Chapter 3: Perceptions, Attribution, & Diversity Flashcards
Perception
Interpreting our sense to provide meaning to the environment
Components of Perception
- Perceiver
- Target
- Situation
Perception - Perceiver
their experience, needs, and emotion, can affect their perception of the target
a. Experience
Ex: caucasian men less likely to perceive gender / race barriers than woman
b. Needs
Ex: ppl who have been deprived of food will tend to see edible things in ambiguous pictures
Emotion
c. Emotion
Ex: worker who’s upset abt not getting promotion might perceive consolation as a gloating condescension
Perceptual Defence
tendency for perceptual system to defend perceiver against unpleasant emotions
Perception - Situation
every perception activity occur in a situational context, it can add info about a target
Ex : boss makes critical comments 2 weeks before he decides u get promoted or not
Social Identity Theory
“People form perceptions of themselves based on their personal characteristics & membership in social categories”
Personal Identity
based on our characteristics
Social identity
based on our perceptions of where we belong in society (rase, gender, religion)
Bruner’s Model of Perceptual Process
Model - Example
1) Unfamiliar target encountered - New co-worker
2) Openness to target cues - Observation; search for information
3) Familiar cues encountered - Co-worker is Stanford graduate with good grades
4) Target Categorized - Co-worker is “good person” with “great potential”
5) Cue selectivity - Co-worker’s poor performance ignored or distorted
6) Categorization strengthened - Co-worker is still “good person” with “great potential”
Perception is… (3 things)
1) Selective
2) Constance
3) Consistency
Selective
We do not use all available cues
Constancy
we perceive target same over time
Consistency
we ignore cues that differs from the image we have build on a person
Basic Biases in person Perception
1) Primacy & recency effects
2) Reliance on central traits
3) Implicit personality theories
4) Projection
5) Stereotyping
Primacy & recency effects
a. Primary effect : tendency to build a image of a person based on early relationship
b. Recency effect : last impression counts most
Ex : Good for job interview
Reliance on central traits
perceiving ppl based on traits that are of particular interest to us
Ex : physical appearance
Implicit personality theories
theory about which personalities go together side by side
Ex : hard-working ppl are honest, high intelligent ppl are not friendly
Projection
tendency to attribute own thoughts & feelings to others
In case of threatening / undesirable characteristics → projection can serve as perceptual defense
Ex : …., but so does everyone else!
Stereotyping
generalise about people & ignore variations among them
3 Specific aspect of steorotype
i. We distinguish some category of ppl
ii. We assume individuals in this category have certain traits
iii. We perceive that everyone in this category have this trait
Steorotype Threat
fear of confirming negative stereotype about us / one’s group
Attribution
Finding out motives to explain a person’s behaviour
Dispositional Attributions
characteristics responsible for a person’s behaviour
Situational Attributions
behaviour affected by external factors
Determining Dispositional or Situational Attributions
- Consistency Cues
- Consensus Cues
- Distinctiveness Cues
Consistency cues
how consistent the person engage in the behaviour
High consistency → dispositional
Consensus cues
a person’s behaviour compare to others
Low consensus (high difference from other ppl) → dispositional
Distinctiveness cues
how often does the behaviour occurs in a variety of situation
Low distinctiveness (occurs in most situation) → dispositional
Biases in Attribution
- Fundamental attribution error
- Actor observer effect
- Self-serving bias
Fundamental attribution error
tendency to explain ppl behaviour as to dispositional
a. We sometimes discard social impact on a person’s behavior
b. We see ppl in a constant, constrained situation, we don’t see them in other situation
Actor observer effect
observer focuses on fundamental attribution error, while the actor focus on the situation
a. Why are actors prone to situations?
i. They are more aware about the environment they’re in → the constraints, etc
ii. They are more aware of their own feelings, intentions regarding the behaviour
Self-serving bias
tendency to take credit for successful outcomes & deny for failures
Ex : when students get a good grade, they take credit for themselves. If they get bad, they blame the environment
Competitive Advantage of Valuing & Managing Diverse Workforce
- Diversity Climate
- Steorotype Threat
Diversity Climate
degree to which an org. advocate fair human resource policies, promote equal employment opportunities & inclusion, and socially integrate underrepresented employee
Stereotype Threat
scared of being judged according to stereotype & their behaviour will confirm the stereotype
Prejudice
- Explicit: positive / negative feelings of which u aware
- Implicit: feelings of which you are not aware
Steorotypes in Workforce Diversity
- Racial, ethnic, & religious stereotypes
- Gender stereotypes
- Age stereotypes
- LGBTQ+ stereotypes
Managing Workforce Diversity
- Recruiting
- Retention
- Development
- External Partnership
- Communication
- Training
- Staffing & Infrastructure
- Selection & Promotion
Workforce Diversity - Recruiting
Recruiting
- Diverse recruiting teams
- Employee referral programs
- Job posting targeting specific group
Workforce Diversity - Retention
Retention
- Employee benefits
- Work-life programs
- Corporate-sponsored employee resource/affinity group
Development
a. Leadership development training programs
b. Mentoring programs
External Partnership
a. Minority supplier program
b. Community service outreach
Communication
a. Newsletter, internal website on diversity
b. Senior leadership addresses, town hall meetings, business updates
c. Award programs providing public recognition of managers & employees for diversity achievement
Training
a. Awareness training on organization diversity initiative
b. Issue-based / prevention training
c. Team building & group process training
Staffing & Infrastructure
a. Diverse staff
b. Executive & local diversity councils
Selection & Promotion
a. Fair & valid process
b. Structured interviews
Important Perceptions for Organizational Behavior
- Organizational climate perceptions
- Trust perception
- Perceived organizational support
Organizational Climate Perceptions
Organizational climate perceptions
employee’s perceptions about org. policies, practices, procedure, & behaviour that are expected, supported, rewarded
Safety Climate
Employee’s perceptions of safety-related event, practices, procedure & safety-oriented behaviour that are expected, supported, rewarded
Trust perception
a. Ability: employee perception of management’s competency & skills
b. Benevolence: is management caring & concerned for their interest
c. Integrity: Does the management behave according to a set of values that employee finds acceptable
Camaraderie (co-worker exchange)
Mutual trust & friendship
Trust
willingness to be vulnerable & take risk with the actions of another party
Perceived organizational support
employee’s belief that the org. care about their well-being
Organizational Support Theory (OST)
employee who has a strong perception of org. support will care abt org. welfare & help the org. reach its objectives
Norm of Reciprocity
obligation to help org. in return for what they have given us
Perceived Supervisor Support (PSS)
Employee belief that their supervisor cares about them
Role of Perception in Human Resource Management
- Perception of recruitment & selection
- Perceptions in employment interview
Signaling Theory
applicant interpret their application process as cues for what the org. is actually like
