4 PERCEPTION

AND LEARNING
 LEARNING OUTCOMES

After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

Define perception and explain the importance of
perception.
Explain the factors that influence perception.
Identify the shortcuts used in making judgements about
others.
Explain Kelly’s attribution theory and the three
determinants of attribution.
Explain the link between perception and decision making.
Define learning and its importance to organizations.

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 UNDERSTANDING THE
PROCESS OF PERCEPTION

 Perception is a process of classifying, interpreting

and giving meaning to what is happening and what
we see around us.

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 FACTORS INFLUENCING
PERCEPTION

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 FACTORS INFLUENCING
PERCEPTION (cont.)

Perceiver
 The individual who makes the perception.
 Each individual is different therefore interpretation is
different.
 Among the characteristics which would influence
individual perception:
• their past experiences
• their motivation level and motivation drivers
• attitudes and interests
• unique individual personality, and expectations
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 FACTORS INFLUENCING
PERCEPTION (cont.)

Targets or Objects
Object or target are the items which we intend to make a
perception on.
• Characteristics of the target or the object affect the
perception.
• Example: motion, sound, background, proximity as
well as the similarity of the targets.
Situations
The situation would be the context in which we see the
object or experience the event.

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 PERCEPTUAL DISTORTIONS

 Perceptual Distortions–Shortcuts

 Shortcuts hinder us from making and giving the correct

meaning to the situation.

 Shortcuts need to be avoided.

 It is very dangerous to an organization’s productivity

and effectiveness.

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 PERCEPTUAL DISTORTIONS
(cont.)

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 MANAGING PERCEPTUAL
DISTORTIONS

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 KELLY’S ATTRIBUTION
THEORY

 Explains why people tend to make judgements and

assign reasons to other people’s behaviour.

 People tend to observe other people and later tend to

give reasons and assume the cause of the behaviour.

 They do so to determine whether the behaviour is

internally caused or externally caused.

 There are three factors which determine whether it is

internally or externally caused. The factors are
distinctiveness, consensus and consistency.
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 SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY:
THE PYGMALION EFFECT

 The tendency for someone’s expectation to cause that

person to behave in a manner consistent with the
expectation.

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 LEARNING

 Learning is a behaviour which happens all the time.

 It is a relatively permanent change in behaviour that

occurs as a result of experience.

 There are three theories which explain a learning

process:
− Classical conditioning
− Operant conditioning
− Social learning

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 IMPACT TO ORGANIZATION

 Managers must understand and must be able to

manage perception process.

 Decision-making based on perception would result in

biased and unfair decisions and this would lead to
dissatisfaction among employees.

 Failure to avoid the dissatisfaction would lead to less

productivity which would later hinder the profitability
of the organization.

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