Chapter 4:

Perception,
Understanding
Attribution, and the
and
Managing Management of
Organizational Diversity
Behavior

4th Edition
Insert photo from
case opening?
JENNIFER GEORGE
& GARETH JONES

4-1 ©2005 Prentice Hall

 Chapter Objectives
 Describe how perception is inherently
subjective and how characteristics of the
perceiver, the target, and the situation can
influence perceptions
 Understand how the use of schemas can
both aid and detract from accurate
perceptions
 Be aware of biases that can influence
perception without perceivers being aware
of their influences

4-2 ©2005 Prentice Hall

 Chapter Objectives
 Appreciate why the effective management
of diversity is an imperative for all kinds of
organizations and the steps that
organizations can take to ensure that
different kinds of people are treated fairly
and that the organization is able to take
advantage of all they have to offer

4-3 ©2005 Prentice Hall

 Chapter Objectives
 Understand why attributions are so
important and how they can sometimes be
faulty
 Describe the two major forms of sexual
harassment and the steps organizations
can take to combat sexual harassment

4-4 ©2005 Prentice Hall

 Opening Case: Proactively
Managing Diversity
 Why do organizations need to guard against
discrimination and proactively manage
diversity?
 Is discrimination a thing of the past?
 Who suffers from discrimination?

4-5 ©2005 Prentice Hall

 Perception

 The process by which individuals select,

organize, and interpret the input from their
senses to give meaning and order to the
world around them
 People try to make sense of their
environment and the objects, events, and
other people in it

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 Figure 4.1 Components of
Perception

Perceiver Target

Situation or context in which perception takes place

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 Components of Perception

 Perceiver: person trying to interpret some

observation that he or she has just made or
the input from his or her senses
 Target of Perception: whatever the
perceiver is trying to make sense of
 Situation: the context in which perception
takes place

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5

The Accuracy of Perceptions

 Not always accurate
 Perceptions are critical for managerial functions
– Motivating subordinates
– Treating subordinates fairly and equitably
– Making ethical decisions
 Accuracy can be improved by understanding
– what perceptions are
– how they are formed
– what influences them

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6

Figure 4.2 Characteristics of the

Perceiver That Affect Perception

Insert Figure 4.2 here

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 Table 4.1 Factors That Influence
Perception

Characteristics Characteristics Characteristics

of the Perceiver of the Target of the Situation

Schemas Ambiguity Additional

information

Motivational Social status Salience

state

Mood Use of
impression
management

4-11 ©2005 Prentice Hall

 Schemas
 Abstract knowledge structures that are
stored in memory
 Responsible for the organization and
interpretation of information about targets
of perception
 Based on past experiences and
knowledge
 Resistant to change

4-12 ©2005 Prentice Hall

 The Functionality of Schemas
 Functional
– Schemas help us make sense of a
confusing array of sensory input, choose
what information to pay attention to and
what to ignore, and guide perceptions of
ambiguous information

 Dysfunctional
– Schemas can result in inaccurate
perceptions

4-13 ©2005 Prentice Hall

 Stereotypes

 Set of overly simplified and often inaccurate

beliefs about the typical characteristics of a
particular group
 Dysfunctional schemas
– Based on inaccurate information
– Assigned based on a single distinguishing
characteristic

4-14 ©2005 Prentice Hall

 Motivational State and Mood

 Motivational State: The needs, values,

and desires of a perceiver at the time of
perception.
 Mood: How a perceiver feels at the time
of perception.

4-15 ©2005 Prentice Hall

 Ambiguity

 A lack of clearness or definiteness

 As the ambiguity of a target increases, it becomes
increasingly difficult for a perceiver to form an
accurate perception
 When a target is ambiguous, the perceiver needs
to engage in a lot more interpretation and active
construction of reality to form a perception of the
target
 The more ambiguous a target is, the more potential
there is for errors in perception

4-16 ©2005 Prentice Hall

 Social Status

 A person’s real or perceived position in society

or in an organization.
 Targets with relatively high status are
perceived to be smarter, more credible, more
knowledgeable, and more responsible for their
actions than lower-status targets.

4-17 ©2005 Prentice Hall

 Impression Management

 An attempt to control the perceptions or

impressions of others
 Targets are especially likely to use impression
management tactics when interacting with
perceivers who have power over them and on
whom they are dependent for evaluations, raises,
and promotions
 Individuals who are high in self-monitoring are
more likely than individuals who are low in self-
monitoring to engage in impression management
tactics

4-18 ©2005 Prentice Hall

Table 4.2 Impression Management Tactics
The target of perception matches A subordinate tries to imitate her boss’s
Behavioral
his or her behavior to that of the behavior by being modest and soft-spoken
Matching perceiver. because her boss is modest and soft-spoken.
The target tries to present herself A worker reminds his boss about his past
Self-
or himself in as positive a light as accomplishments and associates with co-
Promotion possible. workers who are evaluated highly.

Conforming The target follows agreed-upon A worker stays late every night even if she has
completed all of her assignments because
to Situational rules for behavior in the staying late is one of the norms of her
Norms organization.
organization.
Appreciating The target compliments the per- A coworker compliments a manager on his
ceiver. This tactic works best when excellent handling of a troublesome employee.
or Flattering
flattery is not extreme and when it
Others involves a dimension important
to the perceiver.

Being The target’s beliefs and behaviors
are consistent. There is agreement
Consistent between the target’s verbal and
nonverbal behaviors.
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A subordinate delivering a message to his boss
looks the boss straight in the eye and has a
sincere expression on his face.
©2005 Prentice Hall
 Salience
 Extent to which a target of perception stands out in
a group of people or things
 Causes of salience
– Being novel: Anything that makes a target
unique in a situation (e.g., being the only young
person)
– Being figural: Standing out from the
background (e.g., by wearing bright clothes)
– Being inconsistent with other people’s
expectations: Behaving or looking in a way that
is out of the ordinary

4-20 ©2005 Prentice Hall

 Table 4.3 Causes of Salience
Being novel Anything that makes a Examples: Being the only person of a
target unique in a situation particular age, sex, or race in a situation

Being Standing out from

Example: Being in a spotlight, sitting at
figural the background
the head of the table, wearing bright
clothes

Being
Inconsistent
Behaving or looking in a way Example: A normally shy person who is
with other that is out of the ordinary the life of the party
people’s
expectations

4-21 ©2005 Prentice Hall

 Table 4.4 Biases and Problems in
Perception
Primacy The initial pieces of information
that a perceiver has about a target
Effects
have an inordinately large effect on
the perceiver’s perception and
evaluation of the target.
Contrast The perceiver’s perceptions of
others influence the perceiver’s
Effect
perception of a target.
Halo The perceiver’s general impression
of a target influences his or her
Effect
perception of the target on specific
dimensions.
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Interviewers decide in the first few minutes
of an interview whether or not a job candidate
is a good prospect.
A manager’s perception of an average
subordinate is likely to be lower if that
subordinate is in a group with very high
performers rather than in a group with very
low performers.
A subordinate who has made a good overall
impression on a supervisor is rated as
performing high-quality work and always
meeting deadlines regardless of work that is
full of mistakes and late.
©2005 Prentice Hall
 Table 4.4 Biases and Problems in
Perception
Similar-to- People perceive others who are Supervisors rate subordinates who are similar
similar to themselves more to them more positively than they deserve.
me Effect
positively than they perceive those
who are dissimilar.

Harshness, Some perceivers tend to be overly When rating subordinates’ performances, some
harsh in their perceptions, some supervisors give almost everyone a poor rating,
Leniency,
overly lenient. Others view most some give almost everyone a good rating, and
Average targets as being about average. others rate almost everyone as being about
Tendency average.

Knowledge Knowing how a target stands on a A professor perceives a student more positively
predictor of performance influences than she deserves because the professor knows
of Predictor
perceptions of the target. the student had a high score on the SAT.

4-23 ©2005 Prentice Hall

 Attribution Theory

 Describes how people explain the causes

of behavior
 Focuses on why people behave the way
they do
 Attributions can be made about the self or
another person
 Biases reduce the accuracy of attributions

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 Figure 4.3 Types of Attributions

Insert Figure 4.3 here

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 Attributional Biases

 Fundamental attribution error - tendency

to overattribute behavior to internal rather
than external causes
 Actor-observer effect - tendency to
attribute other’s behavior to internal causes
but one’s own behavior to external causes
 Self-serving attribution - tendency to take
credit for successes but avoid blame for
failures

4-26 ©2005 Prentice Hall

 Objectives of Diversity Programs

 Making explicit and breaking down organizational

member’ stereotypes that result in inaccurate
perceptions and attributions
 Making members aware of different kinds of
backgrounds, experiences, and values
 Showing members how to deal effectively with
diversity-related conflicts and tensions
 Generally improving members’ understanding of
each other

4-27 ©2005 Prentice Hall

 Diversity Training

 Role-playing
 Self-awareness activities
 Awareness activities
 Education
 Mentoring
– Formal
– Informal

4-28 ©2005 Prentice Hall

 Sexual Harassment

 Quid pro quo

– Occurs when the harasser requests or
forces an employee to perform sexual
favors in order to receive some
opportunity
 Hostile work environment
– Occurs when organizational members are
faced with a work environment that is
offensive, intimidating, or hostile

4-29 ©2005 Prentice Hall

 Examples of Hostile Work
Environment Sexual harassment
 Pornographic pictures
 Sexual jokes
 Lewd comments
 Sexually-oriented comments
 Displays of sexually-oriented objects

4-30 ©2005 Prentice Hall

 Steps to Combat Sexual
Harassment
 Develop a sexual harassment policy supported by
top management
 Clearly communicate the organization’s sexual
harassment policy throughout the organization
 Investigate charges of sexual harassment with a fair
complain procedure
 Take corrective action as soon as possible once it
has been determined that sexual harassment has
taken place
 Provide sexual harassment training and education
to all members of the organization

4-31 ©2005 Prentice Hall