Perception in Organization
1. Definition: A cognitive information processing
process that enables us to interpret and understand our environment
Social perception: the information processing process of interpreting
and understanding other people.
2. How Perception functions: the Social Information Processing
Model. Four Stages:
Key concept: bounded rationality
(1). Selective Attention/Comprehension
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Limited/scarce attention
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Trained attention/inattention
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Cognitive structure/mental models: patterns of information processing
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Incentives/attitude/moods/emotions
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Salient stimuli: novel, unusual, bright, contrast, cues.
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Empathetic perception
(2). Encoding and Simplification: raw information is interpreted and
translated into meaningful mental constructs
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Limited interpretation capability:
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Mental models/basic assumptions
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Cognitive categories: beautiful
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Schema: a mental picture of a particular event/object
(3). Storage and Retention:
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Limited short-term memory capability
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Selective storage
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Long-term memory: modular/connectivity
(4). Retrieval and Response
3. Fallacies in Social Perception
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Stereotype: a generalization of a group of people: stereotype toward
the powerless: women, elder people, gay, minority.
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Implicit personality theory: judging other people based on our own
mental models about how people behave: attractiveness, selfishness, worm.
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First-impression error: the tendency to form lasting opinions about
an individual based on initial perceptions.
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Self-fulfilling prophecy: the situation in which our expectations about
people affect interaction with them that our expectations are fulfiled.
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Selective perception: selectively gather, interpret, store, and
retrieve information in a way that fits one’s self-concept, viewpoints,
attitudes, values, self-interests, and emotions: illusion and escape from
reality.
Man is a rationalizing animal
4. Cognitive Dissonance Theory: Leon Festinger,
1957
Cognitive Dissonance: an uncomfortable situation when a person
simultaneously holds inconsistent/conflicting congnitions (ideas, beliefs,
opinions).
Festingers: people will reduce cognitive dissonance in the easiest way
possible, usually by changing one or both cognitions.
5. Impression management: the process of enhancing
other people’s impression about oneself – short-term orientation
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Self-enhancing: name dropping, appearance, dress.
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Other-enhancing: flattery, agreement
Facework: preserving, enhancing, and saving the face of self and others.
– long-term orientation
6. Organizational Perception and Memory
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Organizational mental model
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Division and specialization in perception
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Organizational common knowledge base
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Organizational memory
Attributions in Organization
Attribute Theory: how people trace the causes of the behavior
of themselves and others
Internal attribution: attribute the individual internal factors
as the causes of behavior.
External attribution: attribute external factors as the causes
of behavior.
Fundamental attribution error: the tendency to make attributions
to internal causes when explaining the behavior of others.
Self-serving bias: the tendency to attribute one’s own successes
to internal causes and one’s failure to external causes.
Cultural Differences: Japan may be the opposite
Kelley’s Attribution Theory
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Consensus: other people’s behavior on the same situation or tasks
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Distinctiveness: one’s behavior in other situations or tasks
Consistency: one’s behavior over time on one given tasks