Perception, Attribution, and Learning

The Perception Process Perception - The process by which people receive and interpret information from the environment. It is dependent on many factors that are directly and indirectly associated with the individual. Thus, perception may be similar or different depending on how people perceive and see things. Example: How an employee perceives a situation where he finds a co-employee outside the workplace and sees that in a bad way, but actually the said coemployee is really in a day off.

Factor Influencing Perception 1. Perceiver - The person who perceives. He/She sees things depending on personality, mentality, beliefs, and other different factors. Example: A high-achieving employee, A manager 2. Setting It affects perceptual process by means of its physical, social, and organizational context. Example: A tense workplace, an unorganized office 3. Perceived - This is what is perceived by the perceiver depending on the characteristics of the perceived person, object, or event. Example: A sleeping guard, a broken plate, unfinished paperwork

Stages of Perception Process 1. Attention and Selection - Selective screening lets in only a tiny portion of all the information available. Some of the selectivity comes from controlled processing consciously deciding what information to pay attention to and what to ignore.

2. Organization Schema- Cognitive frameworks that represent organized knowledge developed through experiences about people, objects, or events. Script schema - knowledge framework that describes the appropriate sequence of events in a given situation. Person schemas - The way individual sort others into categories, such as type of groups, in term of similar perceived features. Person-in-situation schemas - combine schemas built around persons and events.

3. Interpretation- This is the stage where the person uncovers the reasons behind the actions after selecting and organizing the information he had obtained.

4. Retrieval- The stage when the information is kept inside the memory of the person in order to be obtained or remembered if needed. This is also the stage when reanalysis may be applicable.

Perception and Impression Management Perception and Impression management is a systematic way of keeping check and being constantly aware of your actions in order to build up an impression of yourself for others; positive or negative. This is an attempt to create how people perceive you to be. Example: Working diligently in order to create an impression among fellow coworkers and manager as being an efficient employee Social Networks Social Networks are gateways into meeting new people and meeting potential partners and rivals. Having a good social network helps in building up a successful business. Networking Skills for Impression Management 1. Map your ideal network. Ask: who can help me? Ask: who knows whats going on? Ask: who can get around roadblocks? Ask: who critical in the workflow?

2. Take action to build the network. Dont be shy; chances are the other persons will be perceptive. Start conversation with:Im new in my job, and Im trying to get to know people who

3. Reciprocate and invest in your network. Share information useful to others. Take the time to stay in touch with network members; invest at least an hour a week and probably more. Update the network as structure and people change.

Common Perceptual Distortions 1. Stereotype- Assigns attributes commonly associated with a group to an individual. Gender stereotype this stereotype is common towards women in a business environment wherein it states that they are considered to be less productive and less capable. (Example: Giving difficult jobs to men while giving only easy jobs to women) Age stereotype this stereotype is common in a business environment with both old and young workers. (Example: Opinions of older workers are more focused on rather than those by young workers due to the common perception that older workers are more experienced and that they know what they are talking about; though it can also be vice-versa if the aim would be more on innovativeness) Race stereotype this stereotype is very common among workers with different races or from Filipino perspectives, mga kaugalian ng bawat rehiyon. (Example: It is a common Filipino knowledge or information that

every region has a specific personality and thus they are treated as such because of how they perceive that information. Ilocanos as kuripot;) Ability stereotype this form of stereotype is seen on workplaces with workers that have physical or mental problems. (Example: Different treatment of people towards people with physical or mental problems; thus treating them unfairly or sometimes underestimating their capabilities.) 2. Halo effect- uses one attribute to develop an overall impression of an individual or situation Example: Perceiving a manager as scary or too strict and demanding when seen furiously scolding an employee 3. Selective perception- tendency to single out those aspect of a situation, person, or object that are consistent with ones needs, values, or attitudes. Example: Seeing only the bad sides of a person you hate 4. Projection- assigns personal attributes to other individuals. It is a common assumption or belief of knowing anothers needs and wants due to certain similarities. Example: The perception of a hardworking manager towards a hardworking employee that further productivity will be attained if treated similarly to how he was treated; sometimes common among relatives in a similar working area. 5. Self-fulfilling Prophecy- creating or finding a situation or individual that which you expected to find it in the first place. Example: Knowing that a person is hardworking, a manager expects that he will very productive and thus giving him jobs that will make that employee work really

hard by either providing him very productive jobs or by giving compliments that he/she is worthy of a promotion. 6. Contrast Effects contrasting different results and situations thus sometimes basing the standards when such previous results were to be exceeded in performance and results. Example: Being provided mediocre or only average results and thus when an individual exceed such common results, he is perceived to be a very efficient worker. Workers Report views on Ethical Workplace Conduct These data on ethical workplace conduct are from a survey conduct for Deloitte & Touche USA 42 percent workers say that behavior of their managers is a major influence on an ethical workplace. Most common unethical acts by managers and supervisors are include verbal, sexual and racial harassment, misuse of company property, and giving preferential treatment. Most workers consider it unacceptable to steal from employer, cheat on expense reports, take credit for anothers accomplishments, and lie on time sheets. Most workers consider it acceptable to ask for colleague for a personal favor, take sick days when not ill, use company technology for personal affairs. Top reasons for unethical behavior are lack of personal integrity (80%) and lack of job satisfaction (60%).

91 percent of workers are more likely to behave ethically when they have worklife balance; 30 percent say they suffer from poor work-life balance.

Perception and Attribution Attribution- process of developing explanation or assigning perceived causes for events. Importance of Attributions Attribution theory focuses on how people attempt to understand the causes of an event, assess responsibility for the outcomes, and evaluate the personal qualities of the people involved in it. Attribution theory is especially concerned with whether the individuals behavior is internally caused or externally caused. Internal causes- believed to be under an individuals control. External causes- are seen as coming from outside a person. Three factors influencing internal or external behavior 1. Distinctiveness- considers how consistent an individuals behavior under different situations. 2. Consensus- considers how likely all those facing a similar situations are to respond the same way. 3. Consistency- concerns whether an individual responds the same way across time.

Attribution Errors 1. Fundamental attribution error- tendency to overestimate internal factors and underestimate external factors as influence on someones behavior. Example: Blaming the mistakes of an employee due to his or her own incapability 2. Self-serving bias- tendency to underestimate internal factors and overestimate external factors as influence on someones behavior. Example: Blaming the absence of an employee or tardiness due to the traffic or due to unforeseen events Attribution across Culture Attribution may be different depending on the persons culture where the applied attribution may either be Fundamental attribution error or Self-serving bias. Example: Filipinos usually apply the attribution of Fundamental attribution error when faced with failure Attribution and Social Learning Social learning theory - describes how learning occurs through interactions among people, behavior, and environment. Self-efficacy - persons belief that she or he is capable of performing a task. Example: Copying idolized employees in a workplace in order to obtain a moment of satisfaction and when there is a want or need to be just like that person or sometimes to be praised; Trying to become better than a highlypraised co-worker in order to be praised or to be admired as well.

Four way of Building or Enhancing Self-Efficacy 1. Enactive mastery-gaining confidence through positive experience. The more you work at a task, so to speak, the more your experience builds and the more confident you become at doing it. 2. Vicarious modeling-gaining confidence by observing others. When someone else is good at a task and we are able to observe how they do it, we gain confidence in being able to do it ourselves. 3. Verbal persuasion- gaining confidence from someone telling us or encouraging us that we can perform the task. Hearing others praise our efforts and link those efforts with performance successes is often very motivational. 4. Emotional arousal- gaining confidence when we are highly stimulated or energized to perform well in a situation. A good analogy for arousal is how athletes get psyched up and highly motivated to perform in key competitions.

Learning by Reinforcement Reinforcement- administration of a consequence as a result of a behavior Classical and Operant Conditioning Classical Conditioning - a form of learning through association; that involves the manipulation of stimuli to influence behavior. (A study by Ivan Pavlov) Example: A worker who previously made a loud footstep was scolded by his supervisor, when making another loud footstep; he will think that he will be scolded by his supervisor once again.

Operant

Conditioning- is the

control

of

behavior by manipulating its

consequences. (Popularized by B.F. Skinner) Example: Providing rewards like a bonus for every satisfactory or highly efficient thing an employee does Law of Effects -behavior followed by pleasant consequences is likely to be repeated; behavior followed by unpleasant consequences is not. Organizational Behavior Modification - the use of extrinsic reward such as pay and praise to systematically reinforce desirable work behavior and discourage undesirable behavior Positive Reinforcement -Strengthens a behavior by making a desirable consequence contingent on its occurrence Example: An employee who was consistently giving a high-quality report was given a promotion. Law to attain maximum reinforcement Law of contingent reinforcement - reward must be contingent on the desired behavior. Law of immediate reinforcement - reward must be given as soon as possible after the desired behavior Shaping - positive reinforcement of successive approximation to the desired behavior

Scheduling positive reinforcement Example: The new employee was administered in a 4 stage work process. For every stage of work that was accomplished properly, the employee gets to have a reward. *Continuous reinforcement- administers a reward each time a desired behavior occurs *Intermittent reinforcement- rewards behavior only periodically Negative Reinforcement -Strengthens a behavior by making the avoidance of an undesirable consequence contingent on its occurrence. Example: In order for an employee to avoid being scolded he/she tends to do his best in his on the task assigned to him/her. Punishment -Discourages a behavior and making an unpleasant consequences contingent on its occurrence. Example: As a punishment, an employee who is always absent was asked to do overtime until he/she make up for his/her absences. Extinction -discourages a behavior by making the removal of a desirable consequence contingent on its occurrence. Example: A careless employee received a salary-cut for breaking the machine of the company

Reinforcement Pros and Cons Some critics of the reinforcement approach claimed that the success of specific programs involves isolated cases that have been analyzed without the benefit of scientific research designs; it is hard to conclude definitively whether the observed results were caused by reinforcement dynamics. One critic argues that the improved performance may well have occurred only because of the goal setting involve- that is, because specific performance goals were clarified, and workers were individually held accountable for their accomplishments. Another major criticism rests with potential value dilemmas associated with using reinforcement to influence human behavior at work. Advocates of the reinforcement approach attack its critics head on. They agree that behavior modification involves the control of behavior, but they also argue that behavior control is irrevocable part of every managers job. The question is how to ensure that any manipulation is done in a positive and constructive fashion.