Q1. What is meant by Halo effect? Explain.

The halo effect is a form of cognitive bias—a heuristic (or mental shortcut) that causes us to make snap judgments. In other
words, the halo effect leads us to consider only one aspect of a person or a product in order to form a general opinion.

Snap judgments like these can help us navigate the world more seamlessly and make decisions faster, but they also put us at
risk of poor decision-making.

When the halo effect is at play, a general evaluation of a person, or an evaluation of an aspect of their personality, influences
how we view other, unrelated aspects of their personality. For example, if we consider someone to be attractive, we are more
likely to assign them other positive qualities, such as intelligence, kindness, or honesty.

Overreliance on our first impressions can lead to poor decision-making, since we are unable to consider all the facts available to
us. A positive first impression can be misleading. For example, when you find out your coworker went to a prestigious university,
you might assume they are more skilled than they actually are.

Like other forms of heuristics, the halo effect is unconscious and not intentional. Because it clouds our judgment, the halo effect
can be a source of research bias.

Halo and horn effect

While the halo effect refers to positive evaluations, a similar spillover effect occurs when a negative first impression warps our
perception.

The horn effect is the tendency for a negative impression made in one context to influence our judgment in another. This
means that we focus only on negative qualities and exclude any positive ones.

Q2. Define political behavior. Why is politics a fact of life in organizations?

Political behavior refers to the personal interest of the people in the business activities. It also shows the power that people use to make their position in
the organization.

 The political behavior of each individual is different.

 It is a special form of human activity.
 The political behavior of an individual is influenced by the environment in which people grow.

Positive aspects of political behavior are:

 It makes a person efficient if that person works according to their interest.

 Political behavior of an organization and an individual.
 It helps to enhance the business by using its power and public relations.
 It improves the self-serving of the people.
 It shapes personal and organizational outcomes, and so on.

Negative aspects of political behavior are:

 It only emphasizes the personal interest of the people, not the organizational interest.
 It may sometimes lead to conflict as individuals have different political behavior.
 There would be a lack of agreement among the people in the organization as every employee tries to find their own interest in the projects,
and so on.

Q4. How can the perceptual skills be enhanced.

Following are the method through which perceptual skill can be enhanced.

1. Knowing Oneself Accurately:

One of the powerful ways to minimize perceptual distortions is to know yourself.
One should be aware of his or her values, beliefs and prejudices. People normally
misperceive others because they fail to perceive themselves accurately. The more
accurately a person understands himself, the more accurately he can perceive
others. The concept of Johari window must be applied by people so as to increase
awareness about self and others.

2. Emphatize with Others:

Empathy refers to a person’s ability to understand and be sensitive to the feelings
of others. Empathy is a natural phenomenon and develops within an individual
by itself. However, empathy skills can also be developed over a passage of time by
proper feedback system and by close interaction and working. By emphasizing
with other person, one can perceive the other individual more aptly.

3. Have a Positive Attitude:

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Attitudes have a strong and long lasting effect on perception. If one holds a
negative attitude towards someone or something, our perception is undoubtedly
going to be distorted. We should make effort to have a positive attitude and
should not let our personal biases to crop in and hinder the perceptual powers.

4. Postpone Impression Formation:

It is a natural tendency of the human beings to form impression about something
or someone very quickly. Just in a meeting or two we draw conclusion about
someone. Forming judgments with such limited information is very wrong. A
much better strategy is to postpone the impression formation until more
information about the individual and the situation is collected.

5. Communicating Openly:
Much of misperception in an organisation arises due to inadequate
communication or one way communication. Utmost care should be taken, so that
the message reaches the right person, at the right time and in the right manner.
Proper transmission of information followed by appropriate feedback can help
minimize perceptual distortions.

6. Comparing One’s Perceptions with that of Others:

Another useful strategy to reduce perceptual errors is to compare one’s own
perception with the perception of the other person about the same object. By
sharing perceptions we come across different point of views and potentially gain
a much better understanding of the situation and the object.

Q6. Explain contingency approach.

Contingency Approach definition

The contingency approach is a management theory that suggests the most appropriate style of management is dependent on
the context of the situation and that adopting a single, rigid style is inefficient in the long term. Contingency managers typically
pay attention to both the situation and their own styles and make efforts to ensure both interact efficiently.

The contingency approach contrasts with other forms of leadership, such as trait-based management, whereby personality and
individual make-up predict patterns of management and responses to given situations over time. Another management
approach is style-based app

Contingency theory is beneficial to organisations because of the potential for learning from specific situations and using these
lessons to influence future management of the same or similar situations. The ability to adapt to external pressures and changes
is also an advantage. Contingency theory may also produce more well-rounded leaders who are able to develop their skills in
multiple areas.

Q10. Discuss the three ways reflected in operationalism.

Operationalism is a scientific concept that is used for defining the various scientific concepts that are specifically linked
with functions of measurement and observation. Operationalism has been defined by a number of scientific
explanations that aims at linking all scientific concepts to the different experimental procedures.The scientist has
adopted many approaches and used the process of operationalism in their subjects and theories earlier. The
operationalism was implicit in the working operations of the scientists and their point of view was expressed by them
through their experiments. The three ways reflected in operationalism are: i. The pre-operational stage is when we look
at processes that transcend our theories. ii. The second stage is the operational stage where the process is and the
results are decided through experiments. iii. The third stage is when the meaning of the scientific terms is given through
theories in which the terms appear together based on the observations.