1. Organisational Behaviour
Chapter 3

2. Perception, Beliefs and Attitudes
Objectives
State the importance our perceptions have in the decisions and judgements we make every day in the workplace
Describe a simple model of the perceptual process and how it enables us to construct our individual view of the world
Describe the biases that this can lead to and the problems which arise from these biases
Show how our perceptions beliefs and attitudes are in a dynamic relationship and influence attitude and behaviour change over time.
© Mike Maughan, Organisational Behaviour, Palgrave (2014)

3. The perceptual process
© Mike Maughan, Organisational Behaviour, Palgrave (2014)

4. The perceptual process – giving organisation and meaning to stimuli
Sensory thresholds – individuals differ in the sensitivity and robustness of their senses. All of us experience a decline in the acuteness of our senses as we age
Schemata (plural form of schema) – in order to make sense of the world, we have to organise it. We do this by forming schemata. These enable us to focus on what is important in any given context. We develop and modify our schemata over time
© Mike Maughan, Organisational Behaviour, Palgrave (2014)

5. Influences on the perceptual process
Culture – our culture tells us
what is important
what the key stages of life are
It forms our morality and value system
It tells us what behaviour is expected and in what context
It regulates relations between individuals and groups
© Mike Maughan, Organisational Behaviour, Palgrave (2014)

6. Influences on the perceptual process
Language – is a cornerstone of a person’s culture.
It is the most important means by which we transmit and share culture
It is a means by which we transmit our individual meaning to the world and through which we are understood by others
© Mike Maughan, Organisational Behaviour, Palgrave (2014)

7. Influences on the perceptual process
Perceptual biases:
We have to make judgements about people in many situations.
To make sure these judgements are as fair as possible, we need
to be aware of possible perceptual biases which may skew our
opinions.
© Mike Maughan, Organisational Behaviour, Palgrave (2014)

8. Influences on the perceptual process – perceptual biases
Stereotyping. This happens when we believe that a certain group of people have particular characteristics. So we assume that every member of the group will have those characteristics
Halo/horns effect. This happens when we have a positive or negative first impression of someone. Our subsequent judgements of them are influenced by these and we try to fit what we observe to these first impressions.
Primacy and recent effects. Things that happen early or late on in an interaction tend to stick in our memory, so our judgements are often more influenced by these than by less well-remembered things
© Mike Maughan, Organisational Behaviour, Palgrave (2014)

9. Influences on the perceptual process – perceptual biases
Attribution biases – when we believe we can attribute the motivation behind another person’s actions.
Fundamental attribution error – this occurs when we attribute our own shortcomings to the context of what happens, whilst attributing others’ failures to a lack of character of conscientiousness or competence
Ultimate attribution bias – this explains why we favour people who share our background and attribute positive outcomes in their performance to their competence and character
© Mike Maughan, Organisational Behaviour, Palgrave (2014)

10. Working to avoid perceptual bias in the workplace
There are several things we can do to try to avoid bias:
Recognise that bias is a strong possibility and consciously try to eradicate it
Create formal processes for assessment situations where the decision-making process is transparent
Base decisions only on the requirements of the role or task
Identify the purpose of the assessment
Be specific as to the levels of performance needed
Gather evidence against open criteria and judge on the basis of the evidence
© Mike Maughan, Organisational Behaviour, Palgrave (2014)

11. © Mike Maughan, Organisational Behaviour, Palgrave (2014)
Beliefs and Attitudes
Beliefs:
Essentially probability-based. We develop a set of beliefs about what happens in a given set of circumstances, and believe that the same will happen in the future. The more often we are right, the stronger is our belief that we have got it right.
However, where our beliefs are strong we have a tendency to hold to them even if there is evidence that they are incorrect
Some beliefs (e.g. religious beliefs) are culturally transmitted
© Mike Maughan, Organisational Behaviour, Palgrave (2014)

12. © Mike Maughan, Organisational Behaviour, Palgrave (2014)
Beliefs and Attitudes
Attitudes:
These are learned predispositions to respond in a particular way, either positively or negatively, towards things, people, situations, ideas and events. They have three components:
The affective component, relating to our emotional state
The cognitive component, which engages our though processes and decision-making
The Behavioural component, refers to the actions we choose to take
© Mike Maughan, Organisational Behaviour, Palgrave (2014)

13. © Mike Maughan, Organisational Behaviour, Palgrave (2014)
Attitude change
Though it is difficult, attitudes can be changed, especially over a long period of time. Strategies we can use to change attitudes:
Reasoned argument
Fear or threats
Social pressures, both social sanctions and social acceptance
Behaviour-led attitude change – where people are required to behave in a particular way whether they agree with it or not. Over time we often see attitudes change simply because people become habituated to doing things in the prescribed way.
© Mike Maughan, Organisational Behaviour, Palgrave (2014)