THE CONCEPTS OF PERCEPTION AND ATTRIBUTION IN ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR IN BUSINESS

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Perception in Organizational Behavior

Perception is simply defined as how a person sees the world around them and how they interpret
that information. It's a subconscious thing that the mind does and is contingent on your ability to
pay attention to your surroundings and your existing knowledge. The mind will occasionally filter
information out, which is why you don't notice every single thing around you; it would be a complete
information overload otherwise.

In organizational behavior and business, perception often helps shape a person's personality and how
they act in certain situations. These can affect how they respond to certain things-like stressful
situations-their performance at tasks, and even their creativity. For management, paying attention
to personality traits in employees can help them determine the person's work ethic and strengths.
That is, if the manager's perception is not hindered in some way. In most cases, the root cause of
perception problems can be linked to one particular issue:

Perception vs. Reality-It's safe to say that not everyone in a group of people is guaranteed to
perceive something in the exact same way, but they all tend to have some similar views that are
based in reality. Right? Strangely enough some people's perception is rather off on certain
subjects or situations, and not in a way that is suggestive of some kind of neurological condition
either. In the workplace, this difference between perception and reality can be problematic if it
interferes with a person's work. Things like a person's job satisfaction, communication with
others, relationships with their peers, and what tasks or responsibilities they have be affected.
What members of management think for any of those areas might not match with what the
employees think-both of which may be different from the actual truth. An example may be how
long it takes to do a task; a supervisor thinks it will only take 10 minutes while the employee
thinks it'll be closer to 20 minutes. Both may be right in their own regard-their estimations are
based on how long it's taken them to do it in the past-but the person actually doing the task may
be more realistic in their estimation based on their knowledge of the situation.

Things like ego and attitude can also warp a person's perception in a situation from reality. Those
aspects of a person's personality can make it rather hard for others to work with them, affecting
their workplace relationships in addition to their performance. Another example of perception vs.
reality would be an employee who thinks that they've done more than enough work to earn a
promotion. However, their supervisor knows they've barely made a dent in the workload of their
current position, let alone enough to justify a move up. In such cases, it's more than just a
difference in opinion and it can be disruptive to the overall environment of the workplace and the
business' organizational behavior.

Attribution Theory

Attribution is what happens when a person takes the information they perceived and determines a reason
as to what happened. What you attribute things like success to depends on your own perception and
behaviors, which may be wrong due to being unrealistic or having the incorrect information for the
 situation. Things like bias and misconceptions can cloud that reasoning, which can interfere with a
person's proficiency in the workplace and may contribute to issues with diversity.

One of the concepts used in organizational behavior to help improve perception and attribution is
attribution theory. The theory was first brought forth by psychologist Fritz Heider in the 1950s
and stated that people had a desire to explain the reasoning behind their actions and the actions of
others. It was expanded upon over the years by fellow psychologists Bernard Weiner and Harold
Kelley, both of whom looked at the factors in a person's life that can impact their perception and
their validity. They also looked at what impact certain attributions can have when a person acts
upon them. Today, the theory is used to help people explain the causes behind human behaviors and
largely make sense of them.

In business, attribution theory is applicable to the members of a business' management team more so
than it is to the standard employees. Managers are responsible for interpreting behavior and actions
throughout the business to ensure that things are remaining as they should be and to keep an eye out
for problems. If they make mistakes in their perceptions and attributions-or they are otherwise clouded
by their own bias-then that can reflect throughout the company more so than if they were a regular
employee. This is because it's the management staff that are the primary decision makers in the
business' daily operations, and their power in the business gives them more control over it.

Errors in their judgement and interpretation of things could end up wasting time and money for the business
and could hurt the business' bottom line. It can also disrupt organizational behavior, as employees
themselves could interpret management's response as hostile or incompetent. In some cases, an employee
whose behavior is being misattributed by their supervisor and is being unjustly punished for it may feel
like they are being singled out or victimized at work. As a result, their interactions with their supervisor
and peers may become negative-especially if they do not feel like their co-workers are defending them
or are even supporting the supervisor's views of them. Their work could undoubtedly suffer, as the
punishments may infringe upon their allotted work time and decrease their production rate (which may
result in more punishments). The same can occur if an employee is being unjustly rewarded for work or
accomplishments that are not theirs to claim. The responsible party may feel like this is an ethics violation
between co-workers, or they may receive some punishment when they come forward to claim their work
because management doesn't believe them.

Managing Effects on Your Business

The effects that perception and attribution have on a business and its organizational behavior can
be both positive and negative. The difference in outcome tends to rely on the people in the business
and the responses towards their actions. There are also other additional factors-again, the industry,
size, and location of the business-that may influence the effect of perception and attribution in the
work environment. However, there is some degree of control that a business has over the effects
and use them to their advantage.

• Perceptions into Motivation-Taking perceptions and attributions and using them to influence
the motivations of the business can be one way of using the concepts to your advantage. If
an employee is perceiving something in the workplace as discouraging, modifying that thing in
some way will alter how they perceive it to some degree. This does require management to
apply attribution theory and figure out what is discouraging motivation and how that can be
changed. If an employee is perceiving their supervisor's responses to their work as
 disappointment-even if it's not-and is being discouraged, then the supervisor may simply need
to be clearer with their response.

• Reinforcing, Modifying Policies-The policies that formulate a business' workplace culture may
be affecting the perceptions and attributions of those working there. This can be especially
true if enforcement is lax, or if the policies are unnecessarily complex. Employees could develop
their own view of how things are handled in the business that is different from what the
business owners' have, simply because of how things are conducted daily. Making adjustments
to how policies are handled, or even adjusting the policies themselves, can help bring
perceptions close to the truth and help prevent problems. In such instances, getting feedback
from employees (and customers!) could help management pinpoint any troubling policies before
they begin to cause serious issues.

• Management Styles-As stated previously, perception and attribution have a heavy effect on the
members of a business' management team. Their perception of things, and the employees' perception
of them, can be influenced or controlled through their management style. This is mostly their own
work ethic and their approach to things at work. Managers may have to take stock of their
management style in order to get a clear picture of how their employees-and their own supervisors-
interpret their actions at work. Keep in mind that there may be more than one interpretation to
the things that they do, especially since people are not going to have a universal viewpoint. For
example, detail-oriented managers may come across as nit-picky and distrusting or cautious and
thorough, depending on the interpretation. A management style that consistently generates a
negative perception from employees may result in that manager being seen in an equally negative
light, impacting the intrapersonal relations between staff members. This is another instance where
being open to feedback can help.

• Discourage Assumptions-The old adage about assuming can come to be true if it regularly
warps people's perceptions at work. Things like bias, conflicting personalities, and stereotypes
can cause a person to misinterpret something through perception and attribution. An example
would be that someone who introverted or quiet is anti-social or not open to working as a
team. In some cases, the position or job title that a person has may cause others to make
assumptions about them, thereby clouding any perceptions that they may have of that person
later on. When there's a hierarchy of power involved, this can be amplified as those further
up the chain of command make assumptions about those further down because of their junior
status. Discouraging those assumptions from being paraded as fact can help ease some
misconceptions that develop in the workplace.

• Enforcing Neutrality-Making the effort to enforce neutrality in the working environment can
help reduce any of the other issues associated with perception and attribution discussed
elsewhere in this article. Actions that minimize bias can make it easier for co-workers to
collaborate on projects and can help prevent unnecessary hostility in the office. As mentioned
previously, things like bias and stereotypes can distort people perceptions. Businesses can
enforce it by encouraging staff to focus on the task(s) at hand and by blocking out distractions.
When conflict develops as a result of perception and attribution, having a neutral party step
in to act as a moderator can also help.