Session 4 - Perception, Attribution, and the Management of Diversity PDF

Session 4 Perception, Attribution, and the Management of Diversity Understanding and Managing Organizational Behavior Fifth Edition Image from opening case Jennifer M. George Gareth R. Jones ©2007 Prentice Hall  Learning Objec...

Session 4 Perception, Attribution, and the Management of Diversity Understanding and Managing Organizational Behavior Fifth Edition Image from opening case Jennifer M. George Gareth R. Jones ©2007 Prentice Hall  Learning Objectives § Describe how perception is inherently subjective and how characteristics of the perceiver, the target, and the situation can influence perceptions § Understand how the use of schemas can both aid and detract from accurate perceptions § Be aware of biases that can influence perception without perceivers being aware of their influences § Appreciate the steps that organizations can take to ensure that different kinds of people are treated fairly and that the organization is able to take advantage of all they have to offer. 4-2 ©2007 Prentice Hall  Learning Objectives § Understand why attributions are so important and how they can sometimes be faulty § Describe the two major forms of sexual harassment and the steps organizations can take to combat sexual harassment 4-3 ©2007 Prentice Hall  Perception Perception is the process by which individuals select, organize, and interpret the input from their senses to give meaning and order to the world around them. People try to make sense of their environment and the objects, events, and other people in it. 4-4 ©2007 Prentice Hall  Exhibit 4.1 Components of Perception Perceiver Target Situation or context in which perception takes place 4-5 ©2007 Prentice Hall Components of Perception Perceiver Situation Target 4-6 ©2007 Prentice Hall  Exhibit 4.3 Factors That Influence Perception Characteristics Characteristics Characteristics of the Perceiver of the Target of the Situation Schemas Ambiguity Additional information Motivational Social status Salience state Mood Use of impression management 4-7 ©2007 Prentice Hall Exhibit 4.2 Characteristics of the Perceiver That Affect Perception Insert Exhibit 4.2 here 4-8 ©2007 Prentice Hall  Schemas Schemas are abstract knowledge structures that are stored in memory and allow people to organize and interpret information about a given target of perception. §Based on past experiences and knowledge §Resistant to change 4-9 ©2007 Prentice Hall The Functionality of Schemas § Functional – help to make sense of sensory input, choose what information to pay attention to and what to ignore, and guide perceptions of ambiguous information. § Dysfunctional – can result in inaccurate perceptions. 4-10 ©2007 Prentice Hall  Stereotypes § Set of overly simplified and often inaccurate beliefs about the typical characteristics of a particular group. § Dysfunctional schemas: – Based on inaccurate information – Assigned based on a single distinguishing characteristic 4-11 ©2007 Prentice Hall Motivational State and Mood Motivational states are the needs, values, and desires of a perceiver at the time of perception. Moods are how a perceiver feels at the time of perception. 4-12 ©2007 Prentice Hall  Ambiguity § A lack of clearness or definiteness § As the ambiguity of a target increases, it becomes increasingly difficult for a perceiver to form an accurate perception 4-13 ©2007 Prentice Hall  Social Status Social status is a person’s real or perceived position in society or in an organization. Targets with relatively high status are perceived to be smarter, more credible, more knowledgeable, and more responsible for their actions than lower-status targets. 4-14 ©2007 Prentice Hall Impression Management Impression management is an attempt to control the perceptions or impressions of others. High Low 4-15 ©2007 Prentice Hall Impression Management Tactics The target of perception matches A subordinate tries to imitate her boss’s Behavioral his or her behavior to that of the behavior by being modest and soft-spoken Matching perceiver. because her boss is modest and soft-spoken. The target tries to present herself A worker reminds his boss about his past Self- or himself in as positive a light as accomplishments and associates with co- Promotion possible. workers who are evaluated highly. A worker stays late every night even if she has Conforming The target follows agreed-upon completed all of her assignments because to Situational rules for behavior in the staying late is one of the norms of her Norms organization. organization. The target compliments the per- A coworker compliments a manager on his Appreciating ceiver. This tactic works best when excellent handling of a troublesome employee. or Flattering flattery is not extreme and when it Others involves a dimension important to the perceiver. The target’s beliefs and behaviors A subordinate delivering a message to his boss Being are consistent. There is agreement looks the boss straight in the eye and has a Consistent between the target’s verbal and sincere expression on his face. nonverbal behaviors. 4-16 ©2007 Prentice Hall  Salience Salience is the extent to which a target of perception stands out in a group of people or things. Being novel Being Being figural inconsistent 4-17 ©2007 Prentice Hall Exhibit 4.5 Causes of Salience Being Example: Being the only person of Anything that makes a novel a particular age, sex, target unique in a situation or race in a situation Being Standing out from the Example: Being in a spotlight, figural background sitting at the head of the table, wearing bright clothes Being Behaving or looking Example: A normally shy person Inconsistent in a way that is out who is the life of the party of the ordinary 4-18 ©2007 Prentice Hall  Biases in Perception A bias is a systematic tendency to use or interpret information about a target in a way that results in inaccurate perceptions. 4-19 ©2007 Prentice Hall Exhibit 4.6 Biases in Perception The initial pieces of information Interviewers decide in the first few minutes Primacy that a perceiver has about a target of an interview whether or not a job candidate Effects have an inordinately large effect on is a good prospect. the perceiver’s perception and evaluation of the target. The perceiver’s perceptions of A manager’s perception of an average Contrast others influence the perceiver’s subordinate is likely to be lower if that Effect perception of a target. subordinate is in a group with very high performers rather than in a group with very low performers. The perceiver’s general impression A subordinate who has made a good overall Halo of a target influences his or her impression on a supervisor is rated as Effect perception of the target on specific performing high-quality work and always dimensions. meeting deadlines regardless of work that is full of mistakes and late. 4-20 ©2007 Prentice Hall  Exhibit 4.6 Continued People perceive others who are Supervisors rate subordinates who are similar Similar-to- similar to themselves more to them more positively than they deserve. me Effect positively than they perceive those who are dissimilar. Some perceivers tend to be overly When rating subordinates’ performances, Harshness, harsh in their perceptions, some some give almost everyone a poor rating, Leniency, overly lenient. Others view most some give almost everyone a good rating, Average targets as being about average. and others rate almost everyone as being Tendency about average. A professor perceives a student more Knowing how a target stands on a Knowledge positively than she deserves because predictor of performance influences of Predictor the professor knows the student had a perceptions of the target. high score on the SAT. 4-21 ©2007 Prentice Hall  Biases in perception § Recency effect: The recent information that a perceiver has about a target have an inordinately large effect on the perceiver’s perception and evaluation of the target. § Horn effect: closely related to the halo effect, is a form of cognitive bias that causes perceiver's perception of the target to be unduly influenced by a single negative trait 4-22 ©2007 Prentice Hall  Bias exercise Find out which bias in the following cases: 1. A rater gave an employee higher grade because she graduated from the same university with him 2. A rater gave an employee a lower evaluation because she wanted him to make more effort 3. A manager rated Mary higher just because she is hard working 4. A manager rated Peter lower because he always has opposed ideas to him 5. A rater gave an employee higher grade because she is pregnant 4-23 ©2007 Prentice Hall  Continued 6. A rater gave all employees grade A because he didn’t want conflict 7. A manager rated an employee grade A because he made big improvements 1 month before the time she rated, not the whole period 8. A manager rated an employee while just comparing him or her with the group of employees that he or she belongs to 9. A manager gave Tom higher grade because she had a good impression on him when they first met each other 10. A manager thought David is a bad employee because he is lazy 4-24 ©2007 Prentice Hall  Attribution Theory § Describes how people explain the causes of behavior § Focuses on why people behave the way they do § Attributions can be made about the self or another person § Biases reduce the accuracy of attributions 4-25 ©2007 Prentice Hall Exhibit 4.7 Types of Attributions 4-26 ©2007 Prentice Hall  Attributional biases Bias Description Fundamental attribution The tendency to error overattribute behavior to internal rather than to external causes Actor–observer effect The tendency to attribute the behavior of others to internal causes and to attribute one’s own behavior to external causes Self-serving attribution The tendency to take credit for successes and avoid blame for failures 4-27 ©2007 Prentice Hall Managing a Diverse Workforce Commitment Training Education Mentoring 4-28 ©2007 Prentice Hall