Introduction to Business Management an Organizational Behaviour Individual Behaviour – Perception,
Emotions, Attitudes and Learning
Individual Behaviour – Perception,
Emotions, Attitudes and Learning
Introduction
Perception is a powerful motivator of individual behaviour. How we perceive is learned, and
what we learn affects our level of perception. Situational contingencies - the organizational
environmental conditions and how other organizational resources are structured - also impact
individual behaviour.
Perception is central to understanding why and how individuals react and behave. We each
have certain perceptual tendencies that define the world from our own individual point of view.
Individual attitudes, values, beliefs, learning levels, personality and emotional states all come
into play and impact, shape, and drive individual behaviour.
What we observe, the situation in which we observe it and the filters we apply consciously or
unconsciously, affect what we select to see, how we interpret what we see, how we chose to
organize what we perceive, and how and why we choose to behave as we do.
What we observe, the situation in which we observe it and the filters we apply consciously or
unconsciously, affect what we select to see, how we interpret what we see, how we chose to
organize what we perceive, and how and why we choose to behave as we do.
Individual attitudes, values, beliefs, and learning are also powerful drivers of individual
behaviour. Understanding our own and others' attitudes, beliefs, and values helps us to
interpret, explain, and better understand individual behaviour.
Learning Outcomes
• Describe 7 implications of perceptions on individual and team interaction in the
workplace
• Describe the perceptual process
• Describe how job satisfaction and organizational commitment influence employee
performance
• Identify ways in which perceptual filters and perceptual errors can be managed
• Describe the 3 main factors that influence social perception and how social identity
impacts behaviour
• Explain how we perceive ourselves and others through social identity
• Describe the ways that learning occurs in organizations.
Introduction to Business Management an Organizational Behaviour Individual Behaviour – Perception,
Emotions, Attitudes and Learning
What is This?
If you guessed that this is a mouse, you are right.
If you guessed that this is an old woman, you are right.
If you see both images of an old woman and a mouse you are also right!
Any message is subject to distortion or different interpretations by people. So, how we receive
and interpret messages and cues from our environment will affect the accuracy of our
perceptions.
If you don't see both images, your perceptions can change if you introduce different thinking or
new information. The old woman is looking up, has glasses and a very large nose. The mouse's
ears are the old woman's glasses and the hind leg of the mouse is the woman's ear. Hopefully
now you see both images.
Perception Defined
Perception is:
• the psychological process of creating an internal picture of the external world as we see
it.
• the way we organize information about the people and things we see.
• the process of interpreting what information our five senses provide to us so as to give
meaning to the environment we exist in.
• often described as the process used by individuals in selecting, organizing, and
interpreting information in order to make sense of the world around us.
• a dynamic process, a search for the best interpretation of the data available; however,
this does not mean that our interpretation is correct.
Introduction to Business Management an Organizational Behaviour Individual Behaviour – Perception,
Emotions, Attitudes and Learning
How are People or Things Perceived?
We use all 5 of our senses to form perceptions. But because we are bombarded with an
overwhelming amount of information from our environment, we have developed mechanisms to
deal with all of this information (or environmental stimuli).
Remember, we form perceptions in order to make sense of our surroundings and it is these
perceptions that can in turn affect our emotions and behaviour.
How are People or Things Perceived?
Coping Mechanisms:
1. Selective Attention
• The process of filtering, selecting and screening out information received by our
senses.
2. Perceptual Defense
• A defensive psychological process that involves subconsciously screening out
large blocks of information that threatens the person's beliefs and values.
3. Categorical Thinking
• A mostly non-conscious process of organizing people and objects into
preconceived categories that are stored in long-term memory.
4. Mental Models
• The broad world-views or "theories-in-use" that people rely on to guide their
perceptions and behaviours.
Factors that Influence Perceptions
1. Characteristics of the perceiver
• Familiarity with the person/thing being perceived
o Familiarity refers to the perceiver's knowledge about the person being
perceived. The more the person knows about the person/thing being
perceived, the greater the amount of information available to the
perceiver on which to base his or her perceptions. However, just because
we know a great deal about a person, it does not necessarily mean that
our perceptions will be accurate.
• Attitudes
o If you accept a stereotype about a certain group of people, you will tend
to perceive this characteristic in people from that group whom you meet.
• Mood
o A person in a good mood tends to perceive others more positively.
• Self-Concept
o A person with a positive self-concept tends to perceive the positive
characteristics of others.
• Thinking Pattern
o Some people perceive physical traits such as height and weight more
readily than they perceive personality traits. Other people are able to
perceive many characteristics of a person rather than noticing just a few
specific traits.
Introduction to Business Management an Organizational Behaviour Individual Behaviour – Perception,
Emotions, Attitudes and Learning
2. Characteristics of the person/thing being perceived
• Physical Appearance
o The more abstract, the more it is subject to different perceptions
o We instantly note unusual physical traits in people
o We also tend to perceive attractive people more positively; attractive
people get more job offers and higher salaries (according to research).
• Verbal and non-verbal communication
o In addition to the things we say, our tone of voice and body language
convey information to the perceiver.
• Intentions
o How we interpret the intentions of others influences our perceptions of
their personality. For instance, if you assume that your professor is going
to criticize your work, you may perceive your instructor to be a negative or
critical person.
3. Characteristics of the situation
• A phenomenon in which an observer's expectations of someone causes that
person to act in a way consistent with the observer's expectations.
Effects of Perception – Perceptual Filters and Perceptual Errors
Social identity is an important component of a person's self-concept.
People often define themselves in accordance with the groups that they belong to. As a part of
the social network, people also experience social perception - how they perceive other people.
In this section, we will review seven perceptual filters and perceptual errors that impact
individual and team interaction in the workplace. The most common impact of perceptual filters
and perceptual errors is misunderstanding.
In any situation where behaviour takes place, looking at the facts of the situation should make
interpretation of what is happening very clear. However, perceptual filters and errors can cause
us to misinterpret what is happening, particularly with respect to intentions of others. It is
important to gain an understanding of perceptual filters and errors so that we know how to
manage them.
Stereotyping
The process of using a few observable characteristics to assign people to a preconceived social
category, and then assigning less observable traits to those persons based on their membership
in the group.
The problem with stereotyping is that it can lead to prejudice, discrimination and harassment.
Attribution Errors
The attribution process is a perceptual process whereby we interpret the causes of behaviour in
terms of the person (internal attribution) or the situation (external attribution).
Attribution theory involves determining whether an observed behaviour is caused by internal or
external factors. According to the theory, when you watch someone's behaviour, there are three
attribution rules that will impact your decision about whether the behaviour was caused mainly
by the person or mainly by an event. The attribution rules are:
• Consensus
Introduction to Business Management an Organizational Behaviour Individual Behaviour – Perception,
Emotions, Attitudes and Learning
o If other colleagues or peers would behave in the same way if faced with similar
circumstances
• Consistency
o If the person has demonstrated this type of behavior over a period of time
• Distinctiveness
o If the person behaves in the same way whenever confronted with similar
circumstances
Under conditions of high distinctiveness, low consistency and high consensus, people tend to
attribute the behaviour to external causes; by contrast, when distinctiveness and consensus are
low and consistency is high, people tend to attribute the behaviour to internal causes.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
A phenomenon in which an observer's expectations of someone causes that person to act in a
way consistent with the observer's expectations.
Halo Effect
A perceptual error whereby our general impression of a person, usually based on one prominent
characteristic, biases our perception of other characteristics that person possesses. These
general impressions may be both positive and/or negative.
Primacy Effect
A perceptual error in which we quickly form an opinion of people based on the first information
we receive about them.
Recency Effect
This is a common error found in performance reviews. Those behaviours of the employee that
occurred recently will tend to dominate the perceptions of the manager when completing the
performance review. Again, this behaviour could be both positive or negative.
False Consensus Effect
This bias occurs when we overestimate the extent to which other people have the same beliefs
and characteristics that we do. This is often a defence mechanism to protect our self-concept so
we can reinforce a positive self-image.
Impact of Perceptual Errors in the Workplace
Perceptual filters and errors can impact many activities in the workplace. You can impact
interpersonal interaction between individuals. They can impact team climate and team
dynamics. Employees are constantly faced with the risk of misunderstanding and must work
hard to recognize the existence of perceptual errors in filters in order to better manage them.
A common example of how perceptual errors or filters impact the workplace can be found by
examining the recruitment process.
Selecting the best person for the job is a crucial aspect of organizational success. Perception
plays a significant role in this process.
Some common perceptual errors made in job interviews are:
• Similarity Error
Introduction to Business Management an Organizational Behaviour Individual Behaviour – Perception,
Emotions, Attitudes and Learning
o The similarity error occurs when an interviewer makes a more favourable
evaluation of someone who is similar to the interviewer. For instance, an
athletic interviewer with an outgoing personality might have an
undeservedly positive impression of someone who is outgoing and
athletic.
• Contrast Error
o The contrast error occurs when an interviewer compares the candidate to
other candidates instead of evaluating the individual according to a set
standard. For instance, a mediocre candidate may receive an outstanding
evaluation if interviewed after several poor candidates. Similarly, a strong
candidate may receive a mediocre evaluation if seen after several
outstanding candidates.
• Overreacting to Negative Information
o Interviewers often perceive negative information as more important than
positive information. A candidate who presents negative information at
the beginning of an interview is more likely to receive a negative
evaluation than a candidate who presents this information at the end of
the interview. This is partially due to the impact of first impressions.
• First Impression Error
o Sometimes people make hasty judgements or evaluations of other people
based on their first impressions. The first three minutes of a job interview
can determine whether the person will get the position. Research suggest
that positive first impressions are more likely to change than negative first
impressions.
Managing Perceptions
Inaccurate perceptions can lead to miscommunication, inappropriate use of resources, harmful
discrimination, and slow down any initiatives that we may put in place.
Some of the ways in which we can manage the perceptions that we form are:
1. Increase awareness of perceptual biases
2. Improving our self-awareness
3. Engaging in meaningful interaction and working toward understanding the point of
view of people we work and interact with.
Taking steps to improve yourself in these areas will allow you to form more accurate
perceptions and reduce the risk of misunderstanding.
Attitude
Attitude can be defined as: enduring feelings, beliefs and/or behaviour tendencies with regard to
specific persons, groups, ideas, issues or objects.
Most attitudes have 3 components:
1. Cognitive
• The cognitive aspect of an attitude refers to beliefs and opinions about a person
or a situation. For example, if you had been bitten by a dog when you were a
child, you might have developed a negative predisposition toward dogs.
2. Affective
Introduction to Business Management an Organizational Behaviour Individual Behaviour – Perception,
Emotions, Attitudes and Learning
•The affective component refers to the feelings, sentiment, moods, and emotions
evoked by some person, idea, event, or object. This component is the attitude
itself. For example, if you are negatively disposed towards dogs, and a dog starts
growling at you, you will experience a feeling of intense dislike for it.
3. Behavioural
• The behavioural component refers to the action taken in response to the feeling.
The person in whom intense dislike is evoked by the growling dog will likely take
steps to avoid the dog.
In addition to the cognitive processes that formulate attitude, emotional processes also impact
our attitude.
Attitude is not only about what we think; it is also about how we feel. Attitudes are considered
judgments, whereas emotions are considered experiences. What this means is that emotion is a
response to a situation whereas an attitude is a chosen approach. When we meet people with a
so-called negative attitude, they will often defend their attitude with reasoning that they are
unlucky and the situation they are in warrants a negative perspective.
Although a person's nature, beliefs, circumstances, background and other factors may explain
why they have chosen to adopt a negative attitude, in the end it is important to realize that the
attitude is a choice. This is an important insight for organizations to consider when hiring and
promoting people. It is also important to note that the working environment fostered by an
organization and its leaders impacts the employees' choice of attitudes.
Job Satisfaction
Job Satisfaction is a positive emotional state resulting from an individual's opinion of the job.
Although it was traditionally thought that a person who is satisfied with the job will perform
better, recent studies have shown that an increase in job satisfaction does not always lead to
improved performance. Our interest in job satisfaction stems from the fact that there are direct
links between performance and job dissatisfaction.
Effects of Various Work Factors on Job Satisfaction
1. Work Itself
- Challenge:: Mentally challenging work that the individual can successfully
accomplish is satisfying
- Physical Demands: Tiring work is dissatisfying
- Personal Interest: Personally interesting work is satisfying
2. Reward Structure
- Rewards that are equitable and that provide accurate feedback for performance
are satisfying
3. Working Conditions
- Physical: Satisfaction depends on the match between working conditions and
physical needs
- Goal Attainment: Working conditions that promote goal attainment are satisfying
4. Others in the Organization
- Individuals will be satisfied with supervisors, co-workers, or subordinates who will
help them attain rewards. Also, individuals will be more satisfied with colleagues
who see things the same way they do.
Introduction to Business Management an Organizational Behaviour Individual Behaviour – Perception,
Emotions, Attitudes and Learning
5. Working Conditions
- Individuals will be satisfied with organizations that have policies and procedures
designed to help them attain rewards. Individuals will be dissatisfied with conflicting
roles and/or ambiguous roles imposed by the organization.
6. Working Conditions
- Benefits do not have a strong influence on job satisfaction for most workers.
Building Organizational Commitment
Organizational commitment is the degree to which a person identifies with and feels a part of
the organization.
Organizational commitment is an important topic for businesses to understand. As the
competition for talented employees increases, and the costs of recruiting employees to replace
people who leave increase, the need for an employee retention strategy becomes critical.
A key component of a good retention strategy involves building organizational commitment.
Organizational commitment not only enhances retention, it improves productivity.
The term "organizational commitment" essentially refers to the level of emotional attachment
that an employee has to an organization. As well, a person's commitment to the organization is
directly related to their relationship with their boss, their peers, and their direct reports.
When employees have a strong emotional attachment to the people they work with and the
organization, their level of productivity increases.
This is a result of the fact that we get more from someone who is committed to a task than
someone who is simply compliant with the instructions they have received.
There are several factors that impact our ability to build organizational commitment:
Trust: When employees trust the people they work with and trust the organization, their level of
commitment is higher.
Perceived Fairness: When employees feel that they are being treated fairly and there is
relative equity regarding how all employees are treated, they will focus on the work they have
been assigned to do rather than focusing on discussing perceived inequities.
Alignment of Values: When employees see that their own values are aligned with the values of
the organization, they will experience less stress and tension, particularly when it comes to
making decisions.
The higher level of comfort will increase the person's desire to stay with the organization.
Organizational Comprehension: Employees are more able to develop loyalty and commitment
to an organization when they understand the purpose and objectives of the organization.
This is really all about being able to see the bigger picture.
Employee Involvement: When employees are involved in decisions relating to how they can
help the organization achieve its purpose and objectives, their commitment increases.
Introduction to Business Management an Organizational Behaviour Individual Behaviour – Perception,
Emotions, Attitudes and Learning
The key is for employees to have a feeling of control and autonomy within the boundaries of
achieving goals and objectives of the organization is targeting.
Building Organizational Commitment
As we talk about organizational commitment, it would be helpful to distinguish the concept of
employee engagement from the concept of employee satisfaction. There is no question that job
satisfaction enhances employee motivation. However, organizations have recently recognized
the value of moving from job satisfaction, where people are relatively happy, to engagement,
where people are emotionally committed.
As an example, organizations that conduct employee opinion surveys focus their attention on
questions that gauge employee engagement as opposed to questions that simply measure
employee satisfaction.
What is the degree of your own or others' organizational commitment (either now or with
previous jobs that you have held)? No need to respond, this is a question for you to think about
independently.
Learning in Organizations
Individual Learning
Learning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result of an individual's
interaction with the environment. It influences individual ability, perception levels, and motivation
levels.
Learning can occur formally (education, training and development) or informally through
observation (often called "social learning").
Examples of formal training include:
• classroom training sessions
• coaching using external coaching resources to focus on specific development initiatives
• mentoring programs using internal mentors
• seminars and conferences
• e-learning training sessions
• special assignments and projects
Organizational Learning
There are four perspectives or methods of learning in organizations:
1. Reinforcement, or behaviour modification
2. Effective feedback on individual behaviour
3. Direct experience and action learning
4. Social leaning through observation
Organizational learning differs from an individual learning in that the knowledge capital that
exists within an organization is the sum total of the knowledge capital of all the individuals
working for the organization.
Introduction to Business Management an Organizational Behaviour Individual Behaviour – Perception,
Emotions, Attitudes and Learning
We defined individual learning as a permanent change in behaviour. Organizational learning
has a similar definition in that an organization needs to change its behaviour to demonstrate that
it has learned something. Although this sounds straightforward, there are many barriers to
becoming a "learning organization".
The list of factors above can dramatically affect organizational learning.
Managers and employees need to reinforce behaviour such as open dialogue and risk-taking.
Employees need to observe management sharing information and encouraging people to
challenge ideas, particularly in group situations.
If there are significant restrictions on people's ability to contribute to the collective pool of
information, then the organization's ability to learn is compromised.
Summary
Perception is how individuals see, interpret, and make sense of their immediate environment.
Perception is influenced by a number of factors, including our emotions, attitudes, personality,
values, motivational levels, and learning - all of which impact, shape, and drive individual
behaviour.
Consistent with social identity theory, individuals see themselves, or perceive themselves, on
the basis of their unique characteristics and memberships in different social groups. Social
identity theory may elicit problems such as overgeneralizations, stereotyping, prejudice, and
discrimination - again, all of which impact, shape, and drive individual behaviour.
Perceptual errors often occur, and these include fundamental attribution errors, the self-serving
bias, the self-fulfilling prophecy, the primacy effect, the regency effect, the halo effect, projection
bias, and stereotyping. Perceptual errors and problems can be minimized through enhanced
learning; empathy; and becoming more aware of our biases, beliefs, values, and emotions.
Emotions play an important role in individual behaviour. To fully appreciate and understand the
power, potency, and influence of emotions on individual behaviour, attitudes must be
considered, appreciated, and understood. Attitudes are judgments; emotions are experiences.
Attitudes include logical reasoning, whereas emotions involve our senses. Emotions are usually
of short duration; attitudes are more lengthy and stable over time.
Organizational commitment and the impact it has on employee engagement and retention is
becoming more and more important as organizations recognize the strategic value of their
human capital. All employees need to understand and apply the strategies that will positively
impact organizational commitment.
Individual levels of perception, emotions, and attitudes are all affected by learning. Learning is
an integral component of knowledge management and also influences an individual's abilities
and levels of motivation. Social learning, behavioural modeling, experiential learning, and action
learning are all powerful determinants in explaining, influencing, and driving individual behaviour
in organizations,
Introduction to Business Management an Organizational Behaviour Individual Behaviour – Perception,
Emotions, Attitudes and Learning
You have now completed this module. You can continue to the next module.
