02 Langton Fob 3ce Ch02

8/3/2019 02 Langton Fob 3ce Ch02

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Chapter 2, Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, Fundamentals of Organizational Behaviour, Third Canadian Edition 2-1Copyright 2007 Pearson Education Canada

Chapter 2

Perception, Personality, and

Emotions


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Chapter Outline

Perception Defined

Factors Influencing Perception Perceptual Errors

Why Do Perception and Judgment Matter?

Personality Emotions


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Perception, Personality, and Emotions

1. What is perception?

2. What causes people to have different perceptions of

the same situation?

3. Can people be mistaken in their perceptions?

4. Does perception really affect outcomes?

5. What is personality and how does it affect behaviour?6. Can emotions help or get in the way when dealing

with others?


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Perception

What Is Perception?

The process by which individuals organize and interpret

their impressions in order to give meaning to theirenvironment.

Why Is It Important?

Because peoples behaviour is based on their perceptionof what reality is, not on reality itself.

The world as it is perceived is the world that isbehaviourally important.


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Why We Study Perceptions

To better understand how people make

attributions about events.

We dont see reality. We interpret what we see

and call it reality.

The attribution process guides our behaviour,

regardless of the truth of the attribution.


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Chapter 2, Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, Fundamentals of Organizational Behaviour, Third Canadian Edition2-6

Copyright 2007 Pearson Education Canada

Factors Influencing Perception

The Perceiver

The Target The Situation


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Exhibit 2-1 Factors that InfluencePerception

Perception

The Target

Novelty

Motion

Sounds

Size

Background

Proximity

The Perceiver

Attitudes

Motives

Interests

Experience

Expectations

The Situation

Time

Work setting

Social setting


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Perceptual Errors

Attribution Theory

Selective Perception Halo Effect

Contrast Effects

Projection Stereotyping


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Attribution Theory

When individuals observe behaviour, they attempt to

determine whether it is internally or externally caused.

Distinctiveness

Does the individual act the same way in other situations?

Consensus

Does the individual act the same as others in same situation?

Consistency Does the individual act the same way over time?


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Attribution Theory

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to underestimate external factors

and overestimate internal factors when makingjudgments about others behaviour.

Self-Serving Bias

The tendency to attribute ones successes tointernal factors while putting the blame forfailures on external factors.


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Exhibit 2-2 Attribution Theory

Observation InterpretationAttribution

of cause

External

High(Seldom)

Low

(Frequently)

High

Low(Seldom)

High(Frequently)

Low(Seldom)

Internal

rnal

Individual

behaviour

Distinctiveness

(How often does the

person do this in

other situations?)

Consensus

(How often do other

people do this insimilar situations?)

Consistency

(How often did the

person do this inthe past?)

External

Internal

Internal

External

(Frequently)


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Perceptual Errors

Selective Perception

People selectively interpret what they see based on their

interests, background, experience, and attitudes.

Halo Effect

Drawing a general impression about an individual based

on a single characteristic.

Contrast Effects

A persons evaluation is affected by comparisons with

other individuals recently encountered.


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Perceptual Errors

Projection

Attributing ones own characteristics to otherpeople.

StereotypingJudging someone on the basis of your perception

of the group to which that person belongs.

Prejudice

An unfounded dislike of a person or group basedon their belonging to a particular stereotypedgroup.


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Why Do Perceptions and JudgmentMatter?

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

A concept that proposes a person will behave in

ways consistent with how he or she is perceived

by others.


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PersonalityThe sum total of ways in which an individual reacts

and interacts with others.

Personality Determinants

Heredity Environmental Factors

Situational Conditions

Personality Traits

Enduring characteristics that describe an individualsbehaviour.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

The Big Five Model


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Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Personality test to determine how people usually act or feel inparticular situations.

Classifications:

Extroverted (E) or Introverted (I)

Sensing (S) or Intuitive (N)

Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)

Perceiving (P) or Judging (J)

Combined to form types, for example: ESTP

INTJ


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The Big Five Model

Classifications

Extraversion

Agreeableness

Conscientiousness

Emotional Stability

Openness to Experience


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Exhibit 2-4Big Five Personality Factors


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Major Personality AttributesInfluencing OB

Locus of Control

Machiavellianism

Self-Esteem

Self-Monitoring

Risk-Taking

Type A Personality Type B Personality

Proactive Personality


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Locus of Control

The degree to which people believe they are in

control of their own fate.

Internals

Individuals who believe that they control what

happens to them.

Externals Individuals who believe that what happens to them

is controlled by outside forces such as luck or

chance.


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Exhibit 2-5 The Effects of Locus ofControl on Performance

Condition Performance

Information ProcessingThe work requires complex informationprocessing and complex learning

Internals perform better

The work is quite simple and easy to learn Internals perform better than externals

InitiativeThe work requires initiative and independentaction


The work requires compliance and conformity Externals perform better

MotivationThe work requires high motivation andprovides valued rewards in return for greatereffort; it offers incentive pay for greaterproductivity


The work does not require great effort andcontingent rewards are lacking; hourly payrates are determined by collective bargaining

Externals perform at least as well asinternals

Source: J. B. Miner,

Industrial-Organizational

Psychology (New York:

McGraw Hill, 1992), p. 151.

Reprinted with permission of

The McGraw-Hill

Companies.


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Machiavellianism

Degree to which an individual is pragmatic,

maintains emotional distance, and believes that

ends can justify means.


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Self-Esteem

Individuals degree of liking or disliking of

themselves.


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Exhibit 2-6 Brandens Six Pillars of

Self-Esteem1. Living consciously: Be aware of everything that affects your values and goals,

and act with awareness.

2. Self-acceptance: Accept who you are without criticism and judgment.

3. Personal responsibility: Take responsibility for the decisions you make and thethings you do.

4. Self-assertiveness: Honour your wants, needs, and values, and dont be afraidto speak up for things that are important to you.

5. Living purposefully: Develop short- and long-term goals, and make realisticplans to achieve your goals.

6. Personal integrity: Live up to your word and your values.

Source: Adapted from N. Branden, Self-Esteem at Work: How Confident People Make Powerful Companies (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1998), pp. 33-36).


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Self-Monitoring

A personality trait that measures an

individuals ability to adjust behaviour to

external situational factors.


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Risk-Taking

Refers to a persons willingness to take

chances or risks.


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Type A Personality

Moves, walks, and eats rapidly

Impatient

Multitasks

Dislikes leisure time

Obsessed with numbers, measures success in

terms of how many or how much of everything isacquired


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Proactive Personality

A person who identifies opportunities, shows

initiative, takes action, and perseveres until

meaningful change occurs.


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What Are Emotions?

Two related terms:

Emotions

Intense feelings that are directed at someone or

something.

Moods

Feelings that tend to be less intense than emotionsand that lack a contextual stimulus.


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Choosing Emotions: Emotional Labour

When an employee expresses organizationally-

desired emotions during interpersonal

interactions.


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Emotional Intelligence

Noncognitive skills, capabilities, and competenciesthat influence a person's ability to interact with others.

Five dimensions Self-awareness

Self-management

Self-motivation

Empathy Social skills


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Negative Workplace Emotions

Negative emotions can lead to negative

workplace behaviours:

Production (leaving early, intentionally working

slowly)

Property (stealing, sabotage)

Political (gossiping, blaming co-workers)Personal aggression (sexual harassment, verbal

abuse)


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Summary and Implications

1. What is perception?

Perception is the process by which individuals

organize and interpret their impressions in orderto give meaning to their environment.

2. What causes people to have differentperceptions of the same situation?

Perceptions are affected by factors in theperceiver, in the object or targetbeingperceived, and in the context or situation.


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3. Can people be mistaken in their perceptions?

Shortcuts, such as attribution theory, selective

perception, halo effect, contrast effects,projection, and stereotyping are helpful andeven necessary, but can and do get us introuble.

4. Does perception really affect outcomes? Perceptions often affect productivity more than

the situation does.


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5. What is personality and how does it affect behaviour?

Personality helps us predict behaviour.

Personality can help match people to jobs, to someextent at least.

6. Can emotions help or get in the way when were

dealing with others?

They can hinder performance, especially when emotionsare negative.

They can also enhance performance.


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Chapter 2, Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, Fundamentals of Organizational Behaviour, Third Canadian Edition 2-37


OB at Work


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For Review

1. Defineperception.

2. What is attribution theory? What are its implications for

explaining behaviour in organizations?3. What is stereotyping? Give an example of how stereotyping can

create perceptual distortion.

4. Give some positive results of using shortcuts when judging

others.

5. Describe the factors in the Big Five model. Evaluate which

factor shows the greatest value in predicting behaviour.


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For Review

6. What behavioural predictions might you make if you knew that

an employee had (a) an external locus of control? (b) a low

Mach score? (c) low self-esteem? (d) a Type A personality?

7. To what extent do peoples personalities affect how they are

perceived?

8. What is emotional labour and why is it important to

understanding OB?

9. What is emotional intelligence and why is it important?


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For Critical Thinking

1. How might the differences in experience of students and instructors

affect each of their perceptions of classroom behaviour (e.g., students

written work and class comments)?

2. An employee does an unsatisfactory job on an assigned project. Explain

the attribution process that this persons manager will use to formjudgments about this employees job performance.

3. One day your boss comes in and hes nervous, edgy, and argumentative.

The next day he is calm and relaxed. Does this behaviour suggest that

personality traits arent consistent from day to day?

4. What, if anything, can managers do to manage emotions? Are thereethical implications in any of these actions? If so, what?

5. Give some examples of situations where expressing emotions might

enhance job performance.


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Breakout Group Exercises

Form small groups to discuss the following topics:

1. Think back to your perception of this course and your instructor

on the first day of class. What factors might have affected your

perceptions of what the rest of the term would be like?

2. Describe a situation in which your perception turned out to be

wrong. What perceptual errors did you make that might have

caused this to happen?

3. Compare your scores on theLearning About Yourself Exercises at

the end of the chapter. What conclusions could you draw aboutyour group based on these scores?


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Supplemental Material

Slides for activities I do in my own

classroom


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Personality Inventory

In groups:

Quickly determine the means for each of the

personality items.Develop a summary statement of your group

based on the means for each of the items.

What are the implications for the workplace of

scoring either high or low on these dimensions?(Your group will be asked to examine one of thedimensions.)


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Perception Exercise

In the new OB project team, two members obviously have different perceptions onjust about everything the team does. Kevin sees the project one way; Kim sees itdifferently. They have different perceptions about team goals, methods, values, andthe roles team members should play. Kevin gives the impression he wants to be incharge and he argues aggressively to get his way. Kim, who is more reserved,offers thoughtful ideas in rebuttal, and usually consults with the other groupmembers for their views and support. Privately, Kevin bad-mouths Kim to anyonewho will listen. He says that he has been on successful teams many times andknows the best ways to operate the team. He says that Kim is a control freak andthe only one on the team holding up progress.Kim, on the other hand, onlyconveys her feelings about Kevin when team members are present, but she hasrepeatedly said out loud, There are more ways of getting this team started than just

yours! Too bad you have a closed mind! For the most part, the other teammembers perceive Kim and Kevin to have a personality conflict, and they areavoiding getting involved. The team is ineffective so far, and theres pressure to getthe team on track because of the impending class assignment deadline.


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In Groups Agree on answers to the following questions, and then report back on your groups

conclusions. Time: 30 minutes.

What main factors may account for the different perceptions held byKevin and Kim?

In each perceiver?

In the targets?

In the current situation?

What are some short cuts each may be taking in judging the other? Arethese judgements correct?

To what extent might the current situation be affecting the differentperceptions?

To what extent might each persons apparent personality be the cause for

the current conflict? Define their respective personalities.

If behaviour such as this happens often, how can perceptions be changedto that people in conflict like Kevin and Kim can reach consensus? Listsome ideas.

Source: Larry Anderson, Sauder School of Business, UBC

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02 Langton Fob 3ce Ch02