PERCEPTION

AND
LEARNING IN
ORGANIZATIONS
WHY DO WE NEED
TO STUDY
PERCEPTION AND
LEARNING?
 Whether by working in someone else’s job or
paying attention to what others are saying,
people throughout the organization need to
develop better ways to perceive the world
around them and learn about the consequences
of their actions.
 PERCEPTION
 Is the process of
receiving information
about and making sense
of the world around us.
 PERCEPTION
-DECIDING WHICH INFORMATION TO NOTICE
-HOW TO CATEGORIZE THIS INFORMATION
-HOW TO INTERPRET IT WITHIN THE
FRAMEWORK OF OUR EXISTING KNOWLEDGE
 ENVIRONMENTAL STIMULI

FEELING HEARING SEEING SMELLING TASTING

Selective Attention

Perceptual Organization and Interpretation

Emotions and Behavior

SELECTIVE ATTENTION
 The process of filtering
information received by
our senses.
SELECTIVE ATTENTION
CHARACTERISTICS
OF THE PERCEIVER

 We tend to remember information that is

consistent with our values and attitudes
and ignore information that is
inconsistent with them.
PERCEPTUAL DEFENSE
 Protects our self-esteem
and may be a coping
mechanism to minimize
stress in the short run.
 SPLATTER VISION
 Taking everything in as a
whole while focusing on
nothing.
PERCEPTUAL GROUPING
 Occurs in a number of ways. It
occurs when we make
assumptions about people
based on their similarity or
proximity to others.
 MENTAL MODELS
 Are the broad worldviews or
“theories in-use” that people
rely on to guide their
perceptions and behaviors.
SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY
 A conceptual framework based
on the idea that how we
perceive the world depends on
how we define ourselves in
terms of our membership in
various social groups.
SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY
SOCIAL
IDENTITY

 Defining themselves in terms in

terms of the groups to which they
belong and have an emotional
attachment.
SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY
PERSONAL
INDENTITY

 Characteristics that make them

unique and distinct from people in
any particular group.
PERCEIVING OTHERS THROUGH
SOCIAL IDENTITY

 SOCIAL PERCEPTION-
how we perceive others.
PERCEIVING OTHERS THROUGH
SOCIAL IDENTITY

 SOCIAL IDENTITY- is a
comparative process.
 STEREOTYPING
 The process of assigning
traits to people based on
their membership in a
social category.
WHY STEREOTYPING OCCURS?

 First, trying to absorb the unique

constellations of attributes about
each person we meet is a huge
cognitive challenge.
CATEGORICAL THINKING
 Grouping people and
objects into preconceived
categories that are stored
in our long-term memory.
WHY STEREOTYPING OCCURS?

 Second, we have a strong

need to understand and
anticipate how others will
behave.
WHY STEREOTYPING OCCURS?

 Lastly, stereotyping enhances

our self-perception and social
identity.
 PREJUDICE
 Refers to the unfounded
negative emotions and
attitudes toward people
belonging to a particular
stereotyped group.
MINIMIZING STEREOTYPING BIAS

 DIVERSITY AWARENESS TRAINING-

most diversity programs educate
employees about the organizational
benefits of diversity and the problems
of stereotyping.
MINIMIZING STEREOTYPING BIAS

 MEANINGFUL INTERACTION-
have people interact with one
another.
CONTRACT HYPOTHESIS
 A theory stating that the
more we interact with
someone, the less we rely
on stereotypes to
understand person.
MINIMIZING STEREOTYPING BIAS

 DECISION-MAKING
ACCOUNTABILITY- hold decision
makers accountable for the
information they rely on and the criteria
they use to make choices in
organizational decisions.
ATTRIBUTION PROCESS
 The perceptual process of
deciding whether an
observed behavior or event
is caused largely by internal
or by external factors.
ATTRIBUTION PROCESS
INTERNAL ATTRIBUTION

 Internal factors originate from

within a person, such as the
individual’s ability or motivation.
ATTRIBUTION PROCESS
EXTERNAL ATTRIBUTION

 External factors originate from

the environment, such as lack of
resources, other people, or just
luck.
 INTERNAL ATTRIBUTORS
behavior is attributed to internal
factors

FREQUENCY SELDOM
FREQUENCY (LOW DISTINCTIVENESS) (LOW CONSENSUS)
(HIGH CONSISTENCY)
DISTINCTINVENESS CONSENSUS
CONSISTENCY How often does the person How often do other people
How often did the person act
act the way in other settings? act this way in similar
this way in the past?
situation?
SELDOM
SELDOM (HIGH DISTINCTIVENESS) FREQUENTLY
(LOW CONSISTENCY)
(HIGH CONCENSUS)

EXTERNAL ATTRIBUTORS
behavior is attributed to
external factors
FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION
ERROR
 The tendency to attribute
the behavior of other
people more to internal
than to external factors.
 SELF-SERVING BIAS
 A perceptual error whereby
people tend to attribute
their favorable outcomes to
internal factors and their
failures to external factors.
 PROPHECY
 Occurs when our expectations
about another person cause that
person to act in a way that is
consistent with those
expectations.
 PROPHECY
1. Expectations formed
- the supervisor forms expectations
about the employee’s future behavior
and performance.
 PROPHECY
2. Behavior toward the employee
- the supervisor’s expectations influence
his/her treatment of employees.
 PROPHECY
3. Effects on the employee
- the supervisor’s behavior have two effects
on the employee: they learn more skills and
becomes more self-confident.
 PROPHECY
4. Employee behavior and performance
- with higher motivation and better skills,
high-expectancy employees are more likely
to demonstrate desired behavior and better
performance.
LEARNING ORIENTATION
 The extent that an organization
or individual supports the
learning process, particularly
opportunities to acquire
knowledge through experience
and experimentation.
 SELF-EFFICACY
 A person’s belief that he or
she has the ability,
motivation, and resources
to complete a task
successfully.
 PRIMACY EFFECT
 A perceptual error in which
we quickly form an opinion
of people based on the first
information we receive
about them.
 RECENCY EFFECT
 A perceptual error in which
the most recent
information dominates
one’s perception of others.
 HALO ERROR
 A perceptual error whereby
our general impression of a
person, usually based on
one prominent
characteristics of that
person.
 PROJETION BIAS

 A projection error in
which an individual
believes that other people
have the same beliefs
and behaviors that we do.
IMPROVING PERCEPTION
IMPROVING PERCEPTION
THROUGH EMPATHY

 EMPATHY- A person’s understanding

and sensitivity to the feelings,
thoughts, and situation of others.
IMPROVING PERCEPTION
IMPROVING PERCEPTION
THROUGH EMPATHY

 PERSPECTIVE TAKING- An
intellectual understanding of another
person’s situational and individual
circumstances.
 KNOW YOURSELF
APPLYING THE
JOHARI WINDOW

 JOHARI WINDOW- A popular model

for understanding how co-workers can
increase their mutual understanding.
 KNOW YOURSELF
JOHARI WINDOW

 It was developed by Joseph Luft and

Harry Ingram.
 FEEDBAC
Known K Unknow
to self n to self

Known to OPEN BLIND

AREA
DISCLOSUR

others
AREA
E

Unknown HIDDEN UNKNOWN

to others
AREA AREA
 ORGANIZATION
LEARNING

 A relatively permanent change in

behavior (or behavior tendency) that
occurs as a result of a person’s
interaction with the environment.
 LEARNING
Enhances individual behavior and
performance through three elements:

1. People acquire skills and

knowledge through learning
opportunities – gives them the
competencies to perform tasks
more effectively.
 LEARNING
Enhances individual behavior and
performance through three elements:

2. Learning clarifies role perceptions –

employees develop a better
understanding of their tasks and
relative importance of work activities.
 LEARNING
Enhances individual behavior and
performance through three elements:

3. Learning motivates employees –

employees are more motivated to
perform certain tasks because they
learn that their effort will result in
desired performance.
LEARNING EXPLICIT AND TACIT
KNOWLEDGE
EXPLICIT

 EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE- is
organized and can be
communicated from one person
to another.
LEARNING EXPLICIT AND TACIT
KNOWLEDGE
TACIT

 TACIT KNOWLEDGE- knowledge

embedded in our actions and ways of
thinking, and transmitted only
through observation and experience.
THREE PERSPECTIVES OF LEARNING
EXPLICIT AND TACIT KNOWLEDGE

 REINFORCEMENT
 SOCIAL LEARNING
 DIRECT EXPERIENCE
BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION: LEARNING
THROUGH REINFORCEMENT
BEHAVIOR
MODIFICATION

 A theory that explains learning in

terms of the antecedent and
consequences of behavior.
 A-B-C’S OF BEHAVIOR
MODIFICATION

 The center objective of

behavior modification is to
change (B)ehavior by
managing it’s (A)ntecedents
and (C)onsequences.
 A-B-C’S OF BEHAVIOR
MODIFICATION
ANTECEDENTS

 Are events preceding the behavior,

informing employees that certain
behaviors will have particular
consequences.
 A-B-C’S OF BEHAVIOR
MODIFICATION
CONSEQUENCE
S

 Are events following a particular

behavior that influences its future
occurrence.
 ANTECEDENTS BEHAVIOR CONSEQUENCES
What happens What person says What happens
before behavior or does after behavior

EXAMPLES
Warning light Operator switches Co-workers thank
flashes on off the machine’s operator for
operator’s console power supply stopping the
machine
 CONTINGENCY OF
REINFORCEMENT
CONSEQUENCES CONSEQUENCES IS
NO CONSEQUENCES REMOVED
IS INTRODUCED

POSITIVE NEGATIVE
REINFORCEMENT REINFORCEMENT
BEHAVIOR
INCREASES Example: You receive a Example: Supervisor stops
OR IS bonus after successfully criticizing you when your
MAINTAINED completing an important job performance improves.
project.
PUNISHMENT EXTINCTION PUNISHMENT

BEHAVIOR Examples: You are Examples: Co-workers no Examples: You give up

DECREASE threatened with a longer praise you when your “employee of the
S demotion or discharge you engage in dangerous month” parking spot to
after treating a client badly. pranks. this month’s winner.
 POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT-
occurs when the introduction
of a consequence increases
or maintains the frequency or
future probability of a
behavior.
 NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT-
occurs when the removal or
avoidance of a consequence
increases or maintains the
frequency or future probability
of a behavior.
 PUNISHMENT- occurs
when a consequence
decreases the
frequency or future
probability of a
behavior.
 EXTINCTION- occurs
when the target
behavior decreases
because no
consequence follows it.
 REINFORCEMENT

 CONTINUOUS REINFORCEMENT-
the most effective schedule of
reinforcement. Reinforcing every
occurrence of the desired behavior.
 REINFORCEMENT
 FIXED INTERVAL
SCHEDULE- receiving
reinforcement after a fixed
period of time.
 REINFORCEMENT
 VARIABLE INTERVAL
SCHEDULE- receive
reinforcement after a
variable amount of time.
 REINFORCEMENT

 FIXED RATIO SCHEDULE-

reinforcement after a fixed
number of behaviors or
accomplishments.
 REINFORCEMENT

 VARIABLE RATIO
SCHEDULE- reinforced after
a variable number of times.
 SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY:
LEARNING BY OBSERVING

 SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY- a theory stating

that much learning occurs by observing
others and then modeling the behavior that
leads to favorable outcomes and avoiding the
behavior that leads to punishing consequence.
 REINFORCEMENT
 BEHAVIORAL MODELING AND SELF-
EFFICACY- behavioral modeling increases
self-efficacy because people gain more
self-confidence after seeing someone
else do it than if they are simply told what
to do.
 LEARNING BEHAVIOR
CONSEQUENCES

 We learn by logically thinking through

the consequences of our actions and
by observing the consequences that
other people experience following
their behavior.
SELF-REINFORCEMENT
 Self-reinforcement occurs
whenever an employee has
control over a reinforcer but
doesn’t “take” the reinforcer until
completing a self-set goal.
 LEARNING THROUGH
EXPERIENCE
 Concrete experience involves sensory
and emotional engagement in some
activity. It is followed by reflective
observation, which involves listening,
watching, recording, and elaborating
on the experience.
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING IN
PRACTICE
CONCRETE
EXPERIENCE

ACTIVE REFLECTIVE
EXPERIMENTATIO OBSERVATION
N
ABSTRACT
CONCEPTUALIZATIO
N
 ACTION LEARNING
 A variety of experimental learning
activities in which employees are
involved in a “real, complex, and
stressful problem,” usually in terms,
with immediate relevance to the
company.
THIS IS AGAINST OUR
HUMAN RIGHTS!
WE CANNOT LIVE
UNDER THESE
CONDITIONS!!!!!