Understanding the Perceptual ProcessPeople perceive things differently and behave accordingly. We react to the perceived world as we see it. Understanding how it works will help us understand our own behavior and that of others. In organizational settings, people react to others and make job-related decisions based on how they perceive on what is going on in their work environment.

Perception the process by which people select, organize and interpret the sensory information they receive into a meaningful picture. the process by which we see ourselves and things around us and attach meanings to what we see. it is accomplished through the use of our senses it is the process of forming mental picture of people, objects, events and places.

Why should managers study perception?1. Big organization dehumanize employees.2. People are generally lazy, so you have to control them.3. Happy workers are productive workers.4. People are emotional.5. Good leaders are always firm but fair.6. First impressions are the lasting impressions.7. Big organization

The Perceptual ProcessStudying the perceptual process involves knowing how perceptions from and how they influence attitude and behavior. The figure illustrates the perceptual process as a system. It show how objects, events and people in the environment are received into our perceptual field, and how these perceptual inputs are selected, organized and interpreted into some meaningful form. The perceptual process involves the following elements:

I. Reception (Perceptual Inputs) perceptual inputs are received through our sensory mechanisms that is, objects, events and people in the environment enter our perceptual field through or senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste).II. Processing (Perceptual Mechanisms) these inputs are processed by perceptual mechanisms, that is, they are selected, organized and interpreted to give meaning to the perceiver.

Perceptual Selection we selectively perceive only those stimuli that are considered relevant to our purposes, the tendency to perceive what we want to see.

Two Psychological Principlesa. Figure-Ground PrincipleWhen we look at objects and events in the perceptual field, we find that not all objects and events enter our awareness with equal clarity. The tendency to perceive the salient factors in a picture against insignificant factors is called figure ground. For example, the printed words on this page is the figure, and the white space around the words is the ground.In organizational setting, the manager may select some employee qualities such as creativity and initiative as important and ignore other qualities such as dependability and reliability which are then perceived as unimportant. Creativity and initiative are the figure, while dependability and reliability are the ground. If the manager wishes to reward employees for the latter qualities, the figure-ground relationship is simply reversed.

b. Perceptual RelevancePeople selectively perceive things that are relevant to their needs, wishes or desires. Leavitt points out that perceive things that are pleasing to them, ignore what is mildly disturbing facts and pay close attention to threatening information. In organizational settings, managers are attuned to favorable information that makes them look good, ignore mildly disturbing facts and pay close attention to threatening information.

c. Perceptual Organization selected inputs are organized to provide meaningful picture to the perceiver. They are organized into complete objects, events or mental picture.

Gestalt Process the process by which perceived inputs are organized into meaningful pictures.

a. GroupingIt refers to the tendency to group things or people on the basis of proximity or similarity. Things that are close to each other or that similar characteristics, are perceived to be same and are treated alike.

b. ClosurePeople have the tendency to fill in the missing information. When they are presented with a set of stimuli that is not complete, they fill in the missing parts. When people faced with incomplete messages, they fill in the missing informations. In organizations, the managers usually do not have complete information on which to judge their employees, and yet they fill in the missing information and make personal decisions.

c. SimplificationThis principle is the opposite of closure principle. Rather than adding informational inputs, the perceiver subtract less salient informational items. When people are overloaded with information. They tend to simplify it to make it understandable.

III. Perceptual Interpretation the interpretation of perceived events and objects. People interpret the meaning of the perceived world in order to make it useful to their purposes. It is a subjective process. It is a judgmental process. It can be easily distorted.

Several Factors that influence Perceptual Information in Social and Organizational setting1. Halo effect sometimes called horn effect the process of using a single favorable trait a person to judge all the individuals trait.2. Stereotyping the tendency to judge other people on the basis of the characteristics (real or imagined) of groups to which they belong.3. Impression and Attribution people frequently judge other people on limited information.4. Attribution in judging the action of another person, we tent to evaluate the causes of the action. If the action is perceived as intentional and directed toward a particular person, we will have a strong feeling toward the perpetrator of the behavior.

Accuracy of your Perception what we think we see is not always accurate.

Attribution Process process of assigning reasons for anothers behavior (self-serving bias) hold onto our first impression of someone (why we manage our identity) hold onto the negative (hear three positive and one negative piece of information yet only remember negative piece)

I. Influences (The Perceived Characteristics and the Perceivers Characteristics) these mechanisms are affected by both the internal and external factors.

A. External Factors1. Size the larger the size of the perceive stimulus, the more likely it is to be perceived.2. Intensity accentuates the perceived stimulus. The more intense the stimulus, the more likely it is to be perceived.3. Contrast the stimulus that stands out against a4. repetition5. motion6. novelty7. appearance8. status

B. Internal Factors1. Needs and Motives2. Past Experiences3. Personality4. Self-concept, the way we perceive ourselvesa. real self what you really areb. self-image how you look at yourselfc. looking glass self how you think others look at youd. ideal self what you want to, how do you like to be looked at

II. Output (Perceptual Outputs) these are attitudes, opinions and feelings, these output will not only determine the perceivers behavior but also influence the way perceptual inputs will be perceived in the future.

III. Reaction (Behavior) the perceivers behavior generates responses from the perceived. The responses constitute a new set of inputs that will be processed to provide new meaning to the perceive.

How Perception Affects our BehaviorPeople develop attitudes toward what they perceived. These attitudes are perceptual outcomes, they influence the perceivers behavior and how he or she will perceive things in the future.An ATTITUDE can be defined as set of beliefs, feelings and opinions, that people hold toward the perceived world. An attitude reflects a persons readiness to respond to the perceived object or person. It is acquired as a result of perceptual interpretation. It may be negative, positive or non-existent.

Developing Perceptual Skills1. Perceiving Oneself Accurately2. Developing Emphatic SkillsEmpathy experience world from others perspective, it involves three dimensions: (1) perspective taking, (2) emotional dimension, and (3) genuine concern.3. Beware of Perceptual Distortions one important lesson to learn about perception is that the perceived world is not necessarily the real world.4. Managing Impressions people often judge another person on how they perceive him or her. In social settings, how we appear to others is more important that what we actually are. This is because how we appear to others is what they know about us. Therefore, we must try to show ourselves in a positive light in social settings.5. Do not overlook other peoples behavior.6. Identify and confront your stereotypes.7. Evaluate people based on objective factors.8. Avoid making harsh judgment