Perception and

Learning in
Organizations

McGraw-Hill/Irwin
McShane/Von Glinow OB 5e Copyright © 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
McShane/Von Glinow OB 5e 2 © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
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Perception Defined

 The process of receiving

information about and making
sense of the world around us
• deciding which information to
notice
• how to categorize this
information
• how to interpret information
within our existing knowledge
framework

3-6
Selective Attention
 Objects characteristics
• size, intensity, motion,
repetition,etc
 Perceiver characteristics
• Expectations
• Self-concept and beliefs
 Confirmation bias
• Screen out information
contrary to our beliefs/values

3-7
Perceptual Organization/Interpretation

 After selecting stimuli, we usually simplify

and make sense of them. this process
involves organizing the information into
general categories and interpreting it.

3-8
 Emotions and behaviors

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“Your Names Says It all in France”

1.Hamid Senni (in photo)

wears a shirt and tie
whenever he strolls along
the Champs Elysées in
Paris. The reason for this
formality? “If I'm in jeans,
people think I'm a
shoplifter,” says Senni, who
was born and raised in
France.

HamidSenni

3-10
 Perceptual Errors

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Perceptual Errors

Stereotyping
• Assigning traits to people based on their
membership in a social category
 Halo effect
• one trait forms a general impression
 Primacy effect
• first impressions
Self serving bias
a perceptual error whereby people tend to
attribute their favorable outcomes to internal
factors and their failures to external factors.
3-12
 Attribution theory

 Attribution process helps us interpret the

world around us
 Attribution process involves deciding weather
an observed behavior or event is caused by
internal or external factor

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Attribution Process

Internal External
Attribution Attribution

Perception that behavior

Perception that behavior
is caused by situation or
is caused by person’s
fate -- beyond person’s
own motivation or ability
control

3-14
Meaningful Interaction at Air New
Zealand
Every month, Air New
Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe and
his top executive team fill the
roster as flight attendants,
check-in counter staff, or
baggage handlers. These
meaningful interactions
improve perceptions between
Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe
employees and executives
who work alongside these
employees.

3-15
Strategies to Improve Perceptions

1. Awareness of perceptual biases

2. Improving self-awareness
• Applying Johari Window

3. Meaningful interaction
• Close, frequent interaction toward a shared goal
• Equal status
• Engaged in a meaningful task

3-16
Know Yourself (Johari Window)
Feedback

Known to Self Unknown to Self

Known
to Others Open
Area Open Blind
Disclosure Area Blind
Area Area

Hidden
Area Unknown
Hidden Unknown
Area
Unknown Area Area
to Others

3-17
 4.Empathize with others

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  Miracles happen everyday, change your
perception of what a miracle is and you'll
see them all around you.”

  Jon Bon Jovi quotes (American Musician,

Actor and Rock singer, b.1962)

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  Each one of you has something no one else
has, or has ever had: your fingerprints, your
brain, your heart. Be an individual. Be unique.
Stand out. Make noise. Make someone notice.
That's the power of individuals.”

  Jon Bon Jovi quotes (American

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McShane/Von Glinow OB 5e 21 © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Definition of Learning

A relatively permanent change in

behavior (or behavior tendency) that
occurs as a result of a person’s
interaction with the environment

3-22
Explicit vs.Tacit Knowledge

 Explicit knowledge
• Knowledge that is articulated through language,
such as documents

 Tacit knowledge
• Knowledge acquired through observation and
direct experience

3-23
Behavior Modification

• alter behavior to maximize positive and

minimize adverse consequences

3-24
 A-B-Cs of Behavior Modification

Antecedents Behavior Consequences

What happens What person What happens

beforebehavior says or does after behavior

Example

Warning Machine Co-workers

light operator turns thank
flashes off power operator

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Contingencies of Reinforcement

Consequence No Consequence
is introduced consequence is removed

Behavior
increases/ Positive Negative
maintained reinforcement reinforcement

Behavior Punishment Extinction Punishment

decreases

3-26
Reinforcing the Healthy Walk

Horton’s Group, the Chicago-

based insurance broker rewards
staff who take at least 7,000
steps each day. Health
insurance giant Humana
introduced a similar program
where data from pedometers
are uploaded to a website. The
more steps one takes the higher
the reward.

3-27
Behavior Modification in Practice

 Behavior modification is used in:

• every day life to influence behavior of others
• company programs to reduce absenteeism,
improve safety, etc.

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Social Learning Theory

 Behavioral modeling
• Observing and modeling behavior of others

 Learning behavior consequences

• Observing consequences that others experience

 Self-reinforcement
• Reinforcing our own behavior with consequences
within our control

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Learning Through Experience

 Most tacit knowledge and skills are acquired

through experience and observation
 Experiential learning steps
• Engagement with environment
• Reflecting on experience
• Experimenting

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Developing a Learning Orientation

 Value the generation of new knowledge

 Reward experimentation
 Recognize mistakes as part of learning
 Encourage employees to take reasonable
risks

3-31
Organizational Learning

 Knowledge acquisition
• Extracting information and ideas from the external
environment as well as through insight
 Knowledge sharing
• Distributing knowledge to others across the
organization
 Knowledge use
• Applying knowledge in ways that adds value to the
organization and its stakeholders

3-32
 QUESTIONS AND
SUGGESTIONS WILL
BE ENCOURAGED

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