Dr.
Burcu Tosun
Perception
Perception
Perception is a process by which we give meaning
to our environment by organizing and interpreting
sensory impressions.
Research consistently demonstrates that individuals
may look at the same thing yet perceive it
differently.
The point is, none of us sees an objective reality; we
just interpret what we see and call it reality.
Perception
Perception is important to the study of OB
because people’s behaviors are based on their
perception of what reality is, not on reality itself.
For example, one manager can interpret the fact
that her assistant takes several days to make
important decisions as evidence that the assistant
is slow, disorganized, and afraid to make decisions.
Another manager with the same assistant might
perceive the assistant as thoughtful, thorough, and
deliberate.
Factors That Influence Perception
Attribution Theory
Our perception and judgment of a person’s
actions will be significantly influenced by the
assumptions we make about the person’s
internal state, which has led researchers to
develop attribution theory.
Attribution theory attempts to explain how
we judge people differently depending on what
meaning we attribute to a given behavior.
Internal and external causations are attributed
according to judgments.
Attribution Theory
Clarification of the differences between
internal and external causation
◦ Internally caused – those that are believed to
be under the personal control of the individual.
◦ Externally caused – resulting from outside
causes.
Attribution Theory
Attribution theory suggests that when we
observe an individual’s behavior, we attempt to
determine whether it was internally or
externally caused.
Determination depends on three factors:
◦ Distinctiveness
◦ Consensus
◦ Consistency
Attribution Theory
• Distinctiveness refers to whether an individual displays a
behavior in many situations or whether it is particular to
one situation. If an employee who arrived late to work today,
then we want to know whether this behavior is unusual. If it
is, the observer is likely to give the behavior an external
attribution. If this action is not unique, it will probably be
judged as internal.
• A behavior shows consensus if everyone faced with a
similar situation responds in the same way. If consensus is
high, you would be expected to give an external attribution
to the behavior. But if only one person responds that way,
you would conclude the reason to be internal.
• Finally, a manager looks for consistency in an employee’s
actions. The more consistent the behavior, the more the
observer is inclined to attribute it to internal causes.
Judging Employees
Errors and Biases
Fundamental attribution error
The tendency to underestimate the influence of
external factors and overestimate the influence
of internal or personal factors, when making
judgments about the behavior of others.
Self-serving bias
The tendency for individuals attribute their own
successes to internal factors and put the blame
for failures on external factors, such as luck.
Perceptual Shortcuts
All of us, managers included, use shortcuts
to make the task of perceiving and
interpreting others’ behaviors more
manageable.
Because individuals can’t assimilate all
they observe, they’re selective in their
perception, depending on their interests,
background, experience, and attitudes.
Perceptual Shortcuts
Selective perception:
Allows us to “speed read” others but with the risk of drawing an
inaccurate picture.
Any characteristic that makes a person, object, or event stand out
will increase the probability that it will be perceived.
Since we can’t observe everything going on around us, we engage
in selective perception.
Assumed similarity:
It’s easy to judge others if we assume that they’re similar to us.
The observer’s perception of others is influenced more by his or
her own characteristics than by those of the person observed.
For example, if you want challenges and responsibility in your job,
you’ll assume that others want the same thing.
Perceptual Shortcuts
Stereotyping:
It is the judgment of someone on the basis of our
perception of a group he or she is part of.
For instance, the statement “Married people are
more stable employees than single people” is an
example of stereotyping.
To the degree that the stereotype is based on fact, it
may produce accurate judgments—but many
stereotypes aren’t factual and distort our judgment.
Halo effect:
where we form a general impression about a person
on the basis of a single characteristic, such as
intelligence, sociability, or appearance.
Applications of Shortcuts in Organizations
◦ Employment Interview
Evidence indicates that interviewers make
perceptual judgments that are often inaccurate.
➢Interviewers generally draw early impressions
that become very quickly settled.
➢Studies indicate that most interviewers’
decisions change very little after the first four
or five minutes of the interview.
Applications of Shortcuts in Organizations
◦ Performance Expectations
Evidence demonstrates that people will attempt
to validate their perceptions of reality, even
when those perceptions are faulty.
Self-fulfilling prophecy, or the Pygmalion
effect, characterizes the fact that people’s
expectations determine their behavior.
Expectations become reality.
Applications of Shortcuts in Organizations
◦ Performance Evaluation
An employee’s performance appraisal is very
much dependent upon the perceptual process.
Many jobs are evaluated in subjective terms.
Subjective measures are problematic because of
selective perception, contrast effects, halo
effects, and so on.