Q:

What is the difference between perception and attitude?

A:
QUICK ANSWER
The difference between perception and attitude is that perception is the use of the
mind or the senses to comprehend or understanding a person's surroundings while
attitude is the person's actual feeling or way of thinking about something or
someone based on their perceptions. There is an intrinsic link between perception
and attitude.
Perception and attitude are two factors that influence a person's every day life
including their workplace and organizational performance. An example of a negative
attitude would be a person leaving work early or taking extra long breaks. However,
this person might not see this activity as a negative attitude towards work because
they may have perceived the work to be dull or their situation at their workplace to
be unfair due to long hours or perhaps low pay. This results in the justification that
leads to the individual taking extra long breaks or leaving work early. Other
coworkers may agree with this individual's actions and others may not. The different
perceptions from coworkers lead to different attitudes about the person's absence.
Generally, attitude is broken into two constructs: positive and negative. The positive
attitude means that a person sees life through a "glass half full" mentality while the
negative attitude means that a person sees life through a "glass half empty"
mentality. Perception and attitude are also two constructs that have cultural,
religious, traditional and ethnic biases for many people.

Perception and Sensation

There is a distinction between sensation and perception. Sensation is the response of a physical
sensory organ. The physical senses are vision, hearing, tough, smell and taste. These senses are
bombarded by stimuli and reactions in particular sense organ take place because of these, e.g., of
sensation may be reaction of eye to colour, ear to sound and so on. Sensation percedes perception.
Perception is much more than sensation. Perception depends upon the sensory raw data. The
perceptual process adds to or/and subtracts from the sensory world. Perception is determined by
both physiological and psychological characteristics, of the organism. However, sensation only
activates the organs of the body and is not affected by such psychological factors as learning and
motives. Activation of eyes to see an object is sensation and the inference what is being seen is
perception. For managerial action, it is the latter which is important.
The personalityjob fit theory postulates that a person's personality traits will reveal insight as to
adaptability within an organization. The degree of confluence between a person and the organization
is expressed as their Person-Organization (P-O) fit. [1] This is also referred to as a person
environment fit.[2][3][4] A common measure of the P-O fit is workplace efficacy; the rate at which workers
are able to complete tasks. These tasks are mitigated by workplace environs- for example, a worker
who works more efficiently as an individual than in a team will have a higher P-O fit for a workplace
that stresses individual tasks (such as accountancy).[1] By matching the right personality with the right
job, company workers can achieve a better synergy and avoid pitfalls such as high turnover and
low job satisfaction. Employees are more likely to stay committed to organizations if the fit is 'good'.

In practice, P-O fit would be used to gauge integration with organizational competencies. The
Individual is assessed on these competencies, which reveals efficacy, motivation, influence, and co-
worker respect. Competencies can be assessed using various tools like psychological
tests, assessment centres competency based interview, situational analysis, etc.

If the Individual displays a high P-O fit, we can say that the Individual would most likely be able to
adjust to the company environment and work culture, and would be able to perform at an optimum
level.