Chapter Four

Understanding Social
Perception and Managing
Diversity
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Organizational Behavior: Key Concepts, Skills & Best Practices,
3/e
Copyright 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

After reading the material in this chapter,

you should be able to:

Describe perception in terms of the social

information processing model.
Identify and briefly explain six managerial
implications for social perception.
Explain, according to Kelleys model, how
external and internal causal attributions are
formulated.

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After reading the material in this chapter,

you should be able to:

Demonstrate your familiarity with the

demographic trends that are creating an
increasingly diverse workforce.
Identify the barriers and challenges to
managing diversity.
Discuss the organizational practices used
to manage diversity identified by Ann
Morrison
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Social Perception: A Social

Information Processing Model

Figure 4-1
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A Social Information Processing

Model of Perception
Perception is the
process of
interpreting ones
environment.

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A Social Information Processing

Model of Perception
Social perception involves a four-stage
information processing sequence
1. Selective attention/comprehension
2. Encoding and simplification
3. Storage and retention
4. Retrieval and response

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Stage 1: Selective
Attention/Comprehension
Attention being consciously aware of
something or someone
People pay attention to salient stimuli
Salient something that stands out from
context

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Stage 2: Encoding and Simplification

Cognitive categories mental depositories
for storing information
Schema mental picture of an event or
object

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Question?
What is a belief about the characteristics of
a group?
A. Consensus
B. Stereotype
C. Personality
D. Trait

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Stage 2: Encoding and Simplification

Stereotype - belief about the
characteristics of a group
Not always negative
May or may
not be accurate

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Stage 2: Encoding and Simplification

Stereotypes
- Can lead to poor decisions
- Can create barriers for older individuals,
people of color, and people with disabilities
- Can undermine loyalty and job satisfaction

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Stereotyping Process
1. Categorize people into groups according
to various criteria
2. Infer that all people within a category
possess the same traits
3. Form expectations of others and
interpret their behavior according to our
stereotypes
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Stereotyping Process
4. Stereotypes are maintained by:

Overestimating the frequency of stereotypic

behavior exhibited by others
Incorrectly explaining expected and
unexpected behaviors
Differentiating minority individuals from
oneself

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Commonly Found Perceptual Errors

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Stage 3: Storage and Retention

Event memory information about both
specific and general events
Semantic memory general knowledge
about the world, mental dictionary of
concepts
Person memory information about a
single individual or groups of people
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Stage 4: Retrieval and Response

Decisions are based:
- On the process of drawing on, interpreting,
and integrating categorical information stored
in long-term memory
- Retrieving a summary judgment that was
already made

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Managerial Implications: Hiring

Interviewers make hiring decisions based
on their impression of how an applicant fits
the perceived requirements of a job
Inaccurate impressions
in either direction
produce poor hiring
decisions
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Managerial Implications:
Performance Appraisal
Important for managers to accurately
identify the behavioral characteristics and
results indicative of good performance
Characteristics serve as the benchmarks
for evaluating employee performance

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Managerial Implications: Leadership

Good leaders exhibit the following
behaviors:
- Assigning specific tasks to group members
- Telling others they had done well
- Setting specific goals for the group
- Letting other group members make decisions
- Trying to get the group to work as a team
- Maintaining definite standards of performance
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Managerial Implications: Leadership

Poor leaders exhibit the following
behaviors:
- Telling others they had performed poorly
- Insisting on having their own way
- Doing things without explaining themselves
- Expressing worry over the group members
suggestions
- Frequently changing plans
- Letting the details of the task become
overwhelming

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Causal Attributions
Causal
Attributions
suspected or
inferred causes of
behavior

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Kelleys Model of Attribution

Internal factors personal characteristics
that cause behavior
External behavior environmental
characteristics that cause behavior

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Question?
What involves comparing a persons
behavior on one task with the behavior
from other tasks?
A. Consensus
B. Distinctiveness
C. Consistency
D. Personality
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Kelleys Model of Attribution

Consensus involves a comparison of an
individuals behavior with that of his peers.
Distinctiveness involves comparing a
persons behavior on one task with the
behavior from other tasks.
Consistency is determined by judging if
the individuals performance on a given
task is consistent over time.
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Performance Charts

Figure 4-2

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Kelleys Model of Attribution

Consensus relates to other people
Distinctiveness relates to other people
Consistency relates to time

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Attributional Tendencies
Fundamental attribution bias - ignoring
environment factors that affect behavior
Self-serving bias- taking more personal
responsibility for success than failure

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Managerial Implications
Managers tend to disproportionately
attribute behavior to internal causes
Attributional biases mat lead to
inappropriate managerial actions
An employees attributions for his own
performance have dramatic effects on
subsequent motivation, performance, and
self-esteem
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Defining and Managing Diversity

Diversity the host of individual
differences that make people different from
and similar to each other

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Four Layers of Diversity

Figure 4-3
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Defining and Managing Diversity

Affirmative action voluntary and
involuntary efforts to achieve equality of
opportunity for everyone
Managing diversity creating
organizational changes that enable all
people to perform up to their maximum
potential
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Increasing Diversity in the Workforce:

Demographic Trends
1. Women and minorities are experiencing
a glass ceiling
2. Racial groups are encountering
perceived discrimination
3. There is a mismatch between workers
educational attainment and occupational
requirements
4. The workforce is aging
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Increasing Diversity in the Workforce:

Demographic Trends
Glass ceiling
invisible barrier
blocking women
and minorities from
top management
positions

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Glass Ceiling
See an article on
Breaking the Glass
Ceiling by Wirth

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Increasing Diversity in the Workforce:

Demographic Trends
Underemployment the result of taking a
job that requires less education, training, or
skills than possessed by a worker

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Increasing Diversity in the Workforce:

Demographic Trends
Two recommendations to help organizations
adapt to an aging workforce:
1. Firms should help employees deal with
personal issues associated with
eldercare
2. Employers need to make a concerted
effort to keep older workers engaged and
committed and their skills current
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Barriers and Challenges to

Managing Diversity
1.
2.
3.
4.

Inaccurate stereotypes and prejudice

Ethnocentrism
Poor career planning
An unsupportive and hostile working
environment for diverse employees
5. Lack of political savvy on the part of diverse
employees

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Barriers and Challenges to

Managing Diversity
6. Difficulty in balancing career and family issues
7. Fears of reverse discrimination
8. Diversity is not seen as an organizational
priority
9. The need to revamp the organizations
performance appraisal and reward system
10. Resistance to change

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Specific Diversity Initiatives

Accountability practices focus on
treating diverse employees fairly
Development practices focus on
preparing diverse employees for greater
responsibility and advancement
Recruitment practices attempts to
attract qualified, diverse employees at all
levels
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Common Diversity Practices

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Video: 40+ for Hire

See BWTV discuss the
trend of companies
hiring older workers.
(6:15)
See also NBCs More
Companies Offering
Benefit of Working
From Home (5:02)
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