BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

Differences in Perception and Their

Effect on Business Communications

FLOW OF PRESENTATION

What is communication
What is perception
Relation between perception &
Communication
Types of Perception in Communication
How Perception Affects Communication
Questions and Answers.

WHAT IS COMMUNICATION?

This is generally defined as the activity of

conveying Information. Communication has
been derived from the Latin word
COMMUNIS, meaning to share.

WHAT IS PERCEPTION

The ability to see, hear, or become aware of

something through the senses.

"Perceptionis the (active) process of

assessing information in your surroundings."
It involves becoming aware of one's
environment in a way that is unique to the
individual and is strongly influence by
communication.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
PERCEPTION & COMMUNICATION

In any type of communication, theres always

a chance that the Intended meaning is lost in
the communication.
Different personalities, cultural differences
or past experiences
Self-perception, learned perception,
environmental perception and cultural
perception

TYPES OF PERCEPTION IN
COMMUNICATION

Self-Perception
Environmental
Learned
Physical
Cultural

SELF-PERCEPTION

Means - One sees others and the world around him

Education and experience influences self-perception

our opinions about ourselves grow more and more consistent to change
as we become older and presumably wiser

For instance, a student who constantly encourages himself to achieve

a greater heights in academics will definitely attain academic
excellence.

ENVIRONMENTAL

Groups and individuals perceive and evaluate their environment

Not limited to the natural environment

Includes factors such as customs, values, and other individuals or groups

Four-stage model:
1. An emotional response.
2. An orientative response with the construction of mental maps.
3. A classifying response as the individual sorts out the incoming information.
4. An organizing response as the individual sees causes and effects in the
information.

For example, if a child turned to a parent and said, "I hate you," that would
have one obvious perception, but if you were practicing for a play and you
read, "I hate you" in your script, the perception of the same words changes.

LEARNED

Relatively permanent change in behavior that is a result of past

experience or practice.

Learned perception is formed around personality, culture and habit.

Learned perceptions are thoughts, ideas and beliefs that are formed by
a person being taught.

Whether they were formally taught or learned by example, an

individual will process and react based on his or her learned perception.

This can be seen in children reflecting their parent's personality traits,

religious beliefs and philosophy on life .

PHYSICAL

Physical perception is based on the tangible

world. It's the way your physical ears and
eyes perceive something and how your mind
processes it.

Another example of physical perception is

our idea of color. Red represents danger or
romance while blue represents calm or
water. The way a person identifies with
various colors is an example of physical
perception.

CULTURAL

Cultural perception differs from

environmental perception because it refers
to larger scale of a society and not a specific
environment based on the persons life.

Culture perceptions will vary from city to

city and region to region.

EFFECT OF CULTURE ON SOUND

Japanese/English Difficulties With Speech Sounds

If you grew up speaking English, certain aspects of the Japanese

language are difficult for you to perceive. These aspects do not
occur in English, so you never learned to listen for them and you
literally do not hear them. For example, vowel length does not
matter in English. You can say Alabama or Alabaaama, and
others would know youre referring to a southern U.S. state. Vowel
length is important in Japanese. Japanese has short-duration
vowels and long-duration vowels. Vowel length in the following
pairs of Japanese words actually determines their meanings:
obasan
: aunt
obaasan
: grandmother
Kita
: came
Kiita
: heard

EFFECT OF CULTURE ON
LANGUAGE

Language plays a large and significant role in

the totality of culture. Far from being simply
a technique of communication, it is itself a
way of directing the perception of its
speakers and it promotes for them habitual
modes of analyzing experience into
significant categories. And to the extent that
languages differ markedly from each other,
so should we expect to find significant and
formidable barriers to cross-cultural
communication and understanding.

HOW PERCEPTION AFFECTS

COMMUNICATION?

Manner of dress, eye contact, vocal tone posture,

emphasis and flow

Eg: A Customer Service Specialist who approaches the

customer in a casual manner may be perceived as not
having a professional approach towards delivering the
expectation and hence may loose the opportunity.

Age, sex and familiarity with other people also affects

Eg: A Sales Executive who attended the 10 th class student

in a retail store was astonished after the young brat
finalized to buy an iPad mini which was costing Rs.21K.

HOW PERCEPTION AFFECTS

COMMUNICATION?

Past & individual experiences moulds a person how

he feels , acts and thinks about others throughout his
life.

Eg: A cashier in a Big retail store had been hypnotized

by the customer who made an eye to eye contact
while billing and due to which throughout her career,
she could not face the customers while billing which
gives negative vibe that she might be hypnotized
again . This in turn feels the customers is ignored.

A shy or reserved person vs outspoken person dictate

and steer the communication.

THANK YOU