Intercultural Management

IMT

Perception
2018
Teresa De Stefano
 Perception
■ “What we see is behind the eyes”

■ “Management is getting things

done through people”
■ “Management is developing people
through work”
 What is Perception?
■ Definition: Process by which
individuals select, organize and
evaluate stimuli from the
environment to provide meaningful
information.
■ Impact: It’s our way of gathering
and processing information from
our environment.
One Initial Interpretation

Selective

Learned

Relative & Contextual

4
What do you see?

1. Only One Initial Interpretation

What do you see?

1. Only One Initial Interpretation 6

Sleon une édtue de l'Uvinertisé de Cmabrigde, l'odrre des ltteers dnas un mtos n'a
pas d'ipmrotncae, la suele coshe ipmrotnate est que la pmeirère et la drenèire soit à
la bnnoe pclae. Le rsete peut êrte dnas un dsérorde ttoal et vuos puoevz tujoruos lrie
snas porlblème. C'est prace que le creaveu hmauin ne lit pas chuaqe ltetre elle-
mmêe, mias le mot cmom un tuot.



La peruve…

Aoccdrnig to a rseearch taem at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht

oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer
be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a
porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but
the wrod as a wlohe.


2. It’s Selective.
According to a research team at Cambridge
University, it doesn't matter in what order the
letters in a word are, the only important thing is
that the first and last letter be in the right place.
The rest can be a total mess and you can still
read it without a problem. This is because the
human mind does not read every letter by
itself, but the word as a whole.

8
 PARIS BIRD
ONCE
IN THE IN THE
IN A
THE THE HAND
A LIFETIME
SPRINGTIME

2. It’s Selective. 9
Individuals /groups project meaning
onto symbols – symbols in themselves
have no universal meaning. (SS
numbers, etc.)
3. Learned 10
 It’s all a question of perspective

TBBT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8lMW0MODFs

Perils of Perception Quiz

https://www.ipsos-mori.com/_assets/perceptionsquiz/

Rory Sutherland on TED

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iueVZJVEmEs
11
12
Environment and context often lead us to false
conclusions. (optical illusions)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Il_D3Xt9W0 0:39 - 2:30

4. Relative and Contextual 13

Just for fun…
■ Food : what would be ‘strange’ to eat
for you? What things do people eat
in your country that are considered
‘strange’ to other countries?
■ Marketing No-Gos. Finding LOGOS,
JINGLES, TAGLINES and COLORS that
effectively cross cultural boundaries.
■ HSBC Bank - ‘Assume Nothing’ ⇒ ‘Do
Nothing’ (10 million €)
■ Chinese Lenovo Le Mon smartphone
■ KFC - ‘Finger-lickin’ Good’ ⇒ ‘Eat your
Fingers off’ (China)
■ Coors - ‘Turn it Loose’ ⇒ ‘Suffer from
Diarrhea’ (Spain)
■ Electolux
■ Pampers (Japan) Stork image
It’s all a question of Perspective…

HSBC has banked on this knowledge:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALWwK7Vz4gY
6 min.

16
In Conclusion…
■ Perception is our own customized
filter which is made up of values,
judgments, beliefs, assumptions,
personal experiences, etc.

■ We know what we perceive, we

don’t know what we don’t perceive.
We assume we perceive ‘correctly’.
In Conclusion…
■ Our sense of perception is:

CULTURALLY DETERMINED
INACCURATE
BIASED
UNRELIABLE
 For homework, have a look at:

Perception Basics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QdLu98P49g
15 min

19
Cross-Cultural Scenarios
■ Our actions / Its interpretation

■ What would you do?

■ What should you do?
■ How might your action be
interpreted?
Cross-Cultural Scenarios
A business colleague has invited you,
some of his relatives and close friends to
dinner at his home. After a lengthy
conversation, your co-worker’s brother-in-
law tells you that his oldest son will be
graduating with an engineering degree
from a university near you. The father
asks if you would please find a position for
him in your company when he graduates
next June. How would you answer ?
 Cross-Cultural Scenarios
1. I’ll do whatever I can for him. Have
him write me about his plans.
2. Oh, I’m sorry, that isn’t my area of
work. He’ll have to contact the HR
dept.
3. I really don’t think we’ll be hiring
new graduates for some time.
4. The 1st step would be to get some
recommendations on him.
Cross-Cultural Scenarios
During a business trip you have met
some very friendly colleagues.
Some have given you their home
address and phone number with an
invitation to ‘drop by’ their home for
a visit without giving a specific date
or time. How should you respond to
these invitations in a friendly way ?
 Cross-Cultural Scenarios
1. Because these invitations are sincere,
you’d offend your host if you didn’t visit
their home.
2. Wait until you are given a specific date.
They don’t expect you to come for an
unannounced visit and would be offended
if you did.
3. Take your own food so you will not be a
burden.
4. Drop by but only stay a few minutes.
 Cross-Cultural Scenarios
■ You are in charge of recruiting 20
volunteers to work on a
community project. The 20 people
you asked said ‘Yes’. On the day
of the activity, only three of them
show up. How do you interpret
this?
 Cross-Cultural Scenarios
1. The volunteers weren’t committed to
the project.
2. They thought the activity was
insignificant.
3. They were embarrassed to tell you
‘no’.
4. They weren’t honest with you.
5. They didn’t want to hurt your feelings.
 Cross-Cultural Scenarios
■ You have to hire someone to replace a
member of your project team. You
have screened resumes and are down
to a few equally qualified candidates.
You call each of them in for an
interview. You want a person who will
fit the dynamics and personality of the
team. What approach would you
take?
 Cross-Cultural Scenarios
1. Don’t ask any direct questions about his
personal life.
2. Ask specific questions regarding his
responsibilities for childcare/eldercare.
3. Talk in generalities about various issues and
see how he responds.
4. Have several people from your team spend
time with the person and ask them their
views.
5. Talk about his personal life, interests, family,
where he worships, etc.