Ÿ Perception- process individuals select, organize and interpret and give meaning

ü There are three components: perceiver, target of perception, and situation

ü The characteristics of all 3 components influence what is actually perceived.

ü They are not always accurate.

ü Accurate perceptions are a prerequisite for good decisions.

Ø When inaccurate, it can make faulty decisions.

Ÿ Accurate perceptions are important for 3 reasons:

ü Motivation and Performance

ü Fairness and Equity

ü Ethical Action

Characteristics of a perceiver

Ÿ Perceivers do not passively process information, then their experience, needs, feelings
would result in perceptions of reality

Ÿ Schemas- abstract knowledge structure gathered from a variety of sources to interpret.

ü It helps interpret the reality by using their past experiences and knowledge.

ü It also influences the sensory input we pay attention to and ignore.

Ø Once activated, we pay attention to information consistent with schema

and not to inconsistent ones.

Ø By this, schemas are reinforced and strengthened. They are slow to

change.

ü It can help organization members to learn and adapt to complex environment

ü It may not be a great help if result in inaccurate perceptions.

Ex) stereotypes- oversimplified and inaccurate beliefs about typical

characteristics.

Ø A person stereotyped à perceiver assumes the target has the

characteristics associated with stereotypes à pays attention to that and
ignores reality.

Ÿ Motivational state- perceiver’s needs, values, and desires at the time of perception
 ü See what they want to see, hear what they want to hear.

ü Can result to inaccurate perceptions and faulty decisions.

Ÿ Mood- how the perceiver feels at the time of perception

ü Also affect perception of target

ü When employees have positive mood à they can perceive job more positively

Characteristics of the target (and the situation)

1. Ambiguity of target

ü The higher the ambiguity is, more likely to form inaccurate perceptions

ü If the nature of target is clear, less difficult forming similarly accurate perception.
But if not, must engage with more interpretation.

2. Social status of the market

ü Real/perceived position in society/organization

ü Higher status members are seemed as more intelligent, credible, and responsible
than others

ü Some women and other minors perceive themselves as affirmative-action hires

3. Impression management by target

ü They attempt to control the perceptions and impression of others

ü Target of perception can also manage the perception about him/her

a. Behavioral matching

b. Self-promotion

c. Conforming to situational norms

d. Appreciating others

e. Being consistent

4. Information provided by the situation

ü Context/environment surrounding the perceiver and the target

ü Provides perceiver with additional information to use in interpreting the target

 5. Standing out in the crowd: the effects of salience of target

ü Extent to which a target of perception stands out in a group of people or in things

Ex) only student, only woman in a room full of professors or men

ü Salience should not affect, but does.

ü Effects are extreme evaluations and stereotyping

Ø Being salient and stereotyped will result to target’s performance being

adversely affected

Biases and Problems in Person Perception

Ÿ Bias- systematic tendency to inaccurately perceive the targets of perception

Ÿ If there are biases and problems à may form inaccurate perception which will result in
inappropriate decisions made

1. Primacy effects

ü Biased perception occurs when the first pieces of information have inordinately
high influence

ü Mostly happens in interviews, long-time members of organization

2. Contrast effect

ü Biased perception occurs when information is distorted by others in situation

ü One average- employee will be perceived as “unskilled” when other members are
quite skilled

3. Halo effect

ü General impression of target distorts his/her perceptions of the target

ü Employee A: has good impression and is punctual à supervisors will rate A

positively even if A’s work performance is full of mistakes

4. Similar-to-me effect

ü Similar= positive, dissimilar= negatively think

5. Harsh, Lenient, and Average tendency biases

ü Supervisors have different style of rating: harshly, leniently, or on-average

ü Problems:
 a. Supervisor cannot correctly perceive variations in the performance thus,
employees would not receive appropriate recognition

b. It is difficult to evaluate and compare à faulty decisions

6. Knowledge-of-Predictor Bias

ü Biased perception that results when knowing the target’s stand changes
perceiver’s perception

ü Result to self-fulfilling prophecy- prediction that comes true because perceiver

expects it to come true

Ex) “late bloomers” succeed sooner because teachers gave much attention and
expectation which thus resulted in highly improved performance

Attribution Theory

Ÿ “Attribution”- explanation of certain cause

ü How people explain causes of their own and others’ behavior

ü In organizations, decisions made and actions taken are based on attribution

1. Internal and external attributions

ü Internal: cause is the characteristic of the target

Ex) ability, effort, personality

ü External: cause is the forces outside

Ex) task difficulty, luck

2. Attributional Bias

ü Attributions may be inaccurate due to bias

a. Fundamental Attributional Effect- people attribute behavior to internal

factors when the external factors could be the main problem

Ø Occurs because we tend to focus on the person when observing the

behavior, not the situation

Ø We are also unaware of the situational factors

b. Actor-Observational Effect- attribute others’ behaviors to internal factors

and my behavior to external factors
 Ø We focus on behavior and situation when we are behaving. And could
also be aware of the external

c. Self-serving attribution- take credit for success and avoid blame for failures

4 steps for an organization to promote accurate perceptions and attribution:

1. Securing top management commitment to diversity

2. Diversity training

3. Education

4. Mentoring

Sexual Harassment

Ÿ Quid pro quo- the harasser forces employee to perform sexual favors to receive
opportunity

Ÿ Hostile work environment- organizational members faced with offensive, intimidating

work environment because of their sex