After a long silence, Beauport managed a weak “Thank you, Mr. Gilman.

” She was too be

wildered to protest. She wanted to collect her thoughts and reflect on what she had done wrong.
Also, she did know her boss well enough to be openly critical.

Gilman recognized Beauport’s surprise, which he naturally assumed was her positive
response to be hearing of this wonderful career opportunity. He, too, had been delighted several
years earlier about his temporary transfer to marketing experience. “This move will be good for both
you and Hy Dairies,” said Gilman as he escorted Beauport from his office.

Beauport was preoccupied with several tasks that afternoon, but she was able to consider
the day’s events that evening. She was one of the top women and few minorities in brand
management at Hy Dairies and feared that she was being side-lined because the company didn’t
want women or people of color in top management. Her previous employer had made it quite clear
that women “couldn’t take the heat” in marketing management and tended to place women in
technical support positions after a brief term in lower brand management jobs. Obviously, Syd
Gilman and Hy Dairies were following the same game plan. Gilman’s comment that the coordinator
job would be good for her was just a nice way of saying that Beauport couldn’t go any further brand
management at Hy Dairies.

Beauport now faced the difficult decision of whether to confront Gilman and and try to
change Hy Dairies sexist and possibly racist practices or to leave the company.
 still maintaining a strong focus on performance and the bottom line. Read the full text of this
Business Week article at www.mhhe.com/mcshane5ne, and prepare for the discussion question
below.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Apply your knowledge of stereotyping and social identity theory to explain what went
wrong here.

DISCUSSION ANSWER:

Stereotyping can be defined as an assumption that all members of a specific group

behave in a similar way as they have the same characteristics. It is may be useful when
making the quick decisions (Sarah Sabir Ahmad, 2017 pages 72 and 73). Furthermore,
stereotypes may encourage prejudice and may arise for a number of reasons. For example,
we have a tendency to assume that all youngsters in a black T – shirts who ride their
motorbikes noisily late at night are bad hats. Besides, in organizations, we are often hear the
comment which represent the stereotypes based on ethnically, culture, religion, age, gender
and the country of origin (Sarah Sabir Ahmad, 2017 pages 73).

Besides that, the social identity theory is explaining how the people perceive others
through the categorization, homogenization and differentiation. In this theory, the get –
together enlistment is not some mimicked which is joining into the individual, it is a
certifiable, honest to goodness and basic part of the person.

It is shown in the case of Rochelle Beauport where she is enjoyed being an assistant
brand manager. The other people will think that the position will be more challenging for her
and will affect the performance and profitability of the company than her new position which
is market research coordinator. She was thought that the marketing research was not the
route to top management in many associations. She is very like to develop a discernment
that as a result of her shading, she was aside or already put on the sideline for some other
time.

What went wrong here is Mr. Syd Gilman was misperceived that Rochelle Beauport
would love her new position as market research coordinator that he had encountered before
his position today. He thought that by offering the new position to her will help her to improve
her experience and encourage her career performance at Hy Dairies, Inc. Mr. Gilman was
assumed that his experiences could in like manner be Rochelle’s experiences later on. He
actually was not aware of the different self and social concepts of others, like Rochelle
Beauport case. The variable like work experiences, qualities and social identity are more
related to stereotyping.

In conclusion, the results of the perception process will definitely differ from one
individual to another, due to individual differences. There are many ways to avoiding the
perceptions such as having a high level of self – awareness, seeking information from
various sources, being empathetic and avoiding common perceptual distortions (Sarah Sabir
Ahmad, 2017 pages 73 and 74).
DISCUSSION QUESTION:

2. What other perceptual error is apparent in this case study?

DISCUSSION ANSWER:

Based on this case, the other perceptual error was apparent is the Halo Effect. Here,
the Halo Effect is happening when the people are tended to draw a general impression
based on a single characteristic. This is because the one characteristic was overshadowing
the other characteristics. For example, during an interview session for the position of
Marketing Assistant Manager in Company ABC, the Human resources executive from the
Human Resources Department failed to select the most promising candidate from the many
candidates who attended the interview session, as she was attracted to the sweet smile of
one the male which is Hakim during the interview session. However, after a month he works
at the company, she was notice that Hakim was not suitable for the job. It is because he is
failed to perform excellence in his job, due to the inability to speak fluently in English (Sarah
Sabir Ahmad, 2017 pages 71 and 72).

According to this case, Rochelle Beauport was felt that she was sidelined and was
set asides as a consequence of her unsuitable furthermore her social character. The new
offered position is not in the top association and that is the thing that Mr. Gilman required.
Not only that, she just responded “Thank you’ Mr. Gilman” (Case Study 3.1. Hy Dairies) with
the not sure answer. She was expected to accumulate her consideration what was she had
done wrong.

Not only that, the other perceptual error is similar – to – me effects or projection. It is
the tendency for people to perceive others who are similar to themselves favorably as
compared to individuals who are less similar. This would apply to similarities in work values,
as well as demographic variable such as age, gender and race (Sarah Sabir Ahmad, 2017
pages 72). Here, Syd Gilman was overestimated Beauport had beliefs and characteristics
similar to his own. He was assumed that Beauport would welcome a transfer to the position
of marketing research coordinator and incorrectly interpreted Beauport’s non-verbal behavior
as evidence supporting his assumption.
 In a nutshell, Mr. Syd Gilman must study first about Beauport before he was offered
the new position for her as market research coordinator. This is to avoid the wrong
perception towards her. The perception can be avoided if Mr. Gilman has a high level of
awareness and always seeking information from various sources (Sarah Sabir Ahmad, 2017
pages 74 and 75).

DISCUSSION QUESTION:

3. What can organization do to minimize misperception in these types of situations?

DISCUSSION ANSWER:

First of all, the organization can minimize the misperception in this situation by
gaining the mutual understanding between them. Here, Mr. Syd Gilman should more
understand and more sensitives to the Rochelle Beauport’s past and Beauport also must
understand him too. They can apply the Johari Window Model, which is open area or open
arena whereby all the information of both of them like behavior, attitudes, feelings and
experience are known by the persons and also by the group (Sarah Sabir Ahmad, 2017
pages 246).

Not only that, the organization can be more empathetic towards their employees.
This is because some of people may form our perception and giving meaning based on
certain issues or information only. However, before making any judgements and
subsequently making any decisions, the organization may want to put themselves in a
particular situation first, before they want to act (Sarah Sabir Ahmad, 2017 pages 74).
According to this case, before Mr. Gilman want to offered the new position to Beauport, he
should put himself in the said Beauport situation, seeing that it would add to her burden.

Furthermore, the organization also can seek the information from the various
sources. Before want to make any decisions or giving meaning to any situation or target, the
organization need to seek and obtain the information from as many sources as possible.
This practice is necessary to confirm the accuracy of the information (Sarah Sabir Ahmad,
2017 pages 74). Based on the case, Mr. Gilman may not do a research first about the
Beauport past experiences before giving her that position. Because of that, he already
incorrectly interprets the Beauport’s non-verbal behavior as the evidence to support his
assumption.

The organization also can minimize the misperception in these types of situations by
avoiding the common perceptual distortions. Here, the organizations need to ensure that
they are avoid the common perceptual distortions. The example of common perceptual
distortions is having stereotyped views, forming judgements, making decisions based on
Halo Effect characteristics, being selective of information based on only what interest them
and comparing one person to another (Sarah Sabir Ahmad, 2017 pages 75).

In conclusion, both of them might communicate with others to compare perceptions

and seek the information about the event and the other person. Rochelle Beauport could talk
to other employees that they might clarify her misconception that the marketing research
coordinator job is a “sideline” position. Other than that, she might collect more confidence
and enough courage to ask Gilman without any anger emotions why she should be
transferred. Mr. Gilman could talk to other managers about the transfer to find out how
others may react differently.
REFERENCES

1) https://studymoose.com > dairies case study

2) https://www.reviewessays.com > essay
3) Sarah Sabir Ahmad (2017), Organizational Behaviour(2ndedition), Kuala Lumpur,
Oxford.