Session 8

Perception
What is perception?

Perception, in the realm of organizational behavior, refers to the cognitive process through which individuals
select, organize, interpret, and give meaning to the vast array of stimuli in their work environment.
Perception in Organizational Behavior

Within the dynamic framework of organizational behavior, perception

serves as a cornerstone in shaping employee attitudes, decisions, and
interactions. How individuals perceive their roles, colleagues, and the
organizational culture significantly influences their job satisfaction,
performance, and overall contribution to the workplace.
Factors that influence perception
• Perceiver • Targets
Attitudes Novelty
Motives Motion
Interests Sounds
Experience Size
Expectations Background
• Situation Proximity
Time Similarity
Work setting
Social setting
 External Factors
a) Size: Size always catches the attention of an individual. Generally bigger objects are more likely
to catch attention than the smaller objects. For example: A very big animal in a zoo will always catch
more attention of the visitors than the smaller one. In addition to this, a full page advertisement in a
newspaper always stands out than a small column advertisement.

b) Intensity: The stimuli with high intensity are more likely to be perceived than the stimuli with low
intensity. Very bright colours, very bright lights, loud noise, strong odour are noticed faster than light
colours, dim lights, soft sound, weak odour etc.

c) Repetition: Repeated stimuli draw more attention than those which are not repeated. Instructions
which are repeated by a plant supervisor are retained in the memory of employees for a longer
period of time than those instructions which are conveyed only once. An advertisement which is
repeated more on a T.V channel or radio station catches attention and is remembered by the
viewers than the advertisement which shown just once a day.
d) Contrast: Principle of contrast states that stimuli which stand out against the background or
objects which contrast with their surroundings will receive more attention. An exit signboard in
a movie hall, a danger signboard on a road under construction are made with a colour scheme
which contrasts with each other like red and black, yellow and black or white and black.

e) Movement: The principle of motion states that a moving object or thing draws more
attention than a still one. A moving vehicle among the parked vehicles will catch the attention
immediately.

f) Novelty and Familiarity: Novel objects or familiar objects always gain more attention of
perceiver. In a crowded trade fair, a friend or a familiar face and a new face in a family get
together will be immediately noticed.

g) Nature: It refers to whether the object is visual in nature or auditory. It is a common fact
that pictures receives better attention than words, videos attracts more attention than still
pictures and a rhyming phrase attracts more attention than a phrase which is presented as a
narration. Animated cartoons catch more attention of children than comic books.
Internal factors
a) Learning: Learning is a cognitive factor which strongly influences the process of perception.
Learning creates expectancy in the individuals and then they tend to perceive what they want to
perceive. Take the following example:

Read the text given in the above figure, the individual will most likely read the last word as ‘Mac-
Hinery’ instead of ‘machinery’. This is because individual tends to be caught in verbal response set.

b) Needs: Needs also play a significant role in the process of perceptual selectivity. A thirsty person
will always be sensitive towards the sources of water and a hungry person will always tend to see
eating points everywhere.
c) Age: The people of different age group always hold different perceptions about
the environment. For example: older senior executives always feel that young executives
are not competitive enough to take important decisions of the organisations and on the
other hand young staff always complaint that older staff members are resistant to
change and tend to follow conventional methods of working in the organisation.

d) Interest: Perception is also influenced by the interest of the person though

unconsciously. A fashion designer will notice so many details in an outfit which is hanged
on a statue of a shop in just a casual look, but a routine visitor will not be able to observe
the same details in the same outfit even if he looks at it ten times more.
Attribution theory

Attribution theory is how we attribute feelings and intentions to people to

understand their behaviour. For example, we may unconsciously apply this theory
when we see someone shouting on public transport. You may blame their
character, assuming they are an angry person. Alternatively, you might blame the
situation they are in, such as, if the train is busy, it might make them nervous and
more likely to act out. These two explanations relate to the main types of theories,
dispositional and situational attribution.
 Dispositional attribution
Dispositional attribution puts the cause of someone's behaviour down to internal traits.
These might include personality, core beliefs, and motivations. By attempting to explain
intentional behaviour, we tend to look internally and analyse the personality of an individual.
By overstating the internal causes of someone's behaviour and ignoring the external causes,
we commit something called a fundamental attribution error. That's when we assume people's
actions relate to the type of person they are and nothing else. Some further examples of
dispositional attribution are:

• Your colleague receives a promotion, and you attribute this to their dedication to the role.

• A person studies at medical school, and you attribute this to their caregiving personality.
 Situational attribution
Situational attribution looks less towards personality and more towards situations and
events. We can think of this as a more external attribution type. This type of attribution
is more common when explaining our behaviour. We look outwards and blame
circumstances outside of ourselves. This is because it is often easier than self-analysing.
Some examples of situational attribution include:

• Being late for work and blaming the weather or public transport.

• Failing an exam and blaming your teacher for not preparing you.
Errors and bias in perception
• Halo effect and horns effect

It is the tendency of perceiving others on the basis of a single trait which may be
good or bad, favourable or unfavourable. Sometimes, we judge the person on the
basis of one first impression. For example, a person who is just kind may also be
perceived as good, able, helpful etc. and the person who is rude may also be
perceived as awful, aggressive, unkind, harmful etc. Halo effect is a common
error committed by the managers while evaluating their subordinates.
• Contrast effect
Contrast effect is an unconscious bias that happens when two things are judged in
comparison to one another, instead of being assessed individually.

• Positive contrast effect: something is viewed as better than it would usually be

when being compared to things that are worse.

• Negative contrast effect: something is viewed as being worse than it would

usually be when compared to something better.

Example: Looking at the image, the grey square

on the right appears to be lighter, when they’re
in fact the same shade of grey.
• Stereotyping

Stereotyping is the tendency of judging someone on the basis of the

group to which he belongs.
 Impression management (Erving Goffman Theory)

• Impression management, also known as self-presentation, refers to

the ways that people attempt to control how they are perceived by
others (Goffman, 1959).

• By conveying particular impressions about their abilities, attitudes,

motives, status, emotional reactions, and other characteristics,
people can influence others to respond to them in desirable ways.
 Impression Management Techniques
• Suppressing emotions: Maintaining self-control (which we will identify with such
practices as speaking briefly and modestly).

• Conforming to Situational Norms: The performer follows agreed-upon rules for

behavior in the organization.

• Flattering Others: The performer compliments the perceiver. This tactic works best
when flattery is not extreme and when it involves a dimension important to the
perceiver.

• Being Consistent: The performer’s beliefs and behaviors are consistent. There is
agreement between the performer’s verbal and nonverbal behaviors.