the company. Attempt is made to make the employees feel that their organisation is their religion. This has been clearly demonstrated in Egg Finance. Corporate culture has been extensively used in Egg Finance, and in doing so have captured the hearts and minds of their employees. Each employee working for Egg Finance feels that â€Å"Egg† is their life. They feel safe and secure and feel that they are affiliated to the company. Carol Ray (1994) agrees with this as being part of corporate culture as she states that:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"a corporation’s culture has an important purpose to promote a sense of belongingness to the employees.† This has definitely worked for the employees at Egg. They even go to the extent of calling themselves an â€Å"egg person.† This ties in with the corporate cultural belief of Emile Durkheim and his approach. Egg Finance have tried to create an â€Å"Egg World† for their employees. They have many out-of-work... ...cess of the company. As Edgar Schein portrays it, â€Å"The right kind of culture will influence how effective organisations are.† (Edgar H. Schein, 1992, Organisational Culture and leadership) Works Cited †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Thompson, P., & Mchugh, P. 2002, Work Organisations. 3rd ed, Palgrave, New York. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Channel 4 Productions, 2000, Slave Nation, Egg Finance. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Huczynski, A., & Buchanan, D. 2001, Organisational behaviour: An introductory text. 4th ed, Prentice Hall. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Moorhead, G., & Griffin, R. 1989, Organizational behavior. 2nd ed, Houghton Mifflin Company, U.S.A. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sadri, G., Lees, B. 2001, â€Å"Developing corporate culture as a competitive advantage.†; The Journal of Management Development, vol. 20, no. 10, pp. 853-859. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ogbor, J.O., Jesse J.H.2001, â€Å"Critical theory and the hegemony of corporate culture†; The Journal of Organisational Change Management, vol 14, no. 6, pp. 590-608. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ray, Carol in Clark, H et al, 1994, Organisation and Identities, Chapmen 2 Hall. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Schein, E.H. 1992, Organizational culture and leadership. 2nd ed, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Schermerhorn, J. 2002, Management. 7th ed, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Primary Behavior Changes of MDMA :: Illegal Drugs Ecstasy Medical Essays

Primary Behavior Changes of MDMA As an attempt to define the primary versus secondary (or side effect) behavior changes, I will first discuss the differences between the two. One way to separate the two will be to refer to the primary behaviors as those that occur during the use of the drug. This time span will include the behaviors that occur from the point of ingestion through the time when the effects of the drug wear off (approximately 4-6 hours after ingestion). At this point I will go on to discuss the secondary effects on behavior and how they are a result of the primary effects. With this distinction made, it will make the comparison easier to follow and understand. One of the first, and most commonly reported, behavior changes is that of a created sense of, or feeling of, empathy towards all individuals. In many this feeling is a dominating force that enables communication in an outwardly expressive manner, much different than is normally expressed if the participant were to be in a sober state. As a result, MDMA was slated for use in the medical field by psychologists and psychiatrists who were interested in these qualities as an aid in therapy. With lowered inhibitions and a willingness to express one's inner thoughts and feelings, many therapists were convinced that the drug would have very important therapeutic advantages. These advantages would be clearly expressed in cases where months of therapy had little effect on creating an inviting space where patients could feel comfortable with sharing in the presence of a therapist. Under close supervision, the therapeutic consequences could be priceless to the individual who potentially would be able to overcome a traumatic experience. With this being only one of the primary behavior changes associated with the use of MDMA, it's easy to see how the complexity of such a drug can be easily underestimated. When viewed from an outside perspective, someone in such a euphoric state would appear to be very outgoing and accepting of many types of people. It's this sense of compassion towards all people that has created a phenomenon that expresses itself in the form of large dance parties, called raves. People get together to enjoy music, dance, drugs, and most of all each other. In a heightened state of awareness, participants are

Dress Standards at Work: You Are What You Wear, Really? Essay

Clothing is a powerful tool for identity construction and can be recognized as a stamp of self-expression. Simply put, clothes make the man (Mark Twain, 1927). In modern day situations, women are gradually engaging in manipulation of work attire to construct identities and manage impressions as the emphasis on clothes and appearance increases (Guy & Banim, 2000). While there appears to be evidence for the argument that female employees engage with clothing as a means of how they construct their image in the workplace, their attire decisions are often restricted by strict regulatory regime on clothing (Peluchette, Karl & Rust, 2006). Before delving further into the various types of strict regulatory clothing regime involved, it is critical to have a well-defined understanding about the relationship between a woman’s dressing and her identity in corporate work settings (Peluchette, Karl & Rust, 2006). The style in which women dress reflects deeply the gist of who and what they t ruly are in terms of their identity (Findley, Fretwell, Wheatley & Ingram, 2006). It is believed that women use clothing to define as well as communicate her identity to others. According to Davis and Lennon (as cited in Peluchette, Karl & Rust, 2006), women strategically select clothing according to the image they wish to project to others. If this is the case, observers in workplaces should be able to make sense of and show consensus with regards to the information the woman is bringing across in her clothing cues at work, as well as substantially agree between the perceived meaning of clothing cues and the her actual identity. However, that is only valid if the work attire women don on is specifically determined by them to represent themselves in their respective workplaces. Put differently, the ability of women in managing their identities in workplaces through effective dressing depends on the extent of their freedom of choice when it comes to clothing decisions. Therefore, this paper will begin by exploring arguing for the ways in which dressing of women is restricted by external influences, and conclude that their clothing cues may not be related to true identity of women as freedom of dressing is compromised. Company’s desire for professional image In today’s world, many companies enforce strict dress codes on women in orderto gain the merit of a workforce labor with a professional image (Cardon & Okoro, 2009). Knowing that a female employee’s appearance at work has a direct impact on the company’s image, many organizations establish and enforce regulatory regime on work clothing to ensure that the organization is best represented in a professional manner (Findley, Fretwell, Wheatley & Ingram, 2006). From a corporate perspective, it appears that formal dress codes are usually associated with increased professionalism. For example, when women wear white blouses, black blazers and black knee-length skirts, they are said to appear more authoritative, influential, powerful, confident and competent (Cardon & Okoro, 2009). Since work attire of women has a direct impact on their ability to attract clients as well as acquire new business for the company, most companies end up monitoring and dictating dress policies that demand for a regulated attire such as sensible dark suits and A-line skirts (McPherson, 1997; Findley, Fretwell, Wheatley & Ingram, 2006). This effectively restricts the diversity of work attire working women are allowed to don in their workplaces. As a result, women’s ability to demonstrate their true identities through dressing is often restricted by an enforced corporate attire and identity. That is to say, organizations implicitly control office ladies’ work attire by stating clothing policies that mandate a satisfactory level of dress standard. For instance, female employees in especially conservative industries such as banks and law firms are prohibited from wearing sundresses, mini skirts, jeans or shorts during work time (Rafaeli & Pratt, 1993). While employers redefine the parameters of workplace attire and dictate women’s attire to project the desired professional identity the company desires, working women lose their choice of freedom to dress accordingly to how they want themselves to be seen. Hence, they end up succumbing to clothing attire and a prescribed work identity that is determined primarily by organizational rules (Rafaeli & Pratt, 1993). Homogenous work attire On a similar note, women’s ability to communicate their actual identities across to observers may also be constrained by obligatory homogenous dressing in corporate scenes. One classic example would be the white color dress in health service administrations that is made compulsory, as it is believed to communicate the code of cleanliness in the health industry.Likewise, the feminine style of work attire at Mary Kay Cosmetics that strictly dictates only dress and no pants indicates the feminine values that the manager of the organization identifies as fundamental identity to the organization (Rafaeli and Pratt, 1993). It can be observed then, when women in such working places are involved in a common pattern of clothing imposed on them by their employers, their identity is merely the product of their companies’ image and attributions rather then individual choice towards identity construction. In like manner, pink-collared female employees are compelled to wear company uniforms in customer-contact jobs, such as fast food restaurants, for easier identification. For instance, all female employees in the aviation industry were made to conform to a mandatory dress code not only because they were constantly in public contact and directly represent the airline company’s brand image, but also in order for them to be easily recognized in flight. The meaning of clothing cues, in such scenarios, reflects the brand identity of the organizations the women represent, and in this case, the airline industry. Uniformity ordained by strict dress regulations explicitly forbids women from exercising freedom of dress, thereby disallowing them to communicate their identities across effectively in workplaces. As a result, the information present in the clothing cues of women in corporate scenes where dressing is dictated by higher authority may not be demonstrative of their actual identi ties. Governed by societal expectation Women’s choices of dressing in workplaces are not based on essential requirements of their actual identity, but rather on socially constructed norms, which are barriers to their attempts at identity construction through dressing. Governance by societal expectations can be understood in terms of gender norms, as well as workplace roles, both of which attribute certain image to be expected of female workers across work organizations. Socially constructed gender norms forbid certain styles of working attire of women, those of which are deemed to fall outside commonly understood gender norms. For instance, women are expected to conform and dress according to the stereotypical attitudes about women in workplaces (Martucci & Zheng, 2007). Female employees were prohibited from wearing working clothes that were deemed too masculine, and were expected to dress more femininely as well as wear more jewelry (Martucci & Zheng, 2007). Otherwise, they will be prone to sexual discrimination based on society’s sex stereotypes (Martucci & Zheng, 2007). When it comes to gender subordination of dress choices, the socially enforced appearance for work dress standards inevitably construct a subordinated image of working women. In other words, women’s clothing decisions are confined to the subjective qualities of femaleness in workplaces. In this case, women’s ability to manage gender identity according to their psychological preference, or their external demonstration of gender in workplaces is restricted by society’s sexually stereotypical assumption about femininity. Similarly, societal expectations about women’s workplace roles also limit their ability to manage identity through dressing. Put differently, society’s perceptions of women’s workplace roles have a large part to play in influencing their attire at work. Case in point, a female professor dressed in casual style of dress comprising jeans, sports shirt and sneakers was rated as having less status and teaching competency than herself when dressed formally in dark suit and white blouse (Rafaeli & Pratt, 1993). As certain attire project various characteristic, women at work often find themselves adopting patterns of dress that are required to not only be accepted, but rather expected of them in their society’s context. In a way, women in such corporate work settings find themselves having to dress in a way that fulfills workplace roles designated to them by society. Both forms of societal expectations describe situations in which the work attire of women reflects a form of informal regulatory regime on clothing. Such socially enforced regulation on women’s work attire eventually affects the outcome of women’s identity, as they dutifully comply with the obligatory dress standards, and end up being inappropriately identified as products governed by societal expectations. Opposing viewpoints Naysayers claim that the corporate world is changing the way it dresses in such time of increasing acceptance towards dressing down in workplaces (McPherson, 1997; Peluchette, Karl & Rust, 2006). Many corporations are now embracing the new style called â€Å"business casual† as they begin to steer away from mandatory formal workplace attire. According to Cadwell (as cited in McPherson, 1997), a study on 1000 companies reveals that almost half of the companies surveyed implemented regular dress-down days throughout the year. The trend of â€Å"casual dressing† adopted by many corporations today permit female employees to let their hair down without having to worry about the need to conform to strict dress codes (McPherson, 1997). As such, working women, as a matter of fact, have the freedom to engage with clothes to create, reveal or conceal aspects of their identity they want to project at their workplaces (Guy & Banim, 2000). While it is true that there is a trend towards casual dressing at work, it comes with a down side for it causes confusion with regards to what is considered casual yet acceptable. In other words, as companies frown upon the allowance of certain forms of casual outfit women don on at workplaces, it is arguable whether dress codes these days any less restrictive or not (McPherson, 1997). The trend towards casual dressing allows for women at work to dress casually, albeit within reason and observing workplace propriety, which in other words, means that women’s work attire are still within control of the organizations they are associated with. As corporations impose guidelines for casual dressing by forbidding denim clothing, T-shirts, tank tops and cowboy boots for example, female attire wearers still suffer limitations (McPherson, 1997). This comes off as an unspoken rule on work attire that casts casual dressing as a faux freedom. Therefore, even though casual dressing has allowed for women to manage work attire, many companies still intend to control and limit their clothing decisions through casual business wear policies. In addition, regulatory regime on dress attire has long been a workplace mainstay in certain industries to begin with, such as the food industry, aviation or the bank (McPherson, 1997). Hence, it is understood that not all industries, especially the conservative companies, favor casual dressing and dress down days in the corporate scene. Conclusion In conclusion, dress code requirements imposed by corporations interfere with women’s ability to manage identities in workplaces. As women’s freedom of dress at work is compromised, scant regard is given towards the importance of self-presentation and identity construction. Regulatory rules on work attire are merely subordinating standard of appearance imposed on women, identifying them as products of company’s brand identity or societal expectations, effectively diminishing working women’s ability to constantly manage and revise their identities through dressing. REFERENCES Guy, A., & Banim, M. (2000). Personal Collections: women’s clothing use and identity. Journal of Gender Studies, 9(3), 313-327. doi:10.1080/095892300750040512 http://web.ebscohost.com.libproxy.smu.edu.sg/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=112&sid=5cd5916b-4ab8-4541-9df1-59556e08c386%40sessionmgr113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=3889122 Cardon, P. W., & Okoro, E. A. (2009). Professional characteristics communicated by formal versus casual workplace attire. Business Communication Quarterly, 72(3), 355-360. http://ehis.ebscohost.com.libproxy.smu.edu.sg/eds/detail?vid=3&hid=120&sid=9c71b583-73c9-43f4-90b9-92c68bf56683@sessionmgr110&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ==#db=bth&AN=43666664 Peluchette, J. V., Karl, K., & Rust, K. (2006). Dressing to Impress: Beliefs and Attitudes Regarding Workplace Attire. 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