PERCEPTION: PERSON PERCEPTION.

INTRODUCTION

Perception can be defined as a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment. Perception is not just what one sees with eyes. It is a much more complex process by which an individual selectively absorbs or assimilates the stimuli in the environment, cognitively organizes the perceived information in a specific fashion and then interprets the information to make an assessment about what people select, organize, and interpret or attach meaning to events happening in the environment. Since perception is subjective process, different people may perceive the same environment differently based on what particular aspects of the situation they choose. For example, some employees may perceive the work place as great if it has favorable working conditions, good pay. Others may perceive it as great if it has challenging assignments and opportunity to grow. Managers should sharpen their perceptual skills so that they are as close to perceiving people, events, and objects as they truly are. When “misperception” occurs due to perceptual errors and distortion, managers are bound to make poor or improper decision.

PERCEPTION

Perception is process through which short-run changes are made in behavior in response to inputs from work environment. The process itself consists of two major actions – i) attention to incoming stimuli and ii) translation of such stimuli into a message that leads to a meaningful behavioral response. Perception is form of behavior and, therefore, influenced by at least the following factors: i) characteristics of the object or source of incoming stimuli (such as a supervisor issuing work request); ii) the situation or conditions under which the stimuli occur (such as timing of a message) and iii) characteristics of the perceiving person. The last category is extremely important in determining the way incoming stimuli will be interpreted and subsequent response. An individual’s motives, previous learning and personality will influence perception. Managers must take such consideration into account in predicting the way their actions and order will be perceived by others.

Five Stages in Perceptual Process:

Stage I: Observation Phase – It depicts the environmental stimuli being observed by the fives senses of the perceived

Stage II: Selection of the Stimuli: This is governed both by factors external to the perceived, such as the characteristics of the stimulus, and internal to the individual, such as the personality disposition and motivations of the perceiver.

Stage III: Organizing Stage – In this stage, the perceiver is influenced by figure and ground, grouping, and several perceptual errors such as stereotyping halo effects, projection and perceptual defense.

Stage IV: Interpretation Stage: This stage is governed by the perceiver’s assumptions of people and events and attributions about causes of behavior and feelings.

Stage V: Behavior Response: In this stage the response of the perceiver takes on both covert and overt characteristics. Covert response will be reflected in the attitudes, motives, and feelings of the perceiver and overt responses will be reflected in the actions of the individual.