1. Amity Business School
Amity School of Business BBAGEN, SEMESTER II ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR (BBAHR-10201) Ms. Kushi Sharma

2. Perception
The process by which we become aware of, and give meaning to, events around us.
Perception helps define “reality.”
Objective reality—what truly exists in the physical world to the best abilities of science to measure it.
Perceived reality—what individuals experience through one or more of the human senses, and the meaning they ascribe to those experiences.
Behavioral problems arise when an individual’s perceived reality does not match objective reality.

3. SITUATION AND PERCEIVER’S CHARACTERISTICS
Characteristics of
stimuli or input
INFLUENCED BY
SITUATION AND PERCEIVER’S CHARACTERISTICS
Perceptual inputs
Objects
Events
People
Perceptual Mechanism
Selection Interpretation
Organisation
Perceptual Outputs
Attitudes
Opinions
Feelings
PERCEPTUAL
PROCESS
BEHAVIOUR

4. Basic Elements in the Perceptual Process
Observation
* Taste * Smell
* Hearing * Sight
* Touch
Environmental
Stimuli
Perceptual Selection
* External factors
* Internal factors
Perceptual Organization
* Perceptual grouping
Interpretation
* Perceptual errors
* Attributions
Response
* Covert
* Overt

5. Amity Business School
Figure 1.1 The perceptual process. The steps in this process are arranged in a circle to emphasize the fact that the process is dynamic and continually changing. Blue arrows point to stimuli; green to processing; red to perceptual responses. Arrows A, B, and C indicate three important relationships that researchers measure.

6. The Perceptual Process
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The Perceptual Process
Environmental stimuli
All available stimuli for an observer
Attended stimuli
Stimuli that are the point of focus for the observer
Stimulus on the receptors
“Image” of stimulus on receptor cells

7. The Perceptual Process - continued
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The Perceptual Process - continued
Transduction
Change from environmental energy to electrical energy in the nervous system
Neural processing
Interconnected neurons that propagate the electrical signal from receptor cells throughout the brain

8. The Perceptual Process- continued
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The Perceptual Process- continued
Perception
Conscious sensory experience
Recognition
Ability to place objects in categories that provide meaning
Action
Motor activities that occur in reference to the perceived and recognized object

9. Amity Business School
Figure 1.6 Perception is determined by an interaction between bottom-up processing, which starts with the image of the receptors, and top-down processing, which brings the observer’s knowledge into play. In this example, (a) the image of the moth on Ellen’s retina initiates bottom-up processing, and (b) her prior knowledge of moths contributes to top-down processing.

10. Factors Influencing the Perceptual Process
Perceiver:
Perception influenced by person’s values, attitudes, past experiences, needs, personality
Setting/Environment:
Physical context, social context, organizational context
Perceived/target:
Target’s contrast, intensity, figure-ground separation, size, motion, repetition.

11. FACTORS INFLUENCING PERCEPTION
SITUATIONAL FACTORS
Work setting
Social setting
Time
CHARACTERISTICS
OF PERCEIVER
Expectations
Experience
Values
Attitudes
Personality
CHARACTERISTICS
OF PERCEIVED/TARGET
Motion
Size
Appearance
Proximity
Sound
Background
INDIVIDUAL’S
PERCEPTION

12. BARRIERS/ERRORS/BIASES IN PERCEPTION
The Similar-to-me Effect/Projection.
Attribution error.
First Impression Error-confirming one’s expectation/primacy error.
The Halo/Horn Effect.
Selective Perception.
Stereotyping.
Self-fulfilling prophecy/pygmallion effect.
Recency effect.
Contrast effect.
Self-serving bias.
Skewing errors.
Central tendency, leniency, strictness bias.

13. Projection
Projection = assigning one’s personal attributes to another individual.
Happens at interpreting stage of perception.
E.g., when manager assumes subordinate reacts to a work opportunity the same way as the manager.

14. Projection Controlled through:
self-awareness (realizing one’s own needs) and
strong empathy (being able to put oneself in the other’s position and understand their perspective)

15. FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR
The tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and over estimate the influence of internal factors while making judgements about the behaviour of others.

16. IS THE CAUSE OF THE BEHAVIOR SEEN AS INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL
IS THE CAUSE OF THE BEHAVIOR SEEN AS INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL? WE LOOK FOR THREE TYPES OF INFORMATION TO DECIDE:
DISTINCTIVENESS
IS THIS PERSON’S PERFORMANCE DIFFERENT ON OTHER TASKS AND IN OTHER SITUATIONS?
CONSISTENCY
OVER TIME, IS THERE A CHANGE IN BEHAVIOR OR RESULTS ON THIS TASK BY THIS PERSON?
CONSENSUS
DO OTHERS PERFORM OR BEHAVE SIMILARLY WHEN IN A SIMILAR POSITION?
“YES” answers lead to EXTERNAL attributions (Environmental causes)
“NO” answers lead to INTERNAL attributions (Personal causes)

17. Primacy error
The disproportionately high weight given to the first information obtained about a stimulus.

18. Halo Effects
Halo effect = one attribute of a person or situation is used to develop an overall impression of that individual or situation. (positive aspect)
if negative aspect is given more weightage it leads to horn effect.
Happens at organizing stage of perception.
Common – e.g., when we meet a new person who smiles at us, we have immediate first impression that the person is friendly.
Can create distortion in performance appraisals, e.g., good attendance = intelligent, responsible
Need to ensure appraisal based on facts, not biased impressions.

19. Selective Perception
Selective perception = tendency to notice those aspects of a person or situation that are consistent with or reinforce the perceiver’s existing attitudes, beliefs or needs.
Influences attention stage – what we notice.
Most easily overcome by gathering perceptual info from others to see if one has only picked up on part of the picture.

20. Stereotypes
Judging someone on the basis of one’s perception of the group to which that person belongs and thus cause problems in accurate retrieval of information.
Can be misleading in case of employment interviews and one can lose a very deserving candidate too. Basically the person is having closed windows and doesn’t let fresh, new ideas to pop-in.

21. STEREOTYPING PROCESS Develop social categories And assign traits
To them.
Person is identified with a
Social category based on
Observable information
Assign social category’s
Cluster of traits
In the person

22. Self-fulfilling prophecy = the tendency to create or find in a situation or individual what one expects to find.
Because one believes something, one acts in a way that makes the outcome more likely.
Negative example: assume individual has no ambition so gives no challenging work; individual is bored and does not work well, confirming manager’s initial belief
Positive example: believe exceptional potential in employee so give challenge, support, praise; employee thrives in this attention and support, performing well, thus confirming manager’s expectations.

23. Supervisor’s behaviour Towards employee
Supervisors form
Expectations
About employees
Employee’s behaviour
Becomes consistent
With supervisors
expectations
Expectations affect
Supervisor’s behaviour
Towards employee
SELF-FULFIILING
PROPHECY
CYCLE
Supervisor’s behaviour
Affect employees’
Abilities and self-efficacy

24. Contrast effect = when an individual’s characteristics are contrasted with those of people recently encountered who rank higher or lower on those characteristics.
Person in job interview appears stronger when immediately following a weak candidate.
Awareness of potential distortion from contrast effect needed.

25. Recency effect
The disproportionately high weight given to the last information obtained about a stimulus.

26. Self-serving Bias
This is a tendency for individuals to attribute their own success to internal factors and place blame for failures on external factors. Their approach is self-serving.

27. Leniency
the rater may be lenient to prove his worthiness, to maintain relationships, to win promotions for subordinates, approval of others.

28. Central Tendency
this occurs when employees are incorrectly rated near the average or middle of the scale. The attitude of the rater is to play safe

29. Improving Perceptual process
For improved usefulness
Train raters.
Regular ongoing observation of employees.
Limit number appraised by one supervisor.
Clear standards.
Avoid ambiguous terms like “average.”
Applying Johari window.
Being empathic.
Impression Management
People often systematically attempt to behave in ways that will create and maintain impressions which the person wants others to have of him or her
E.g., clothing, handshake, resume preparation for a job interview
E.g., associating with “right” people, doing favours to gain approval, agreeing with others.

30. Self-understanding
- The acknowledgement that you and people who interact with you are susceptible to perceptual errors.
Conscious information processing
- Carefully considering the “facts” during the perceptual process and consciously questioning the accuracy of what you perceive.
Reality testing
- The comparison of developed perceptions about a stimulus object to another (objective) measure of the object.

31. Business Implications
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Business Implications
Perception and Hiring
Perception and Performance Appraisal
Perception and Motivation
Perception and Corporate Image

32. Amity Business School
Perception and Hiring
Hiring new employees can be affected by perception in many ways
Contrast or novelty in the job applicant can affect his chances of getting the job.
The employers may stereotype applicants on the basis of race or gender, or
May allow the halo effect to color an overall perception of an applicant.
Ex – a manager , who believes that people should dress professionally for a job interview, is likely to be unimpressed by an applicant who shows up wearing sunglasses.

33. Perception and Performance Appraisal
Amity Business School
Perception and Performance Appraisal
Performance evaluation is the assessment of an employee’s performance to correct shortcomings, identify strengths, and provide a basis for giving rewards.
An employee’s performance appraisal is dependent on the perceptual process to a great extent.
What a manager perceives to be “good” or “bad” employee characteristics/behaviors will significantly influence the appraisal outcome.

34. Perception and Motivation
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Perception and Motivation
Perception of workplace and management can play a major role in motivation.
If a person feels that he is getting equitable pay for his work, he will be satisfied with his pay.
If he feels that he will get promotion and pay raise if he works hard, he will be motivated to work hard.