PERCEPTION

PERCEPTION

•Definition,Nature, importance
•Factors influencing perception
•Perceptual process
•Perceptual organization
•Perceptual errors
Ref : OB, S.P.Robbins
OB,Text & cases, Suja R.Nair

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 Opening case :
Swiss’ hiring Indians angers swiss staff:
Switzerland’s national carrier Swiss’ planned to layoff swiss
workers and replace them with flight attendants from India
and Thailand, This resulted in loud protests by the trade
unions saying that Swiss cannot hire others at the cost of
domestic workers. The Swiss’ management was under
pressure to cut costs and started hiring India based flight
attendants who were paid salaries & perks in keeping with
Indian standards. This made Swiss flight attendants
redundant. Trade unions protested that a public enterprise
cannot chop 100 cabin crew jobs and give the same to
India and Thailand. Switzerland had become a major tourist
destination for Indians and they preferred to fly with
Swiss’. Indians were spending second most next to
Americans. This being the state, Swiss authorities were
courting more Indian tourists and bollywood moviemakers
with special facilities. 2
What
WhatIsIsPerception,
Perception,and
andWhy
WhyIsIsItItImportant?
Important?

Perception
A process by which individuals ••People’s
organize and interpret their People’s behavior
behavior isis
sensory impressions in order to based
based on on their
their
give meaning to their
environment. perception
perception of of what
what
- S.P .Robbins reality
reality is,is, not
not on
on
reality
reality itself.
itself.
••The
The world
world as as itit isis
perceived
perceived isis thethe worldworld
that
that isis behaviorally
behaviorally
important.
important.

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Story:
Three workers were breaking rocks at the
construction site of a huge temple. When
asked, ’what are you doing?’, one of them
answered, ‘Don’t you see I’m just breaking
rocks?’ The other one said, ‘I am working for
Rs.30 a day’ whereas the third man replied, ‘I’m
proud of the fact that I’m helping to build this
huge temple!’

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Nature of perception:
• is a complex cognitive process
• information is selected, cognitively
organises the perceived information in a
specific fashion, and then interpreted.
• is a subjective process.

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Importance of perception:
• helps in understanding the difference between the perceptual world and
the real world.
• Individuals have different degrees of readiness to respond to objects,
people, and events.
•Perception is what helps individuals to use the knowledge they have in
an entirely different situation from that in which they learned it. Ex. Uses
of knife.
•A universal managerial assumption that subordinates always want
promotion eventhough in fact, many subordinates really feel
psychologically compelled to accept a promotion.

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Factors influencing perception

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Process of perception:

Perceptual inputs Perceptual Perceptual

mechanism output
Stimuli Actions

Receiving Selecting

Interpreting Organising

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,

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 TURN
OFF THE
THE ENGINE

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Perceptual Organisation
Process by which people group
environmental stimuli into recognizable
pattern
Forms of perceptual organisation:
1. Figure ground principle
2. Perceptual grouping
3. Perceptual constancy
4. Perceptual context

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1. Figure- ground principle: perceived objects is
viewed as separate from the background

• Figure is viewed in contrast to the background

• Positioning of the object

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Contrast

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Perceptual constancy: (higher form of
perceptual organisation)
Attributing some constant and repeatable characteristics to events and
people and objects. Irrespective of the information received by the senses,
the size ,color& the characteristics of the object remains constant. learning
plays a very important role.

Ex. Apple in different colors and context

A newspaper print of a photo of 3 x 5 inches

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