Bothered, Ignored, and Adored: The World Inside the Mall - Essay Example

Client’s Last Name 1 Bothered, Ignored, and Adored: The World Inside the Mall A trip to the mall can provide a multitude of resources within one building. Walking through the corridors, smells, sights and sounds invade the senses, drawing your attention from one store to the next. One evening at the Mall of Millenia, in Orlando Florida, The Gap, Hugo Boss, and Juicy Couture were observed for communication styles The styles that could be observed were passive, assertive, passive aggressive or aggressive (Rose 2007).

In an examination of the communication styles that can be experienced during a walk through the many stores, observations on three stores were made and will be examined for the quality of their style and for the model of communications that is reflected in the organization of each store. In entering The Gap, one is noticed immediately by a greeter at the front of the store who is folding clothes. The greeter is cordial and asks if there is anything you are particularly looking for in the store.

As one continues forward, someone in the middle of the store will again ask if there is something in particular they can help find. As one moves through the store, employees will approach and ask if they can offer assistance, allowing very little time for a personal assessment of the available goods. The most irritating aspect of this kind of sales model is that they will suggest items in which you have no interest, even sometimes bringing those items to customers that they have not Client’s Last Name 2 requested while they are trying on the ones they chose for themselves.

In watching the interactions of the employees to the manager and the manager to the customers, a very interesting dynamic begins to emerge. The manager tends to control the employees by the use of a glance. This use of non-verbal skills has been developed through cues that the manager has successfully transmitted to those around her and specifically implemented with her employees. In an altercation with a dissatisfied customer, there was a moment when a pause and a look at the customer occurred that stopped the customer mid-rant, after which she smiled and set out exactly how she would handle the problem.

The customer accepted the proposal, the transaction was concluded, and she peacefully left, all being done under the terms that the manager had proposed. According to communication models developed by James Carey (2007), in his article “A Cultural Approach to Communication”, he discusses to divisions of communication models, the first being the “transmission view of communication” (38), and the “ritual view”(42). The way in which the manager conveys her information to her employees with the use of non-verbal cues is a form of ‘transmission communication’.

As well, the funneling nature of the placement of the employees and creates an ’instrumental’ model of communication because it is designed to have a predetermined end, which is that of the purchase. However, the culture that has been developed around The Gap has a sense of ritualistic communication. According to Carey (2007), “Under a ritual view, then, news is not information but drama. It does not describe the world but portrays an arena of dramatic forces and action”(42). In the culture that has developed within The Gap, both forms of communication have developed.

The second way in Client’s Last Name 3 which the employees communicate is through terms, signals, and actions that have been prescribed by a larger corporation on how they must interact with each other and with customers. The Gap has incorporated policies the create ‘employee branding’ which utilizes techniques to encourage employees to ‘join the cult’. In creating a branding effect on the employees, The Gap, as an example of an industry wide policy, in making the employees wear their clothes are creating is “Rather than being a superficial requirement intended to influence only the employees’ surface appearance, wearing the brand is directed more deeply at the individuals’ beliefs about the brand, their relationship with the brand, and the link between the brand and their own behaviors” (Rafaeli 2006, 166).

In creating this energy and enthusiasm for the brand, a contagion of communication through the ritual of the culture is developed, with a passive-aggressive communication style. In Hugo Boss, a different style of sales occurs. The sales associates are paid very well, according to information provided by one of the employees, and they make their money on commission. The type of communication that was used in the store could be described as ‘situational context’, and the style was assertive, as the purpose of the store is to sell clothes, the conversations are driven in that direction, but there is no misdirection or coercive techniques.

Rather than use coercive tactics and repetitive ’suggestions’, the associates allowed the customers to browse unassailed and only offered help when a customer made a verbal or non-verbal signal. They stood unobtrusively nearby, without crowding those who were shopping. As well, the associates were trained in such a way that there was no need for a clear hierarchy, although one would assume Client’s Last Name 4 that one existed. Each associate new the answers to any question posed and was thoroughly familiar enough that no consultation with management was necessary.

When a customer asked to have an item shipped, there was no need to consult anyone or to ask how it should be done - it was simply accomplished. At the Juicy Couture store, another approach was in evidence. In this example, the customers were ignored by the employees who would greet them when they entered the store, but then go back to conversations amongst themselves. Other than the initial greeting, not one customer was observed to be approached or asked if they needed help. The communication between the employees seemed to be noninclusive, leaving anyone but a member of the group out of the interaction.

The style could be described as passive because the customers led the associates in the transactions, and the communications model would follow a simple ‘content’ model, since the conversation between the employees was personal in nature and was not purposeful in regard to the sales efforts. The non-verbal communication indicated a lack of concern for their purpose in the store. The most successful communication was accomplished by the employees at Hugo Boss. A sense of professionalism was evident as the employees did not engage in much, if any, personal conversation.

In the empowered way in which each associate could handle all the needs of the customer, each transaction felt competently handled and the customer felt confident about their purchase. In handling people with the assertive style of communication, the conversations did not feel as if they were intended to manipulate a sale. In this successful form of sales approach, the associate was in control, but allowed the customer to maintain a sense of confidence and control. Client’s Last Name 5 Works Cited Carey, James.

“A Cultural Approach to Communication”. as quoted in Craig, Robert T., and Heidi L. Muller. Theorizing Communication: Readings Across Traditions. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2007. Rafaeli, Anat and Michael G. Pratt. Artifacts and Organizations. Mahwah, New Jersey: Routledge, 2006. Rose, Joni. “Communication Styles Aggressive, Passive, Passive-Aggressive or Assertive Communication”. Suite 101: The Genuine Article. 21 January 2007. Online 14 February 2009.