PERCEPTION

Defined as a process by which an individual organize & interpret their sensory impressions in
order to give meaning to their environment-may be substantially different than actual (IP-OB-11)
& (IP-OB-12)-the study of perception very important in OB-because individual's behavior is
based on this perception of what reality is, & not on reality itself-the world as it is perceived is
the world that is behaviorally important

Factors influencing perception (IP-OB-13)-these operate to shape & sometimes distort the
perception

Perceiver-attempting to interpret the target in sight-heavily influenced by personal characteristics

& vision-eg. attitudes, motives, interests, past experiences & expectations-eg. a great feeling to
be the first car owner in a residential complex & getting depressed seeing another car already
parked in the parking lot-unsatisfied needs &/or motives stimulate individuals & may exert
strong influence on their perceptions-eg. a thirsty person seeing a mirage or an elated youth
seeing a beautiful girl waving at him shortly realizes its not him but another guy behind-further
expectations may distort one's perceptions-eg. traffic police not accepting money from truck
driver or government official rejecting a gift from a customer

Target-characteristics of the target being presented & observed influence one's perception of
them-motion, sounds, size & other attributes of the target shape the way one sees it-eg an
elephant & five blind men

-targets are not looked at in isolation-its relationship to its background influence perception-(IP-
OB-14, 15 & 15A)-a vase or two individuals facing each other-a group of modular objects or
words FLY & TIE

-intensity or relative strength of object, noise or occurrence-a police siren or a ringing bell of fire
brigade engine easily noticed in huge chaos of the busy road

-contrast stands out in relation to its background-eg. a fluorescent colored board gives a 3-
dimensional feeling

-size influences visual perception-eg road narrowing at a distance

-repetition or frequency influences our perception-eg. advertizing campaigns of various products

imparts good/bad feelings

-motion influences our ability to select various stimuli-approaching/going train gives increasing
or receding sound of horn

-proximity-objects close to each to other are perceived together rather than separately-two towers
of World Trade Center were perceived together & not separate
-physical or time proximity results into putting together unrelated objects or events-stars in the
sky look to be together although they are few light-years away

-similarity-persons, objects, events that are similar tend to be grouped together

Situation-situational perception is a dynamic process-the context in which objects or events seen

is important-eg. a regular postman in plain clothes is not noticed-a corner paanwala is not
recognizable when seen participating in some social event-film & TV serial actors & actresses
without make up & attire are not recognizable in public. For eg At a nightclub on Saturday night,
you may not notice a young guest “dressed to the nines.” Yet that same person so attired for your
Monday morning management class would certainly catch your attention (and that of the rest of
the class). Neither the perceiver nor the target has changed between Saturday night and Monday
morning, but the situation is different

Personal Perception-application of perception concepts to OB-one's judgment of others' actions

influenced by individual's assumptions about them-attribution to others' behavior depends on
what meaning is attached to a given behavior-depends largely on various factors

-distinctiveness-refers to the display of individual's different behaviors in different situations

Internally caused behaviors are those we believe to be under the personal

control of the individual. Externally caused behavior is what we imagine the situation
forced the individual to do. If one of your employees is late for work, you
might attribute that to his partying into the wee hours and then oversleeping.
This is an internal attribution. But if you attribute lateness to an automobile
accident that tied up traffic, you are making an external attribution.

-consensus-reaching late to work by many workers may be an external attribute (eg.

transportation problem)-but an isolated late comer becomes an internal attribute (casual approach
to time discipline)

If everyone who faces a similar situation responds in the same way, we can
say the behavior shows consensus. The behavior of our tardy employee meets this
criterion if all employees who took the same route were also late. From an attribution
perspective, if consensus is high, you would probably give an external
attribution to the employee’s tardiness, whereas if other employees who took
the same route made it to work on time, you would attribute his lateness to an
internal cause.

-consistency-any type of misbehavior is an internal attribute-eg. an adamant smoker in

nonsmoking zone or sales agent not meeting the target due to his laziness

Finally, an observer looks for consistency in a person’s actions. Does the

person respond the same way over time? Coming in 10 minutes late for work
is not perceived in the same way for an employee who hasn’t been late for
several months as it is for an employee who is late two or three times a week.
The more consistent the behavior, the more we are inclined to attribute it to
internal causes.

It tells us, for instance, that if an employee, Kim Randolph, generally performs at about
the same level on related tasks as she does on her current task (low distinctiveness),
other employees frequently perform differently—better or worse—
than Kim on that task (low consensus), and Kim’s performance on this current
task is consistent over time (high consistency), anyone judging Kim’s work
will likely hold her primarily responsible for her task performance (internal
attribution)

-strong biased emphasis on individual's internal rather than external attributes-results in

practicing shortcuts instead of taking overall evaluation-selective perception & interpretation of
what is seen or heard on the basis of individual's interests, background, experience & attitudes

-halo effect-arriving at general impression about an individual on the basis of single

characteristic-eg. intelligence or sociability or appearance

When we draw a general impression about an individual on the

basis of a single characteristic, such as intelligence, sociability, or appearance, a
halo effect is operating. 13 If you’re a critic of President Obama, try listing 10 things
you admire about him. If you’re an admirer, try listing 10 things you dislike about
him. No matter which group describes you, odds are you won’t find this an easy
exercise! That’s the halo effect: our general views contaminate our specific ones.

-contrast effect-evaluation of person's characteristics affected by comparison with others ranking

higher or lower on the same property-hence evaluation not in isolation but influenced by others
in surrounding-eg. interviewers biased evaluation of a candidate w.r.t. previous one, may be a
mediocre or strong

-projection-attributing one's own characteristics to others-expecting them to work equally

good/bad-may give wrong picture of homogeneity rather than actually heterogeneity & vice
versa

-stereotyping-judging someone on the basis of one's perception of group to which the person
belongs-although it is said that ”a person is known by the company he keeps” may not be true all
the time-may result in inaccurate perceptions on the basis of false premise about a group

Specific applications of perception in organization

Employment interview-a major input into an organization-a general disagreement among panel
members due to inaccurate judgment of candidate by each member as per individual member's
interests

Few people are hired without an interview. But

interviewers make perceptual judgments that are often inaccurate 20 and draw
early impressions that quickly become entrenched. Research shows we form
impressions of others within a tenth of a second, based on our first glance. 21 If
these first impressions are negative, they tend to be more heavily weighted in
the interview than if that same information came out later. 22 Most interviewers’
decisions change very little after the first 4 or 5 minutes of an interview. As a
result, information elicited early in the interview carries greater weight than
does information elicited later, and a “good applicant” is probably characterized
more by the absence of unfavorable characteristics than by the presence of
favorable ones.

Performance evaluation-creates profound impact on individual's behavior-performance appraisal

is generally subjective & projected on the basis of perceptual & judgmental process rather than
objective measures-affects greatly on individual's promotions, pay raises, job continuity, etc.-
hence may alter his/her behavior

Employee loyalty-a subjective phenomena-eg. an employee looking for outside opportunities

may be perceived as disloyal & cut off from all future advancement opportunities-rather than
counseling him/her for reasons of leaving & if necessary, making organizational changes-an
employee who questions management's wrong decisions is considered disloyal & punished in
many ways

Perception-Decision Making Relationship

An important part of OB-a process involving correction of current problems &/or wrong
practices-choosing & implementing from two or more alternatives-may be at managerial level or
even on shop floor-greatly influenced by perceptions of decision maker-depends largely on
intensity of impact & effect on performance requirements of individual or department-a
subjective & perceptual approach-involves interpretation & evaluation of information under
differing circumstances & situations-hence requires rational approach in order to maximize or
optimize the outcome-involves basically six steps

 Define the problem-arises due to discrepancy between the current & desired state of
affairs
 Identify the decision criteria-involves the priority & relevance of the desired
characteristics of affairs
 Allocate weightage to the criteria-describe weighted importance to the criteria(s)
 Develop the alternatives-to correct the problems
 Evaluate the alternatives-from the point of view of user-friendly, safety, finance
requirements, lead time, space & man power allocation, etc.
 Select the best alternative-decision taken-end of process

Thus involves problem clarity, known options, clear preferences, thorough weightage allocation,
no time & cost constraints, maximum pay offs

Improving creativity in decision making

Ability to produce novel & useful ideas-helps the decision maker to fully appraise & understand
the problem & identify all viable alternatives (brain-storming)-three components of creativity

 Expertise-foundation for all creative work-the potential for creativity enhanced when
individuals have abilities, knowledge, proficiencies & similar expertise in their fields of
endeavor
 Creative thinking skills-encompasses personality characteristics associated with
creativity, the ability to use analogies as well as the talent to see the familiar in different
perspectives-the individual traits associated with development of creative ideas are
intelligence, self confidence, risk taking, internal locus of control, tolerance for ambiguity
& perseverance
 Intrinsic task motivation-turning potential into creative ideas-determines the extent of
engaging own expertise & creative skills-influenced significantly by work environment-
five organizational factors impeding one's creativity
1. expected evaluation-focusing on how hard work to be evaluated
2. surveillance-being watched while working
3. external motivators-emphasizing tangible rewards
4. competition involving win/lose situation with peers
5. constrained choice-sufficient freedom to execute ideas