Question

Describe in your own words what you learned about perception from taking this test and how it affects a manager’s decision-making abilities?

Provide at least one example where you witnessed (or experienced yourself) an example of how perception in the workplace caused a negative issue and describe the outcome?

Explain the impact perceptions can cause in the communication process in an organization and provide at least two solutions you as a manager would implement to overcome that impact(s).

Answer 1

Perception is an intellectual process during which the brain interprets interaction with external environment by transforming sensory stimuli into relevant information which stored in the memory for future use in responding to similar stimuli and situations. It is a part of the learning process of an individual regarding external environment to facilitate quick response and reaction when encountering similar stimulus for improved efficiency in reaction. This process involves receiving all information to the sense organs related to the stimulus selecting the relevant information on the basis of interest on a which is dependent upon external and internal factors and influences, organising the information main to be able to to interpret and analyse it rationally and efficiently for arriving at a decision to be taken as a response. The needs based influencers are the major by which result in perception being extremely sensitive to influence from personal opinions.

Perception is an important element of individual behaviour organisational behaviour is greatly influenced by personal perceptiveness of every individual with perception of managers within organisations having a major impact on performance and environment. During interviews have been known to who reject candidates on the basis of perception which is influenced by personal opinions and biases. This results in inaccurate hiring decisions impacting the quality of recruited human resource within the organisation due to the perception of the interviewers. Managers are responsible for performance appraisal which which can be greatly dependent upon the perceptual process influencing the assessment due to subjective factors being evaluated which are qualitative and not easily measurable. Any judgemental factors within the assessment are open to bias through managerial perception. Since every employees future is linked closely to appraisals which generate motivation, job satisfaction promotions, pay hike and continuation of employment, it is extremely important that at appraisels be free from perception. Perception very often have been seen to to exhibit the pygmalion effect especially as a means of improved self worth and importance for managers. Performance expectations from any individual are subjected to the greatest perception bias with the performance witnessing a dual impact as a manager we have Expectations which are inaccurate due to who perception bias and employee has a response based upon this inaccurate perception. having excessive expectation especially from a group 14 can prove to be a motivating factor as individual perceptions and biases get greatly controlled in ruled out within groups whereas in individuals it may have a detrimental impact especially when it leads to inaccurate assessment with expectation of below par performance than what the individual is capable of. The low performance expectation becomes reality due to the Pygmalion effect. Fulfilling Prophecy and living up to Expectations are very true terms. Employee loyalty is another factor greatly influenced by perceptions of the managers report to with appreciation and expectations of loyalty greatly influencing the perception of the employees in turn and their behaviour towards the organisation. Loyalty being an extremely qualitative factor it is difficult to measure with management itself viewing a loyal employee negative factors within the environment as a disloyal troublemaker. It is important that managers be trained to to mitigate or control application of perceptions which result in bias within the processes they are involved in. This requires controlling responsiveness to stimulus and taking rational decisions based on analysis of data and learning to control and retrain the brain to lose set negative biases.

In a Telecom company where I was working as a commercial manager, a sales manager was extremely biased in his perception of women being incapable of performing Airtel level equal to men, better than men was possibly unthinkable for him, especially in a male dominated process such as marketing. A young, extremely self-motivated vibrant and energetic girl was recruited on the marketing team which reported to the sales manager. She put up stellar performances month of the month not only beyond expectations of the the sales manager but much better than those of some of the best male performers within the marketing team. The sales manager instead of feeling elated and encouraging her bike racing search exceptional performance constantly ignore the performance or indicated through comments that it was a stroke of luck. Finally, demotivated the girl and a performance started falling, she then realised that the problem was not with her the but the perception of the manager who had a biased perception, it ended with her deciding to leave the organisation due to the environment which was a hindrance to her performance and growth.

Perceptions can cause widespread impact in communication process within an organisation due to perception of roles within an organisation. Perceptions impact the way communication is integrated and perceived by every individual involved in the communication including for completing of a task. It is essential that the task to be performed be clearly and perfectly understood rather than the left open to perception of the person being delegated the task by clearly defining the importance of the task allotted and all associated procedures to be followed and then result required to be generated. It would also require understanding what is the preferred behaviour or mode to be adopted for completing the respective task buy clearly clarifying the perception of the role to be played of the involved individuals. Following absolutely clear mode of instruction communication within an organisation especially regarding jobs to be performed can mitigate risk arising out of wrongful perception. It is important that every manager understand each individual we have their own unique way of behaving of performing jobs to specify clearly the required performance and behaviour for a given task to be performed according to organisational procedures rather than on the basis of personal perception. Appearance is a major technique for impression management which directly impacts perception of an individual in relation to their importance or status. Mode of dress or presenting oneself is a major means for influencing others perception of us. This can be utilised in a positive manner within an organisation by dressing in a professional and presentable manner to present an image of the employees being capable and efficient to the external environment, which helps build the image of the organisation. As a manager I would insist that all individuals are professionally and appropriately dressed as as a personal appearance is the first mode of communication which is established between people.