PERCEPTION

Explanation
• Perception can be defined as a process
by which individuals organize and
interpret their sensory impressions in
order to give meaning to their
environment.

• However, what one perceives can be

substantially different from objective
reality.
 Why is understanding perception
important to the managers?

• Simply because, people’s behavior is based on

their perception of what reality is, not on
reality itself. The world as it is perceived is
the world that is behaviorally important.

• The subordinate also reacts to the managerial

decision on the basis of his /her own
perception of reality.
Managerial uses of perception
• Advertising

• Maintaining Safety

• Managing impression

• Building Corporate Image

Cont……
• Managing Performance

• Evaluating Performance

• Self-Assessment and Development

• Building Relationship
 Factors that influence
perception

Internal Factors:

• Sensory Limits & Thresholds

• Psychological Factors
External Factors:

• The Target
• The Situation
Attribution Theory

• Attribution theory has been proposed to

develop explanations of the ways in
which we judge people differently,
depending on what meaning we attribute
to a given behavior.
• Basically, the theory suggests that when we
observe an individual’s behavior, we attempt
to determine whether it was internally or
externally caused.
• That determination, however, depends largely
on three factors:
a. Consensus
b. Consistency
c. Distinctiveness
 Attribution Process
Consensus
(High or Low)

Observation of Consistency Attribution of causes

behavior (High or low) (Ext. Or Int.)

Distinctiveness
(High or low)
 Common Perceptional Distortions
• SELECTIVE PERCEPTION
People selectively interpret what they see on the
basis of their interests, experiences, etc.

• HALO EFFECT
Tendency of forming a general impression on the
basis of a single characteristics
• CONTRAST EFFECT
Rating individuals in the light of other people’s
performance.

• STEREOTYPING
Judging someone on the basis of one’s perception
of the group to which that perception belongs to.
Conclusion
• In short, perception is a very complex
cognitive process that yields a unique picture
of the world, a picture that may be quite
different from reality.

• The key to understanding perception is to

recognize that it is a unique interpretation of
the situation not an exact recording of it.
THANK YOU