MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational

BEHAVIOR

C H A P T E R
S I X

Perception and
Personality in
Organizations

Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 1 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000

MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Perception
• Process of selecting, organizing,
interpretation, and storage of sensory data to
give it meaning
• We don’t operate in the objective reality
because all of our realities merely our own
personal realities
• Individuals see what is important to them:
– if you are hungry you are more likely to notice
food, etc.

Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 2 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000

MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Perceptual Process Model

Environmental Stimuli

Feeling Hearing Seeing Smelling Tasting

Selective Attention

Organization and
Interpretation

Emotions and
Behaviors

Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 3 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000

MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR
Gestalts - born in universal organization
tools
• Perceptual Defense - subconciously screening
out threatening information
• Perceptual Grouping - placing people and
objects into groups
• Perceptual closure - filling in missing data
• Mental Models - broad theories that help us
operate in our world
• Figure and ground - figure is the dominant
feature, ground is surrounding stimuli
Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 4 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000
MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Selective Attention
• Characteristics of the object
– size, intensity, motion, repetition, novelty

• Perceptual context

• Characteristics of the perceiver

– attitudes
– perceptual defense
– expectations -- condition us to expect events

Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 5 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000

MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Splatter Vision Perception

Fighter pilots, secret service
agents, and bird watchers
use splatter vision --
scanning everything and
focusing on nothing. This
reduces the chance of
screening out potentially
important information.

Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 6 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000

MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Social Identity Theory

ACME
Widget Employees at
Employee other firms

Live in the An Individual’s People living

United States Social Identity in other countries

Graduates from
U. of Vermont other schools
Graduate

Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 7 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000

MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Social Identity Theory Features

• Comparative process
– define ourselves by differences with others

• Homogenization process
– similar traits within a group; different traits
across groups

• Contrasting process
– develop less favorable images of people in
groups other than our own

Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 8 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000

MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

The Stereotyping Process

Develop categories Professors are

and assign traits absent-minded

Assign person to category Our instructor

based on observable info is a professor

Assign category’s traits Our instructor

to the person absent-minded

Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 9 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000

MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

How Accurate are Stereotypes?

• Some accuracy, some distortion, some error
– rarely accurate for everyone in the group
– we screen out inconsistent information

• Stereotypes are less accurate when:

– little interaction with people in that group
– in conflict with members of that group
– stereotypes enhance our own social identity

Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 10 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000

MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Stereotyping and Power

• Status effects upon stereotyping
• Those with power are more likely to
stereotype those without power
– Powerful are
• less dependent
• have more things to pay attention to
• are more free to stereotype

• Lower status individuals

– are more in dependent
– sensitive to situations
Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 11 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000
MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Attribution Theory
• When people observe another’s behavior
they use certain criteria to determine
whether it fits that person’s general
personality or is affected by other factors
• Subconscious process
– Distinctiveness - same person in other
situations
– Consistency - same person in similar situations
over time
– Consensus - the figure person versus others
Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 12 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000
MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Attribution Process
• External Attribution
– Perception that outcomes are due to situation
or fate rather than the person

• Internal Attribution
– Perception that outcomes are due to
motivation/ability rather than situation or fate
• When do people make each type of
attribution?
– About our performance?
– About others’ performance?
Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 13 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000
MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Rules of Attribution
Internal Attribution

Frequently Frequently Seldom

Distinctive Consensus
Consistent
from other (Other people
with past
situations are similar)
Seldom Seldom Frequently

External Attribution

Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 14 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000

MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Attribution Errors
• Fundamental Attribution Error
– attributing own actions to external factors
and other’s actions to internal factors

• Self-Serving Bias
– attributing our successes to internal factors
and our failures to external factors

Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 15 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000

MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Self-fulfilling prophecy
• Observer expectations of someone causes
that person to act in a way that is consistent
with the observer’s expectation
• Process
– expectations formed
– behavior toward the subject
– effects on the employee
• opportunities
• self-efficacy - belief that he or she has the ability,
motivation, and situational contingencies to
complete a task successfully
– employee behavior and performance
Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 16 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000
MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Cycle

Supervisor
forms
expectations

Employee’s Expectations
behavior matches affect supervisor’s
expectations behavior

Supervisor’s
behavior affects
employee

Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 17 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000

MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Other Perceptual Errors

• Primacy
– first impressions
• Recency
– most recent information dominates perceptions
• Halo
– one trait forms a general impression
• Projection
– believing other people are similar to you

Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 18 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000

MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Improving Perceptual Accuracy

Diversity
Management

Know Improving Empathize

Yourself With Others
Perceptual
Accuracy
Compare Postpone
Perceptions Impression
With Others Formation

Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 19 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000

MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Diversity Management Programs

• Communicates the value of diversity
• Increases awareness of perceptual biases
• Communicates info about cultural differences
• Doesn’t try to correct deep-rooted prejudice
• “Next level” moves to deeper understanding
and sensitivity

Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 20 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000

MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Know Yourself (Johari Window)

Known to Self Unknown to Self

Known Open
to Others Area Open Blind
Area Blind
Area Area

Hidden
Unknown Area Unknown
to Others Hidden Unknown
Area
Area Area

Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 21 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000

MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Defining Personality
• set of traits and behaviors that
characterize an individual
• relatively stable
• can change over time or because
of major life events
• learning is important in the
development of personality

Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 22 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000

MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Big Five Personality Dimensions

Conscientiousness Caring, dependable

Emotional Stability Poised, secure

Openness to Experience Sensitive, flexible

Agreeableness Courteous, empathic

Extroversion Outgoing, talkative

Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 23 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000

MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

• Cognitive style - the way an individual percieves

and processes information
• Two ways of seeking information
– sensing
– intuition
• Two ways of evaluating information
– thinking
– feeling

Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 24 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000

MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Four types of problem solvers

• Sensation Thinkers - bureaucrats concerned
with formulating and following rules,
persistent and decisive
• Intuitive Thinkers - innovative developer of
ideas, but not great administrators
• Sensation Feelers - methodological, detailed
oriented, like facts but not a great deal of
change
• Intuitive Feelers - charismatic leader that
visualizes possibilities
Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 25 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000
MCSHANE VON GLINOW Organizational
BEHAVIOR

Other personality traits

• Locus of control - degree to which people believe that
they, rather than external forces, determine their own lives
• Self-monitoring personality - sensitivity to situational cues,
and ability to adapt their behavior to that situation
• Dogmatism - degree of flexibility or rigidity of a persons
views
• Machiavellianism - extent to which a person manipulates
others for personal gain
• Risk-propensity - willingness to take risks
• self-esteem - judgement of ones own worth

Irwin/ McGraw-Hill 26 © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2000