Effective Perception Management
We live in a
perceptual world. Almost all our activities are influenced or governed by the
process through which we perceive the things in our surroundings.
It is the perception
process through which one acts & interacts with during ones lifetime be it
any unit of human being, family, society, religion, culture, work place,
country or any other environment. It is
the process through which one associates or disassociates himself with the
various factors existing in the society. We make friends, enemies on our
perception. We like or dislike almost everything entirely on our perception. We
cast our vote to the candidate whom we perceive as our representative. People
fall into various habits by virtue to their perception of those habits.
It is our perception which shapes up our vision to exist in
the society or in our context, the work place where we work. The entire gamut
of human existence is based upon perception. People behave on the basis of the
perceived world.
During our study we tried to
learn about the factors which operate to shape up or distort perception.
We tried to analyze whether all these factors reside in the perceiver, in the object being perceived or in the
context of the situation in which the perception is made .We also tried to know
how to make our perception as accurate as possible and without any bias .
We targeted ourselves & our associates in our workplace
& social circle for this study.
We asked ourselves honestly that how we perceive each other
and tried to know the perception of each one of us by sharing our perceptions
amongst ourselves. In the process we introspected ourselves critically in order
to compare ourselves with the perception of the group or individual about us.
To our surprise most of
our perception were either inaccurate or having extreme ends or very casually
constructed. We all were behaving with each other in the backdrop of those
inaccurate pictures painted by us. We realized the mistakes which one is likely
to commit while forming a perception resulting in an inaccurate perception. We
also felt that through more accurate perception management our individual or
organizational behavior may become more conducive for meeting our role
expectations.
The importance of
perception management should be apparent to almost every one who has daily
interaction with other human beings. With the ability to construct accurate
perception and management of the same we are taking simple to complex decision
not only in our personal life but also in our social or organizational life. This is
so because accuracy based perception is central determinants of successful
organizational success.
What is perception
Perception is the process by which individuals select,
organize, and interpret the input from their surroundings through their senses to give
meaning and order to the world around them. It is the process of attaining
awareness and it is also the form of self expression. In our study we revealed
the process of forming opinion about others and the role played by perception
in that process.
Components of
perception
Perceiver
Perceiver is the person trying to interpret some observation
that he or she has just made , or the input from his or her senses.
Target
The target of
perceiver is whatever the perceiver is trying to make sense of .In OB terms ,the target of perception is, often another
person.
Situation
The situation is the context in which perception take place.
Factors influencing
perception
·
The
perceiver’s personal characteristics-interest ,biases, attitude, personality,
motives , past-experiences and expectation etc. During our exercise we came to
know how much these factors contributed in forming the perception. We formed perceptions on the basis of our personal likes
& dislikes.
·
The
target characteristics-Distinctiveness, contrast and similarity. We were
immensely influenced by these features while making assumptions about each
other. We formed a warm perception when we found similarity in our views &
we formed a cold perception when we found someone not conforming to our views
without even trying to analyze the reasons for the same.
·
The
situation (context) factors like place, time, location draw attention or
distract from the target. The time at which an event is observed influence our
perception. Situation may not provide the opportunity for the person perceived
to demonstrate behaviour relevant to the traits about which perceptions are
formed.
Shortcuts used in
judging others;
Halo effects
Drawing a general impression about an
individual on the basis of a single characteristics like intelligence, elocution,
appearance. Many of our political or spiritual leaders are considered suitable
on their Halo Effect. Good actors also cast a halo effect and people tend to
form perceptions on such characteristics. We also get influenced on account of
this effect in our personal or professional life.
Selective perception
People selectively interpret what
they see on the basis of their interest, background ,experience
and attitude. Relevance to one’s need is
one the most important determinants of one’s perception. Things which seem to
satisfy one’s need get attention automatically.
We found that sometimes in casual
situations when we form perception of others, there are more chances to jump to
conclusions without probing for adequate evidence.
Contrast effect
Evaluation of a persons
characteristics that are affected by comparisons with other people recently
encountered who ranks higher or lower on the same characteristics.
Stereotyping
Judging someone on the basis of one’s
perception of the group to which that person belongs. Many unverified qualities
are assigned to people because such group membership. We all are aware how much
damage it can cause if an erroneous perception about some group is formed on
the basis of activities of the members of that group.
Projection
We often tend to judge others
assuming that they are similar to us. This tendency to attribute ones own
characteristic to other people can distort perception. When we engage ourselves
in projection then we are likely to compromise on our ability to respond to
individual differences. We tend to see
people more homogeneous than they actually are. We found this factor as a major
one towards perception distortion.
Ambiguity in the person
Ambiguity refers to lack of clearness
or definiteness. The more ambiguous a human being is, the more potential there
is for errors in perception.
Impression management
Impression management is an attempt
to control the perception or impressions of others. Those who are likely to use
impression management tactics may distort perception. There are smart people in
the organization who are recognized and valued because of their impression
management tactics and not because of their contribution. They are always able
to distort perception.
Attribution Error
What people do that they over attribute internal
factors in others behavior than external
factors. This makes individual bias about others behavior.
They take credit of success and blame
others for failure.
Why accuracy of
perception is so critical for mangers?
· Understanding of perception can help
managers better understand individual behavior i.e employee productivity,
absenteeism, turnover, organizational citizenship, job satisfaction etc.
· Motivating subordinates
· Treating subordinates fairly and
equitable.
· Making ethical decisions
· Increase productivity of subordinates
· Win commitment and support of
subordinates.
· For strategic alignment of
subordinates with organizational objectives.
· Perceptual error will affect
individual motivation which subsequently affect his effectiveness in terms of
his productivity.
Specific application of
perceptual error/shortcut/ attributional errors in the organization
Employee Interview
· Perceptual biases affect the accuracy
of interviewer’s judgment of individuals
Performance Expectations
· Self fulfilling prophecy( Pygmellion
effect):The lower or higher performance of employees reflect preconceived
managers expectation about employees capabilities.
Performance Evaluations
· It normally happens when you find
appraisals are subjective perception of performance. It is not based on the
facts which leads to dissatisfaction to employees due to subjective assessment
leaving scope for perceptual bias.
Employee effort
· Assessment of individual effort is a
subjective judgment subject to perceptual distortion and bias.
Recommendation for
effective perception management in the organization
· Knowing one self makes it easier to
see others more accurately. When some body is aware of what his own personal
characteristics are, he makes fewer mistakes in perceiving others. People with
insight are less likely to misperceive the world and give extreme judgment
about others.
· Be careful not to jump to conclusions
about co-workers, superiors and subordinates simply because they appear to fit
one of your pre existing schemas. Wait to form your opinion until you have
gathered enough information to make a fair judgment.
· Make sure your perceptions of workers
are based on their skills, capabilities, accomplishment, or the job behavior
and level of performance.
· Do not allow your perceptions to be
influenced by characteristics of a person(such as gender, race, age etc)
· Be careful not to let your first
impression have too strong an effect on your perception of others .Avoid
categorizing colleagues, unless you have sufficient information to form an
accurate perception.
· When interviewing or evaluating a
series of individuals, do not let your evaluations of preceding individuals
influence your rating of those that follow.
· Be careful not to be lenient in your
perception of people who are similar to you and overly harsh to those who are
dissimilar to you.
· If you tend to rate most of your
subordinates very negatively, or very positively, or just about average stop
and think whether each individual rightly deserves the rating he or she
received.
· Consider external factor that may be
responsible for other people behavior, such as inadequate resources or
supplies, or exceptionally difficult task.
· Consider internal factors that may be
responsible for your own behavior, such as your personality, your strength and
weaknesses and your level of motivation.
· Be wary of the tendency in yourself
and in others to take credit for success and avoid blame others for errors.
As a manager one has to be
continually aware of the intricacies of the perceptual process and always to be
on guard against arbitrary and hurried conclusions. Common sense judgments
suggest that accurate perception of others facilitates smooth and effective
interpersonal adjustments. If we try to effect some change in the behaviour of
someone then it is important to understand the perception process and the
environment if one has to understand the
circumstances under which his or her behaviour may change.
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