Organizational Behavior

Perception
 What is Perception?
‘Perception as a process which individuals organize and
interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning
to their environment’
Or

‘The process by which an individual maintains contact with

the environment’

Or

‘The process whereby an individual receives stimuli through

the various senses and interprets them’
 Perception in Essence
• Perception is a mental process to get sensory impressions
and attributing meaning

• What one perceives is generally different from objective

reality

• People see, read, hear and understand things differently

• Things / words that satisfy or are expected to satisfy /

fulfil needs and expectations are perceived quickly, others
not.
Why is it important to study Perception
in O.B?
People understanding the ideas, facts, impulses is
based on their perception
What reality is not reality itself.
Number of factors operate to shape and at times filter
and distort understanding
Factors reside in speaker and receiver (Manager and
his subordinates)
When a Manager/ receiver interprets what he reads or
listens the interpretation is influenced by personal
characteristics I.e., attitude, experience, interest and so
on.
Reasons for Different Interpretation?

A word has different meanings

Divergent intention to use a word / jargon

Unsatisfied needs – strong influences.

Experience – boss dictatorial / autocratic – change in

behaviour – changed perception
 Therefore one can say

• Our perception of reality is less important than reality

itself.
• It may be argued that there is no ultimate reality, only the
illusion of our perceptions.
• Our perceptions are influenced by:
Physical elements -- what information your eye or ear can
actually take in, how your brain processes it.
Environmental elements -- what information is out there to
receive, its context.
Learned elements -- culture, personality, habit: what filters
we use to select what we take in and how we react to it.
 Factors
• Internal –
Attitude, Motives, Interest, Experience,
Expectations, Learning, Personality.
• External-
Novelty, Motion, sounds, Size, Background,
Proximity, Similarity.
• Situation-
Time, work setting.
 Basic Elements in the Perceptual Process

Observation
Environmental * Taste * Smell
Stimuli * Hearing * Sight
* Touch

Perceptual Selection Perceptual

* External factors Organization
* Internal factors *Perceptual grouping

Interpretation Response
* Perceptual errors * Covert
* Attributions * Overt
Perceptual Mechanism
 Perceptual Mechanism
• Selective Screening: the process by which people
filter out most information so they can deal with the
most important matters
• Perceptual Set: an expectation of a perception based
on past experience with the same or similar objects
• Pollyanna Principle: the notion that pleasant stimuli
are processed more efficiently and accurately than
unpleasant stimuli; an effect of motivation on
perception
• Perceptual Grouping: tendency to form individual
stimuli into a meaningful pattern by continuity,
closure, proximity, or similarity
 Person Perception

• Definition: the process by which individuals

attribute characteristics or traits to other people;
closely related to attribution
• Implicit personality theories: personal beliefs about
the relationships among other’s physical
characteristics, personality traits, and specific
behaviors
• Impression Management: the attempt people make
to manipulate or control the impressions others form
about them
 Common Perceptual Errors
• Perceptual defense: the tendency for people to protect
themselves against ideas, objects, or situations that are
threatening.
• Stereotyping: the tendency to assign attributes to
someone solely on the basis of the category of people, of
which that person is a member.
• Halo effect: the process by which the perceiver evaluates
another person solely on the basis of one attribute, either
favorable or unfavorable.
• Projection: the tendency for people to see their own
traits in others.
• Expectancy effects: extent to which expectations bias
how events, objects, and people are actually perceived
– Self-fulfilling prophecy: expecting certain things to
happen will shape the behavior of the perceiver in such
a way that the expected is more likely to happen.
 NATURE OF THE ATTRIBUTION PROCESS

• Definition: The ways in which people come

to understand the causes of their own and
others’ behaviors
• Most often an unconscious process (i.e.,
people are not normally aware of making
attributions)
• People are constantly attributing the behavior
of themselves and others to either internal
(i.e., personal) or external (i.e., situational)
causes.
 Attribution Theory
• Our perception and judgment of others are significantly
influenced by our assumptions of the other people’s
internal states.

– When individuals observe behavior, they attempt to determine

whether it is internally or externally caused.

• Internally - caused behavior are those which are under the control of a
person. example- late coming – got up late in the morning
• Externally – caused behavior are those resulting from external factors or
situations.

• example– Late coming – traffic jam on the way .

 The Attribution Process

Antecedents-- •Information
factors internal •Beliefs
to the perceiver •Motivation

•Perceived external
Attributions made by the perceiver or internal causes
of behavior

•Behavior
Consequences for the perceiver •Feelings
•Expectations
 Attributions are of two types
a) Dispositional attributions: Refers to internal
factors for one’s own or other’s behavior .For
example: personality traits, motivation,
intelligence, ability etc.
b) Situational attributions: Refers to external
factors for one’s own or other’s behavior .These
attributions play an important role in perception
at the work place and organizational situations.
 The three major factors on which
people focus are:
• Causation judged through:
–Distinctiveness
• Shows different behaviors in different situations.
–Consensus
• Response is the same as others to same situation.
–Consistency
• Responds in the same way over time.
 Distinctiveness
Refers to the extent to which the same person
behaves in the different way in different
situations.
Example: Mr Chaitanya of Wadia industries ltd.
performed his job as marketing manager
extremely well when the employee’s morale came
down he was transferred to HRM deptt. Where he
performed extremely well thus he did his job with
same level of performance in different situations.
 Consensus
It means behaving in the same fashion as others
behave in the same situation under the same
circumstances.
Example: Mr. Phani kumar of TELCO took his
subordinate immediately and admitted him in
emergency ward of the company hospital when
the latter met with an accident in the factory.
Thus Mr. Phani behaved as others would have
behaved in such situation this is called consensus.
 Consistency
If a person behaves in the same way in different
situations that behavior is viewed as consistently similar
i.e the individual’s reaction must be same or nearly so.
Example: Mr. Mohan has been working as a recovery
manager in Central Bank since 1974 and the recovery
performance has been consistently below average .Mr
Naveen of Research and Development Deptt. of NATCO
Pharma Ltd. Has been consistently developing innovative
products. Thus the performance of Mr Mohan and Mr
Naveen have been consistent though it is positive in latter
and negative in former case.
 Attributions of Internal and
External Causes of Behavior

Consistency is high
Attribution of
Distinctiveness is high
external causes
Consensus is high

Consistency is high
Attribution of
Distinctiveness is low
internal causes
Consensus is low

Attribution of either
Consistency is low external or internal
causes
Chapter 3: PowerPoint 3.10
 Theory of Causal Attributions

Consistency
Does person usually
behave this way in
this situation?

Distinctiveness
External Attribution Does person behave Internal Attribution
Yes No
(to person’s situation) differently in different (to person’s disposition)
situations?

Consensus
Do others behave
similarly in this
situation?
 Example: Tom,his behavior is laughter. Tom is laughing at a comedian .
1. Consensus: Everybody in the audience is
laughing. Consensus is high. If only Tom is
laughing consensus is low.
2. Distinctiveness: Tom only laughs at this
comedian. Distinctiveness is high. If Tom laughs
at everything distinctiveness is low.
3. Consistency: Tom always laughs at this
comedian. Consistency is high. Tom rarely
laughs at this comedian consistency is low.
Now, if everybody laughs at this comedian, if they don’t laugh at
the comedian who follows and if this comedian always raises a
laugh, then we would make an external attribution, i.e. we
assume that Tom is laughing because the comedian is very funny.
On the other hand, if Tom is the only person who laughs at this
comedian, if Tom laughs at all comedians and if Tom always
laughs at the comedian then we would make an internal
attribution, i.e. we assume that Tom is laughing because he is
the kind of person who laughs a lot.
So what we’ve got here is people attributing causality on the
basis of correlation.
That is to say, we see that two things go together and we
therefore assume that one causes the other.
• On the other hand, if Tom is the only person who laughs at this comedian, if Tom
laughs at all comedians and if Tom always laughs at the comedian then we would
make an internal attribution, i.e. we assume that Tom is laughing because he is the
kind of person who laughs a lot.
• So what we’ve got here is people attributing causality on the basis of correlation.
That is to say, we see that two things go together and we therefore assume that
one causes the other.
• One problem however is that we may not have enough information to make that
kind of judgment. For example, if we don’t know Tom that well, we wouldn’t
necessarily have the information to know if his behavior is consistent over time.
So what do we do then? According to Kelley we fall back on past experience and
look for either
• 1) Multiple necessary causes. For example, we see an athlete win a marathon and
we reason that she must be very fit, highly motivated, have trained hard etc. and
that she must have all of these to win
• 2) Multiple sufficient causes. For example, we see an athlete fail a drug test and
we reason that she may be trying to cheat, or have taken a banned substance by
accident or been tricked into taking it by her coach. Any one reason would be
sufficient.

5-24
 Frequent Attribution Errors*

• Fundamental Attribution Error = overestimating the

personal causes for other’s behavior while underestimating the
situational causes
• Self-Serving Bias = attributing personal success to internal
factors and personal failure to external factors
 Errors and Biases in Attributions
• Fundamental Attribution Error
– The tendency to underestimate the influence of
external factors and overestimate the influence of
internal factors when making judgments about the
behavior of others
– We blame people first, not the situation
• Self-Serving Bias
– The tendency for individuals to attribute their own
successes to internal factors while putting the blame
for failures on external factors
– It is “our” success but “their” failure
 Frequently Used Shortcuts in Judging
Others
• Selective Perception
– People selectively interpret what they see on the basis
of their interests, background, experience, and
attitudes.
• Halo Effect
– Drawing a general impression about an individual on
the basis of a single characteristic
• Contrast Effects
– Evaluation of a person’s characteristics that are
affected by comparisons with other people recently
encountered who rank higher or lower on the same
characteristics
• Stereotyping
-Judging someone on the basis of one’s
perception of the group to which that person
belongs – a prevalent and often useful, if not
always accurate, generalization.

•Profiling
– A form of stereotyping in which members of
a group are singled out for intense scrutiny
based on a single, often racial, trait.
 Applications in Organizations
Perception:

- People act based on how they view their

world;
- What exists is not as important as what is
believed;
- Managers must also manage perception
 Applications in Organizations
• Employment Interviews
– Perceptual biases of raters affect the accuracy of
interviewers’ judgments of applicants.
– Formed in a single glance – 1/10 of a second!

• Performance Expectations
– Self-fulfilling prophecy (Pygmalion effect): The lower or
higher performance of employees reflects preconceived
leader expectations about employee capabilities.

• Performance Evaluations
– Appraisals are often the subjective (judgmental)
perceptions of appraisers of another employee’s job
performance.
– Critical impact on employees.