ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
PERCEPTION
What Is Perception ?
The process by which people select, organize,
interpret, and respond to stimuli.
Perception (consciously and unconsciously)
involves
searching
for,
obtaining,
and
processing information in the mind in an
attempt to make sense of the world.
Set of processes by which an individual
becomes aware of and interprets information
about the environment.
Why Is It Important?
Selection and organization often account for
differences
between
in
individuals
interpretation/perception
observing
the
same
stimuli
Peoples behavior is based on their perception
of what reality is, not on reality itself.
Factors Influencing Perception
Confidence
level(on
scale of 5)
Hometown
Languages known
Favorite food/cuisine
Favorite color
Favorite music
Favorite movie
Favorite actor/actress
What kind of books does she read
Concerned or indifferent about
happenings in the society
Liberal or conservative thinking
Lenient or strict parent
Is she inclined towards social causes
If yes what social causes
Diplomatic or outspoken
Circle of friends(large/small)
Homebody/adventurous
Interactions with friends
Practical/sentimental
Common Perceptual Errors
Halo: A rater forms an overall impression about
an object and then uses the impression to bias
ratings about the object.
Leniency: A personal characteristic that leads
an individual to consistently evaluate other
people or objects in an extremely positive
fashion.
Central Tendency: The tendency to avoid all
extreme judgments and rate people and
objects as average or neutral.
Common Perceptual Errors
Recency Effect: The tendency to remember
recent information. If the recent information
is negative, the person or object is evaluated
negatively.
Contrast Effect: The tendency to evaluate
people or objects by comparing them with
characteristics of recently observed people or
objects.
Primacy Effect: The tendency to quickly form
an opinion of people based on first information
we receive.
Selective Perception
People selectively interpret what they see on the
basis of their interests, background, experience
and attitudes
The tendency to single out those aspects of a
situation, person, or object that are consistent
with ones needs, values, or attitudes.
Strongest impact is at the attention stage.
Perception checking with other persons can
help counter the adverse impact of selective
perception.
Stereotype
A stereotype is an individuals set of beliefs
about the characteristics of a group of people.
Types of stereotypes:
Sex-Role Stereotypes
Age Stereotypes
Race Stereotypes
Disability Stereotypes
Improving Perceptions
Empathy
Sensitivity to the feelings, thoughts, and
situation of others
Cognitive and emotional component
Self-awareness
Awareness of your values, beliefs and
prejudices
Raj gets his test results back. He takes a peek and
says, ahhhhh, a 65%. He thinks about these
disappointing results for a minute and realizes what a
lousy teacher he has got and how badly written the
textbook is and how unfair the test was and . . . etc
Now, after the next test he takes a peek and says,
ahhhh, a 95%. Well, what can I say? When you're
hot, you're hot. If you've got it, flaunt it. Some people
are born great
Attribution Theory
Attribution Theory
Definition: When individuals observe
behavior they attempt to determine whether it
is internally (dispositional) or externally
(situational) caused.
Attribution simply refers to how people explain
the cause of behavior
Cognitive process
Attribution theory
Individuals attempt to assign a cause for important instances of their
own behavior and that of others
Where necessary they seek information that enables them to do so
The assignment of causes is determined in a systematic manner
Distinctiveness
consistency of a persons
behavior across situations.
Consensus likelihood of
others responding in a
similar way.
Consistency whether an
individual responds the
same way across time.
Attribution Theory
Fundamental Attribution Error
Applies to the evaluation of someones else
behavior.
Attributing success to the influence of
situational factors.
Attributing failure to the influence of
personal factors.
Attribution Theory
Self-serving bias.
Applies to the evaluation of our own
behavior.
Attributing success to the influence of
personal factors.
Attributing failure to the influence of
situational factors
Mary Martin 30, received her degree in computers science from a
reputable state school in Midwest. She also graduated with above
average grades. Mary is currently working in computer support/analysis
department a programmer for nationally based firm. During the past year
Mary has missed 10 days of work. She seems unmotivated and rarely has
her assignments completed on time. Mary is usually given the harder
programs to work on.
Past records indicate Mary on the average completes programs classified
as routine in about 45 hours. Her co-workers on the other hand complete
routine programs in an average time of 32 hours. Further Mary finishes
programs considered major problem on the average in about 115 hours.
Her coworkers finish the same in 100 hours. When Mary has worked in
programming teams her peer performance reviews are generally average
to negative. Her male peers have noted she is not creative in attacking
problems and is difficult to work with.
The computer department recently sent a questionnaire to all users of the
services to evaluate the usefulness and accuracy of data received. The
results indicate many users are not using computer outputs because they
dont understand the reports. It was also determined that the users of the
output generated by Mary found the output chaotic and not useful for
managerial decision making.
Perception and Individual Decision Making
Problem
A perceived discrepancy between the current
state of affairs and a desired state.
Decisions
Choices made from among alternatives
developed from data perceived as relevant
Individual Decision Making
Intuition:
An unconscious process created out of distilled
experience
Rational Decision-Making Model:
Describes how individuals should behave in
order to maximize some outcome.
Bounded Rationality:
Individuals make decisions by constructing
simplified models that extract the essential
features from problems without capturing all
their complexity
Rational Decision Making
State the goal
Identify the problem
Determine decision type
(Determine decision criteria)
Generate alternatives
Evaluate alternatives based on criteria.
Choose an alternative
Implement
Control: Measure and adjust.
Common Errors in Decision Making
Anchoring Bias: Tendency to fixate on initial
information as a starting point
Confirmation Bias: We seek out information
that reaffirms our past choices and discount
information that contradicts past judgments
Availability Bias: The tendency to base
judgments on information that is readily
available
Representation
Bias:
Assessing
the
likelihood of occurrence by trying to match it
with a preexisting category
Over confidence Bias: An inflated belief that
one is better than others
Common Errors in Decision Making
Escalation of commitment: Staying with a
decision even when there is clear evidence
that it is wrong
Randomness error: tendency to believe we
can predict outcome of random events
Hindsight bias: tendency to believe falsely
after the outcome of event is actually known
that wed accurately predicted the outcome
