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H.V.Kothari

Perception
Perception is a process by which individual organize and interpret their sensory impressions to give meaning to their environment.
Object Awareness

Recognition

Interpretation

Response
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Factors Influencing Perceptions

Characteristics of Perceiver
Attitude
Motives Interests Experiences Expectations Salience Self Concept Personality

Characteristics of Objects
Contrast

Characteristics of Situations

Time Novelty Sound , Size

Work and Social Environment

Background

H.V.Kothari

Perceptual Selectivity
Persons are exposed to several stimuli, we pay attention (select) only a few at a given time. External Attention Factors Examples:

a) Intensity: Bright Light, strong color, Loud Noise b) Size: A larger object most likely to be noticed than

smaller. c) Contrast: The stimuli that contradict surrounding. A Same size square, surrounded by smaller squares will look bigger than surround by bigger squares. d) Repetition: Supervisors repeated instruction helps in doing job more accurately. e) Motion: More attention to moving than stationary. H.V.Kothari f) Novelty: New objects in familiar setting, familiar

Perception Vs Other Factors

Motivation & Perception:

A persons high need of power will make him readily join a place where it provides power to him.
Personality & Perception:

Persons values influence perception. Young Managers: Perceive senior managers resist change. Senior Managers: Consider young manager hasty & do not keep record for future references.

H.V.Kothari

Perceptual Selectivity : Internal Set Factors

Learning & Perception:
People

always apply their past experiences to understand the present situation irrespective of the relevance of experience of the situation. It is because learning creates expectancies in individual & see thing in particular way.
Perceptual set in the work place:
After working for some time employees learn to

interpret statement & situation is similar way. But Learning leads to substantial individual differences Examples: Production Problems I. Production Manager: Reason obsolete machinery. II. HR Manager: Lack of Training III. General Manager: Lack of Organizing, planning & controlling. H.V.Kothari

Attribution
Attribution Theory: The theory that seek to explain

how we decide on basis of samples of an individual behavior, about behavior of a particular person. On basis of following we decide about the specific course of behavior.
A. Situational Causes: Perceived behavior is based

on environmental factors. B. Dispositional Causes: Perceived behavior based on internal traits or personality factors.

H.V.Kothari

Perception Attribution

General Process for determining causes for others behavior.

Noticing An Event

Interpreting the event

Forming An Initial Explanation

Is time available are cognitive resources available? Is there motivation to change initial Explanation?

Formulate and resolve problem

Is explanation satisfactory
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 Kelley suggested other dimensions such as consensus, consistency and distinctiveness having an impact on the type of attributions made by individuals.
Consensus denotes the extent to which others behave in a similar manner in the same situation. Consistency refers to a pattern of behavior, which may be relatively stable or unstable. This shows whether a person behaves similarly in a similar situation or if a particular behavior is just an infrequent occurrence.

 Distinctiveness indicates whether a persons behavior is similar for all tasks or whether his behavior differs from one task to another.
An individual having high consensus, low consistency, as well as high distinctiveness can be expected to make attributions to external or environmental factors. Individuals showing low consensus, high consistency and low distinctiveness, can be expected to attribute outcome or results to internal or personal causes.

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Attribution Theory

Application of attribution theory in organization

An understanding of attribution theory & process

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helps present managers from falling into a self conforming cycle where in their observation of employees behavior begins to confirm their attributions and beliefs regarding the employees. Also an understanding of attribution processes helps managers as well as employees to take into consideration each others attribution processes and to understand why the other is behaving the way he is. Thus in long run helps to avoid misunderstandings that one likes to arise in H.V.Kothari organizational setting or work places.

Social perception (short cut to perception)

Stereotyping: Process of

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categorizing people in to groups on the basis of certain traits or qualities. Examples categorizing people on basis of Race, Region, Sex, Caste etc. Halo Effect: When we let a single characteristics influences entire assessment of individual. For example we consider a person friendly and outgoing then we also consider him diligent and punctual . Projection: When we see ourselves in others if we are aggressive we may rationalize by telling ourselves that everyone is the same . This H.V.Kothari compromise their ability to individual differences.

Perceptual organization
This concept addresses the question of how

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perception takes place once stimulus is received. A person rarely perceives the intent of color, light on sound associated with objects. Instead he perceives organized patterns stimuli and identifiable whole objects. E.g. When a person is given a book he doesnt normally perceive its color or shape, but perceived characteristics associated with reading it like pleasure, excitement, knowledge etc. Therefore, we can say that perceptual process organize the information he received to form a H.V.Kothari meaningful whole.

Contd

1. Figure- Ground: Perceived objects separated from

background.
2. Perceptual Groupings: An individual tends to group

several stimuli together in form into a recognizable pattern. This will be on the basis of closure, continuity or similarity.
Closure:

Example- The agreement obtained from some of employees may cause need of department to close the existing gaps and perceive absolute agreement of all employees to his proposal , which in reality doesn't exist . Thus the individual closes the gaps and perceives a whole. Continuity: While closure fills the missing stimuli the continuity principle states that a person tends to perceive extension of stimulus. Example
I. II.
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Patterns. If a particular design popular than tendency to add more colors of the same design, leads to inflexibility and non H.V.Kothari creative thinking.

 Proximity: A group of stimuli physically close to

each other perceived as a set parts belonging others. Examples: All members having different attitudes and behaviors, who are part of a particular department/ team are perceived as single entity by outsiders.
Similarity: The greater the similarity of stimuli,

more likely to be perceive as a common group. Examples: Blue collar workers may be perceived as a single group.
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Perceptual Constancy (P.C.)

The perception of elements like size, shape,

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color, brightness & location of an object remains constant and does not change from one individual to another. P.C. thus provides people with a sense of stability in the way they view objects in this complex and changing world. Learning plays a more vital role in the case of the constancy principal than in the case of figure ground or grouping phenomena. Example: We tend to identify apple together we see the picture or fruit itself. Further our identification of the fruit does not vary even if we H.V.Kothari see it in black and white or color picture.

Perceptual Context
The concept is sometimes visual stimuli by

themselves, do not convey any meaning. It is only when they are placed in a certain content that its meaning & value can be perceived. For example; if a manager pats the back of his two year old son, his gesture conveys love and affection. But if he pats the back of an employee it implies appreciation for good job.

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H.V.Kothari

Perceptual Defense
A person may establish a defense against some stimuli or situational events because they may be clashing with his personal values or culture or may be threatening, in nature.
People attempt to avoid registering those stimuli that conflict, threaten, or are unacceptable to them. People resist perceiving information which they believe would disturb their emotions.

People substitute their original perceptions (caused by disturbing stimuli and information) with favorable perceptions to cope with the situation. For example, a manager may perceive that his workers are happy and satisfied though actually there may be discontent among the workers.
Although some information may actually arouse emotions in an 19 individual, he may distort and direct the emotion elsewhere. For

Rational decision making model

1. Define problem. 2. Identify the decision criteria. 3. Allocate weighs to the Criteria. 4. Develop Alternatives. 5. Evaluate Alternatives. 6. Select best Alternatives.

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H.V.Kothari

Assumptions of rational decision making model

1) Problem Clarity- Decision maker has complete

information. 2) Known Options

Identify all the relevant criteria and list all the viable alternatives. Awareness of Consequence. 3. Clear preference:- Criteria and alternatives can be ranked and weighed to reflect their importance. 4. Constant Preferences:- It is assumed that the specific decision criteria are constant and the ways weigh assigned to them are stable over time. 5. No Time or Cost constraint:- Decision maker can obtain full information about criteria and alternatives, because it is assumed that there are no time or cost constraint. 6. Maximum Payoff:- Rational decision maker will choose alternatives with higher payoff. H.V.Kothari

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Bounded Rationality
How it works 1) Once a problem is identified the search for criteria and alternatives begins. But the list of criteria is likely to be far from exhaustive. 2) Once this limited set of alternatives is identified, the decision maker will begin reviewing them. But the review will not be comprehensive not all the alternatives will be carefully evaluated. Instead, the decision maker will be begin with alternatives that differ only in a relatively small degree from the choice currently in effect. 3) The decision maker proceeds to review alternatives only until he or she identifies an alternative that is good enough one that meets an acceptable level of performance. The first alternative that meets the H.V.Kothari good enough criterion ends the search.

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Problem Identification in the above process

Problems that are visible tend to have a higher

probability of being selected than one that are important. Two reasons: 1) First visible problems are more likely to catch decision makers attention. This explains why politician are more likely to talk about the crime problem than the illiteracy problem.
2)

Second Decision makers want to appear competent and on the top of problems. This motivates them to focus attention on problems that are visible to others.

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H.V.Kothari

The link between perception and individual decision making

Decision is the choice made from among two or more alternatives (How individual in an organization make a decision and quality of their final choice are largely influenced by their perception). Decision making occurs as a reaction to problem. A problem is a discrepancy between some current state of affairs and some desired state. 2. Awareness that a problem exists and that a decision need to be made is a perceptual issue. 3. Decision requires the interpretation and evaluation of information. Data screened, processed and interpreted which data relevant to the decision and which is not relevant, depends on the perception of decision maker. 4. In evaluation of alternatives to individual decision makers perceptual process will have large bearing on the final outcome.
1.
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Ethics in decision making

An individual can use three different criteria in making ethical choices. 1) The first is the Utilitarian criterion, in which decisions are made solely on the basis of their outcomes or consequences. The global utilitarianism is to provide the greatest good for the largest number. 2) To focus on Rights:- An emphasis on rights in decision making means respecting and protecting the basic rights of individuals, such as the right to privacy, to free speech, and to due process. Examplewhistle blowers- they reveal unethical practices by their organization to the press or government agencies on the grounds of their right to free speech. 3) A third criteria is to focus on justice. This requires individuals to impose and enforce rules fairly and impartially so that there is an equitable distribution of benefits and costs. Advantage & liabilities of the above Criterion:- A focus on utilitarianism promotes efficiency and productivity, but it can result in ignoring the rights of some individuals. The use of rights as a criterion protects individuals from injury and is consistent with freedom and privacy , but it can create an overly legalistic work environment that hinders productivity and efficiency.
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Contd. A focus on justice protects the interests of the underrepresented and less powerful, but it can encourage a sense of entitlement that reduces risk taking, innovation, and productivity.

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H.V.Kothari

MANAGERIAL IMPLICATION OF PERCEPTION

Perception and Motivation:- Perception of the

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workplace plays a major role in motivation. If one perceives positive about workplace he will like to work at the place. Perception and Hiring:-Contrast or novelty in job application can effect ones chances of getting job. Person hiring may stereotype applicants on basis of race, caste, religion, or sex. First four-five minutes leave to impressions that become quickly well entrenched. Interviewers make perceptual judgments that are often inaccurate- different individuals see different H.V.Kothari things in same candidate.

Contd.. Perception and performance Evaluation:When we have a particular favorable impression of an employee, we may ignore instances of poor performance. Performance Expectation:- There is impressive amount of evidence that demonstrate that people will attempt to validate their perceptions of reality even when those perceptions are at fault. This is self-fulfilling prophecy.

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H.V.Kothari