College 6 Flashcards
Decision making, negotiation, and communication
What do decision making, conflict and communication all relate to?
Perception
What is perception?
A process through which people organize and interpret sensory information in order to make sense of the world.
Why is perception relevant to organisational psychology?
Because these perceptions differ, so everyone can have a different perception of the same issue. And perceptions can change.
Perceptions are important because they relate to how employees view coworkers, how they view leaders, how they view the whole organisation and how they view processes in that organisation. So perceptions matter.
What is an example of how someone’s perception of their salary can change?
Imagine that at a certain point you view your salary as satisfactory, but when you compare it to others who put in the same effort but make more, then your perception of your salary will change.
(This is also related to the equity theory)
Why is it important for leaders to understand the concept of perception?
A leader must understand that each person’s perception is their reality and this is how they will interpret the leader’s actions and everything else that happens at the workplace.
Leaders should take this into account when evaluating other people and their employees.
When and why can you read complete nonsense?
You can read complete nonsense, as long as the first and last letter of the word are in the right place, the rest can be a total mess.
This is because our brain fills in the gaps.
Perceptual errors
- Primacy effect
- Recency effect
- Availability bias
- Contrast effects
- Halo error (Horns error)
Why do we need to take perceptual errors into account when we’re talking about organisational psychology?
Our brain influences how we perceive things, which can also result in certain errors we make in perception. Because our brain also causes us to make a mental shortcut in order to simplify all the information that we receive. This can cause perceptual errors and perceptual errors can cause people to view things differently.
Primacy effect
It is a belief perseverance. The first impression that you have, effects later judgement; first impressions do matter.
Once a person has formed an initial impression, they maintain it even when presented with concrete evidence that it is false.
It is a very strong influence on how we judge in a later stage. People draw a conclusion based in the first impression.
Recency effect
Not only do people remember what they experience first, they also remember the most recently presented items or experiences. This also influences how we make decisions and later judgements.
Example: end of application interview.
So it can be wise to make a strong positive impression at the end of your interview.
Availability bias
When a person’s judgments are based on what most readily comes into a person’s mind.
Things that come to mind easily strongly influence how we perceive things and more specifically how we estimate things.
It influences people’s decisions.
What are the things that cause the availability bias?
Things that come to mind easily, are things that
- Have a strong emotional impact
- Are easy to remember
- Occurred recently (recency effect)
- Gained a lot of media attention
- Are overestimated.
This happens even if they don’t occur often.
Contrast effect
It means that people make decisions based on what just happened before that decision.
What influence does contrast effect have in organisational context?
It has a very strong influence in organisational context because it strongly influences decisions that people make.
Contrast effects are among the most significant decision biases for a leader to guard against.
What happens when someone is asked to appraise and evaluate certain performances and they first get high performers and then outstanding performers?
The outstanding performers get rated lower than they actually should’ve been evaluated.
What happens when someone is asked to appraise and evaluate certain performances and they first get low performers and then average performers?
Average performers were rated much higher than they should’ve.
Perceptual contrast
The middle circle is the same size in every group, but it seems smaller or bigger depending on how big or small the surrounding circles are.
Halo error
Halo error occurs when the rater’s overall positive impression strongly influences ratings of specific attributes.
Horn error
Horn error occurs when the rater’s overall negative impression strongly influences ratings of specific attributes.
Why does the halo or horn error occur?
It happens because people fall back on system 1, it happens automatically.
- It saves energy
- It is less time consuming
- You want to be consistent
- It relates to the primacy effect
Why should especially leaders guard themselves against perceptual errors?
Because it not only influences the decisions they make but they also influence how people perform.
Which example belongs to which perceptual error?
A) During performance appraisals you rate someone positively because you have an overall positive impression of that person.
B) The middle of a black circle looks light grey and the middle of a light grey circle looks dark grey.
C) You are interviewing multiple job applicants, the first few interviews are less good than you expected, then someone walks in that has a lot of the requirements for the job and so you rate this person high.
D) You walk into an interview and immediately connect with an interviewer, after the interview you also make sure to leave a good impression.
E) You ask people what the most common causes of death are and they respond with terrorist attacks and plane crashes.
A) Halo effect
B) Perceptual contrast error
C) Contrast effect
You are interviewing multiple job applicants and the first few interviews were below average, and then you have an average person come in. You’re more likely to rate the average person higher and better than this person actually is
D) Primacy and recency effect
E) Availability bias
What do leaders look for in an application proces?
Employability
What is the perception of employability?
The perception or the probability of the likelihood that a person fits in the organisation well and performs well.
And also that they’re likely to stay in a certain job, to grow and to learn.
From an employer perspective, it means that a person is indeed a good candidate and will have a positive contribution to the organisation.
What influences the perception of employability?
The perception of whether a person is rewarding, able and willing.
What influences the perception of whether a person is rewarding?
A person’s social/interpersonal compatibility, which results in the perception that this person is indeed rewarding to work with on a daily basis.
What influences the perception of whether a person is able to do the job?
A person’s abilities, expertise and know-how.
What influences the perception of whether a person is willing to work hard?
A person’s ambition, work ethic and drive.
What does the perception of employability cause?
A self-fulfilling prophecy that causes the person that is hired to perform better because they get more attention.
Why do perceptions matter during the application process?
Perceptions matter here because they can cause a self-fulfilling prophecy during and after the application process.
What does the likelihood that people are willing to take the responsibility of making decisions for other people predict?
If people are willing to become leaders.
So leaders have a natural tendency to accept this responsibility of making decisions for other people.
What are sources of indecisiveness?
Personality traits
- Less emotionally stable
- Low self-esteem
- Low self-control
Complex nature of situations faced in rapidly changing environments
- Things change quite rapidly, which causes people to become more indecisive e.g., career indecisiveness
What are situational factors that may hinder individual decision making?
- Lack of information
- Unclear or conflicting goals
- The uncertainty of outcomes
The rational decision making model
Problem or opportunity identification => information search and analysis => generate alternatives => evaluate alternatives => make decision => develop action plans
What is a problem with the rational decision making model?
The model is quite time consuming and sometimes a leader has to make a decision with time pressure.
What are the limitations of the rational decision making model?
Decision makers
- Don’t have complete information
- Can’t develop and accurately weigh an exhaustive list of alternatives
- Consider only a few alternatives
- Suboptimize
True or false: people use the rational decision making model for most of their decisions
False. In many decisions people don’t follow all the steps to make a decision.
Bounded rationality
Decision makers have limits on ability to assimilate large amounts of information.
We will never know for certain what the consequences will be, we have to guess.
What does bounded rationality result from?
- Organisational factors.
- Individual limits on the ability to process information.
- Perceptions.
Prospect theory
If the choice is about losing something, you are more willing to take a risk then if the choice is about gaining something.
We value gains less than losses.
Losses loom larger than gains.
Prospect theory on risk perceptions
- People are risk-averse about gains
- People are risk-seeking about losses
Losses weigh more heavily in decision making than equivalent gains (emotions influence decision making).
How can leaders use the prospect theory?
Leaders must pay attention to how decisions are framed when they are presented. Framing in terms of gains or losses.
Decision traps
When people make decisions they are affected by the framing and the perception, but also by decision traps.
- Hindsight bias
- Overconfidence bias
- Escalation of commitment
Hindsight bias
This is a decision trap.
“I knew it all along” effect.
Tendency for individuals with outcome knowledge (hindsight) to claim they would have estimated a probability of occurrence for a reported outcome that is higher than they would have estimated in foresight (without the outcome information).
