Perception

Perception

•Definition,Nature, importance
•Factors influencing perception
•Perceptual process
•Perceptual organization
•Perceptual errors
Ref : OB, S.P.Robbins
OB,Text & cases, Suja R.Nair

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 Opening case :
Swiss’ hiring Indians angers swiss staff:
Switzerland’s national carrier Swiss’ planned to layoff swiss
workers and replace them with flight attendants from India
and Thailand, This resulted in loud protests by the trade
unions saying that Swiss cannot hire others at the cost of
domestic workers. The Swiss’ management was under
pressure to cut costs and started hiring India based flight
attendants who were paid salaries & perks in keeping with
Indian standards. This made Swiss flight attendants
redundant. Trade unions protested that a public enterprise
cannot chop 100 cabin crew jobs and give the same to
India and Thailand. Switzerland had become a major
tourist destination for Indians and they preferred to fly with
Swiss’. Indians were spending second most next to
Americans. This being the state, Swiss authorities were
courting more Indian tourists and bollywood moviemakers
with special facilities. 2
What
WhatIsIsPerception,
Perception,and
andWhy
WhyIsIsItItImportant?
Important?

Perception
A process by which
••People’s
People’s behavior
behavior isis
individuals organize and based
based on on their
their
interpret their sensory perception
perception of of what
what
impressions in order to reality
reality is,is, not
not on
on
give meaning to their reality
reality itself.
itself.
environment.
••The
The world
world as as itit isis
- S.P .Robbins
perceived
perceived isis thethe worldworld
that
that isis behaviorally
behaviorally
important.
important.

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Story:
Three workers were breaking rocks at the
construction site of a huge temple. When
asked, ’what are you doing?’, one of them
answered, ‘Don’t you see I’m just breaking
rocks?’ The other one said, ‘I am working for
Rs.30 a day’ whereas the third man replied, ‘I’m
proud of the fact that I’m helping to build this
huge temple!’

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Nature of perception:
• is a complex cognitive process
• information is selected, cognitively
organises the perceived information in a
specific fashion, and then interpreted.
• is a subjective process.

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Importance of perception:
• helps in understanding the difference between the
perceptual world and the real world.
• Individuals have different degrees of readiness to
respond to objects, people, and events.
•Perception is what helps individuals to use the
knowledge they have in an entirely different situation
from that in which they learned it. Ex. Uses of knife.
•A universal managerial assumption that subordinates
always want promotion eventhough in fact, many
subordinates really feel psychologically compelled to
accept a promotion.

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Factors influencing
perception

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Process of perception:

Perceptual inputs Perceptual Perceptual

mechanism output
Stimuli Actions

Receiving Selecting

Interpreting Organising

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,

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 TURN
OFF THE
THE ENGINE

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Perceptual Organisation
Process by which people group
environmental stimuli into recognizable
pattern
Forms of perceptual organisation:
1. Figure ground principle
2. Perceptual grouping
3. Perceptual constancy
4. Perceptual context

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1. Figure- ground principle: perceived objects
is viewed as separate from the background

• Figure is viewed in contrast to the background

• Positioning of the object

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Contrast

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Perceptual constancy: (higher form of
perceptual organisation)
Attributing some constant and repeatable characteristics
to events and people and objects. Irrespective of the
information received by the senses, the size ,color& the
characteristics of the object remains constant. learning
plays a very important role.

Ex. Apple in different colors and context

A newspaper print of a photo of 3 x 5 inches

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Relevancy:
People selectively perceive stimuli and group
them if they are relevant to their needs and
desires.

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2. Perceptual grouping:
Tendency to group several stimuli together into a
recognisable pattern.grouping is done on the basis
of:
(a). Closure: In a crucial meeting, the CEO may
perceive consensus amongst the HODs even when
one or two heads had not fully agreed to his
decision.
Ex:

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(b). Proximity:
Suppose 4 employees leave the marketing
department, for completely unrelated reasons, the
marketing manager may perceive, they have all
left together to some other organisation.

( C ). Continuity:
marketing researchers generally make
predictions for the future based on the
assumptions that the current events and trends
are likely to continue in the future also.
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(d). Similarity:
TVS electronics require their regular
employees to wear a blue-coloured uniform
dress to the factory, while the marketing staff
are required to wear a white shirt and black
trousers.

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Perceptual context: ( highest form of perceptual
organisation)
It gives meaning and value to simple stimuli,
objects, events, situations and people in the
environment.
Ex. Within an organisation, a piece of information
communicated in the form of a circular, a notice,
a suggestion, a pat on the back, a smile, a raised
eyebrow, a furrowed brow will acquire a special
meaning and added value when placed in the
context of the work organisation.

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Interpretation:
1. Perceptual errors:
Perceptual defense
Stereotyping
Halo effect
Projection
Contrast effect
selective perception
error It's not what you look at
that matters, it's what
you see
2 Attribution & errors 24
Perceptual defense:
An individual may build a defense (a mental block
or a refusal to recognise) against stimuli or
situational events in the context that are
personally or culturally unacceptable or
threatening.
.

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 Person Perception: Making Judgments About
Others
Attribution Theory
When individuals observe
behavior, they attempt to
determine whether it is
internally or externally
caused.

Distinctiveness:
Distinctiveness:shows
showsdifferent
differentbehaviors
behaviorsinindifferent
different
situations.
situations.
Consensus:
Consensus:response
responseisisthe
thesame
sameasasothers
othersto tosame
same
situation.
situation.
Consistency:
Consistency:responds
respondsininthe
thesame
sameway
wayover
overtime.
time.

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Attribution Theory

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 Errors and Biases in Attributions
Fundamental Attribution Error
The tendency to underestimate
the influence of external factors
and overestimate the influence
of internal factors when making
judgments about the behavior
of others.

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Errors and Biases in Attributions
(cont’d)
Self-Serving Bias
The tendency for individuals
to attribute their own
successes to internal factors
while putting the blame for
failures on external factors.

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Frequently Used Shortcuts in
Judging Others
Selective Perception
People selectively interpret what they see on the
basis of their interests, background, experience,
and attitudes.

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Frequently Used Shortcuts in
Judging Others
Halo Effect
Drawing a general impression
about an individual on the
basis of a single characteristic

Contrast Effects
Evaluation of a person’s characteristics that
are affected by comparisons with other
people recently encountered who rank higher
or lower on the same characteristics.
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Frequently Used Shortcuts in
Judging Others
Projection Stereotyping
Attributing one’s own Judging someone on the
characteristics to other basis of one’s perception of
people. the group to which that
person belongs.

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Specific Applns in Organizations
 Employment Interview
 Perceptual biases of raters affect the accuracy of
interviewers’ judgments of applicants.
 Performance Expectations
 Self-fulfilling prophecy (pygmalion effect): The lower
or higher performance of employees reflects
preconceived leader expectations about employee
capabilities.
 Ethnic Profiling
 A form of stereotyping in which a group of individuals
is singled out—typically on the basis of race or
ethnicity—for intensive inquiry, scrutinizing, or
investigation.
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Specific Applications in
Organizations (cont’d)
 Performance Evaluations
 Appraisals are often the subjective
(judgmental) perceptions of appraisers of
another employee’s job performance.
 Employee Effort
 Assessment of individual effort is a
subjective judgment subject to perceptual
distortion and bias.

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