Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory

information. Perception gives rise to two types of consciousness; phenomenal and

psychological. The difference everybody can demonstrate to himself/herself by simple

opening and closing his/her eyes. Phenomenal consciousness is full of rich sensations that

are hardly present when eyes are closed. Organizations heavily rely on the choices made

for their accomplishments. The right choices can bring victory and negative choices can

cause disaster. Perception plays a vital role in the choices humans make. People make

decisions every day, every hour and every minute based on the perceptions they construe.

Each individual perceives situations, places, people and so forth with one's own five

senses. However, what one perceives is not always accurate. People's perceptions can be

misleading and can cause negative effects. Perception can cause numerous people to

make the wrong choices based on non-factual information. In organizations wrong

decisions can cause a tremendous amount of negative effects.

A single person's perception can impact an organization's behavior if that person has

some kind of control over others in said organization. Perception can be influenced by the

time, environment, mind-set, personality, intentions, and history of the perceiver.

Perception can be influenced by the appearance, personality, attitude, and situation of the

person, place, or object being perceived. There are numerous details that one can notice

or dismiss in the perception process. One's perception of individuals effects the decisions

of organizations. Humans automatically perceive the world around them. One vital

perception in the functionality of an organization is the management's perception on

employees. Management has essential roles within each organization. They are the ones
that take control and make vital decisions. Management is required to attain goals with

the assistance of a team. Managers control the organization's behavior. Thus, managers

are required to make the best possible decisions to profit their organization. In order to

make the best decisions managers need, managers must gather as much factual

information as they can before making a decision. Every decision a manager makes

effects organization behavior. If a manager makes negative decisions the employees will

not be satisfied. Unsatisfied employees equal less company productivity. Managers must

acknowledge that every person has biases. Managers must also understand people invent

their own perception. The perception of others often leads to judging others.

When one comes to even the slightest contact with another person one can perceive

that person and generalizes a quick judgment. Quick judgments are based on one's

appearance, age, sex, and nationality. Shortcut in judging others are not based on factual

knowledge of the person(s) being judged. The majority of the information one quickly

construes of another person is erroneous. Quick judgment of others can be positive as

well as negative. The positive effects of shortcuts when judging others occurs when one

comes in contact with another one can show respect to the other person based on how the

person appears; the age of the person; the gender of the person; and the nationality of that

person. For example when one comes in contact with a priest one can assume that the

priest will find profanity; using God's name in vain; sexual behavior; and so forth

disturbing and disrespectful. Thus, the person can be careful not to use profanity; use the

Lord's name in vain; show sexual intentions; and so forth in the presence of a priest.

Another positive effect of quickly judging another person is personal safety. When one
comes in contact with another person whom has a lethal weapon one can assume that the

person can be dangerous. Thus, when a mugger, rapist, or murderer is near one will know

to flee. However, not all shortcuts in the judgment of others are positive. The negative

effects of quick judgment of others are stereotyping; the halo effect; selective perception;

contrast effect and projection. Stereotyping occurs when one judges another according to

the group one belongs to. For example, a construction manager does not hire a woman for

hard labor claiming all women cannot work hard labor. The halo effect occurs when one

perceives an individual's behavior based on one trait. For example, a manager hires only

attractive people claiming attractive people work more productively. The contrast effect

occurs when one judges another by comparing one to others. For example, a manager

fires an employees because compared to everyone else he is the only employees that

dresses differently. Projection occurs when one projects a characteristic of one person to a

group of people. For example, management gives all his employees a suspension in pay

because one employee is caught embezzling business revenue (Eugene Milbourne, 2001,

p. 1).

Decisions in real world organizations are made on bounded rationality. Organizational

decision-makers will develop a manageable list of alternatives to the situation. Then they

will review the list until they find a best fit solution that is adequate. Organizational

decision-makers settle with the chosen alternative rather than continuing to search for the

best possible option. Ethical decision-making is based on perceptions. Numerous people

of divergent backgrounds hold perceptions of ethical behavior differently. People who

perceive one situation as ethical may have others who perceive the same situation as
unethical. Religion, culture, nationality, and history influence the perception of an

individual's ethical behavior. Thus, organizations need to train their employees about

ethical behavior. When an organization emphasis what is ethical employees are more

likely to avoid unethical behavior. The neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), at Walden

University, implemented discussions for nurses on ethical behavior; "Such social change

within the NICU environment directly impacts NICU patients, patient families, and staff

through ethically improved care and outcomes" (Clarence Shumaker, 2007, p.1)

Understanding perception is vital. Understanding perception will benefit numerous

people. The comprehension of perception can give one improved decision-making skills;

increased understanding of others; and leadership skills. Perceptions constantly affect

ethical and moral decisions. Look at the KKK and other prejudice groups (not just racial

groups either). Using theft as a example. To a minimum wage earning employee working

for a company that is doing very well, theft of a candy bar or other small item may seem

to be okay, or even the employee's right given they make so little while the company is

making so much. The employee's perception is from the view point of someone who feels

taken advantage of. To the company, theft is a very serious issue, given that they may be

losing thousands, or even millions of dollars a year due to internal theft. The perception is

from the view point of a successful company having to deal with dishonest employees

and loss of revenue. Perception is shaped by your social status, your experiences, your

education, etc.
References:

Milbourne, E. (2001). Perception and Individual Decision Making. Retrieved August 3,

2008

from http://home.ubalt.edu/ntsbmilb/ob/ob3/tsld001.htm

Robbins, S. (2005). Organizational Behavior, Eleventh Edition. Prentice Hall: Pearson

Education

Barron Research Group. (Fall 2003). Perception and Organization. Management for

Science and

Engineering. Retrieved August 3, 2008 from University library