SHORTCUTS IN JUDGING OTHERS AND ITS APPLICATIONS

INTRODUCTION

In perceiving the stimuli in our environment, people are likely to make so many errors and ended up with poor results. Some of those errors are stereotyping, halo effects, selective perception, distortions, attributions, projections etc. Each of these errors is dysfunctional for good decision making and management. Since subjective emotions, judgmental attitudes, and distortion of facts are common in perceiving any situation, we have tried to identify ways in which we can minimize perceptual biases. The need for managers to accurately perceive the environment and how manages can sharpen their perceptual skill are vital in enhancing perceptual skills.

SHORTCUTS IN JUDGING OTHERS

People tend to follow a number of shortcut methods when observing others and making judgment of others activities. These techniques are to some extent valuable and allow us to make accurate perceptions rapidly and provide valid data for making predictions. However, they are not foolproof. However, people often rely on them and follow them blindly. They can get us into trouble, particularly if you happen to hold higher level position and required to make effective decision making. An understanding of this shortcut can be helpful in recognizing when they can result in significant distortions.

Frequently used shortcuts in judging others:

While observing others in our day-to-day life, people tend to commit errors due to faulty perceptual process and make a wrong decision. This has to be avoided. There are five types of errors or short-cut methods which are frequently used by the individuals. They are:

1. Selective Perception
2. Projection
3. Stereotyping
4. Halo Effect
5. Contrast Effect

i) Selective Perception

It is a tendency to observe people selectively and accordingly interpret based on their interest, background, experience and attitudes. For example, a production manager is always likely to identify the need to strengthen the production system; the marketing manager will focus only on the marketing research and sales promotions activities. In general, we tend to notice things which are similar to us. For instance, we are more likely to notice the type of cars which are similar to ours. The simplest way of avoiding hasty or wrong decision being made due to selective perception is to seek other people’s perceptions of “reality” in the same situation in order to make a better assessment of the situation.

ii) Projection

It is a tendency to assign one’s own personal attributes to others. For instance, a manager who is corrupt will tend to project that all others are also corrupt like him. Similarly, a manager who loves challenging work might project that all others like challenging work. Many times, this is not true, and the manager who tries to enrich all the jobs as challenging might be leading to wrong motivational technique for other employees. When managers engage in projection, they compromise their ability to respond to individual differences. They tend to see people as more homogeneous than they really are. Thus, managers should guard themselves against perceptual biases through projection.

iii) Stereotyping:

It is a tendency to judge people based on the perception of the group to which he belongs.

We tend to attribute favorable or unfavorable characteristics to the individual based on upon widely held generalization about the group. For instance, we perceive that Japanese in general are hard working, quality conscious and industrious, and based on that we generalize that all Japanese are like that, but in reality it may not be so. There are some Japanese who may not possess the above mentioned characteristics. Similarly we assume that women in general are soft, kind, caring, affectionate, considerate, gentle, but there are some women who may not possess these characteristics. Similarly, we may assume older people are traditional, conservative, and cranky, but not every elderly person fits into this mould and hence we are likely to make errors of judgment. Sex-role stereotypes and age-stereotypes adversely affect recruitment, pay, job placement, and promotion decisions. As a result of which, organizations frequently lose good employees.

iv) Halo Effect:

It is tendency to draw a general overall impression about an individual based on single striking characteristics. For instance, if a person speaks English fluently, we tend to assume that that person is very knowledgeable, intelligent, smart, clever etc. hard working, smart etc. Similarly, if a man is abrasive, he may also be perceived as bad, awful, unkind, aggressive, harmful, deceitful and wicked. Halo effect, whether it is positive or negative, will distort our perception and block us from actually perceiving the trait that is being judged. This phenomenon frequently occurs when students appraise their university lecturer.

v) Contrast Effect:

It is tendency to evaluate a person’s characteristics by just comparing with other people who happened to acquire higher or lower position on the same characteristics. For instance, while comparing the presentation of students, a good presentation made by one student just before you will probably make you feel that you won’t be as good as you probably are. This contrast effect can distort our perception. In general, a person will be evaluated in isolation. But our reaction to one person is often influenced by other people or events in which we have recently encountered. In interview situation, a job applicant is likely to receive a more favorable evaluation if preceded by mediocre applicants and a less favorable evaluation if preceded by strong applicants.

Methods to overcome such biases in perception

The pitfalls listed above can be minimized by enhancing perceptual skills by consciously putting effort in the following activities:

1. Knowing and perceiving oneself accurately
2. Being empathic
3. Having positive attitudes
4. Enhancing one’s self-concept
5. Making a conscious effort to avoid the possible common biases in perception
6. Open communication
7. Avoiding Attributions.

i) Knowing and Perceiving Oneself Accurately:

One of the ways in judging others and situations more accurately are by knowing, perceiving and understanding ourselves accurately. The best way of achieving this objective is to obtain information on how others perceive us from as many sources as possible – supervisors, peers, subordinates and other colleagues. By consciously putting effort in getting feedback from others as much as possible about yourself regarding all the activities will help widen your open self. Similarly, by exposing yourself to others regarding your opinions, suggestions, beliefs, values, attitudes life styles etc, others may be able to understand you better and come forward to share their views more frequently. There are two critical things relevant to widening ones open self – i) soliciting feedback from others and ii) exposing or disclosing yourself to others.

ii) Being Empathic

Empathy means being able to see a situation as it is experienced by others. If a person is able to view the problems of his employees from the employees’ point of view instead of looking things from his own perspective, he may be able to understand the real problems experienced by them very clearly. The truly effective manager will be able to rise above his or her own personal impressions and comprehend problems from others perspectives. This can occur only when the manager can be sensitive to the needs of others and perceive situations from their point of view as well before making final decisions.

iii) Having Positive Attitude

There is a high level of relationships among attitudes, perceptions, beliefs and values. Unless managers can take positive attitudes to whatever situations they find themselves in and see things from a positive angle, their perceptions are likely to be distorted. By being aware of personal biases, and making a concerted effort to be as unbiased as possible, manages can consciously try to get rid of any negative feelings they may have of others. This will help them to pout things in their proper perspectives and thus enhance their perceptual skills.

iv) Enhancing one’s Self-Concept

Positive evaluation of oneself by accomplishing a commendable performance or remarkable things will boost good self image. When people handle roles where they can exhibit and enhance their competence and be successful, they will develop a basic sense of self-esteem and have a positive self regard. When our self-concept is enhanced and we have acquired a positive self-regard, we are apt to respect others more and perceive them more accurately.

v) Avoiding Common Biases in Perception

By checking and cross checking the events and spending adequate time and resources to monitor the various things around, one can consciously raise the overall level of awareness and this will help considerably minimize our perceptual biases. Self correction and self renewal process must be continuous within oneself as we interact with situation on a daily basis and based on that one must change and adapt to the current situations

vi) Open Communication

Even though mangers may watch out for their own perceptual errors, it is a fact that employees at the workplace act in accordance with their own perceptions. Effective mangers not only have to remember that employees tend to misperceive situations but they should also be able to effectively communicate to employees the happenings in the work setting such that any misperceptions are dispelled.

vii) Avoiding Attributions

Inappropriate attributions are frequently made by all of us when we try to make sense of what is happening in our environment. Due to this, our judgment will be wrong and will end up with poor results. By observing keenly certain behavioral principles as laid down in attributions model, people can sharpen their judgment to check whether the causes of particular behavioral act is due to personality or situational factors. Based on this, one can enhance their perceptual skills.

Perception: Specific Applications in Organizations

In general, people tend to judge one another for many purposes, such as appraising performance, motivational level, attitudes, skills, knowledge etc. These types of judgments will have some important consequences for the organization.

Stress:

Judging people based on the comparison process will make people tensed. It will have either positive consequences or negative consequences. If a person is matured enough, he or she will take up this issue positively and will try to put more effort to meet the expectation or perception of their manager. Some times, the consequences will be very negative leading to absenteeism, illness, low job satisfaction, poor morale etc. A great deal of stress can be due to the perception, judgments and expectations that workers and managers have about the workplace. Managers must ensure that the judgment must lead to positive consequences.

Employment Interview:

Due to perceptual errors in the interview process, the screening of job applicants from not so potential to potential will not be very effective. There is poor inter-rater agreement on the performance of job applicants which will perhaps due to interviewer’s subjective feelings, bias, prejudice and cause all the perceptual errors. In some cases, discrimination in recruitment interviews occur due to the forming of opinions of interviews based on racial, gender or age stereotypes. Taking due consideration on the elimination of these errors will significantly help in making effective decision.

Performance Expectation:

Manager’s expectation will have a significant impact on the performance of an employee. If a manager expects a very good performance from his subordinate and conveyes such expectations in all possible ways to him, that employee will adjust behavior in such a way by putting more effort in his work and fulfill the expectation of his manager. Similarly, if a manager expects a very poor or substandard performance, that concerned employee will tend to behave in such a way to as to meet those low expectations. Thus, the expectations become reality. The terms self-fulfilling prophecy has evolved to characterize the fact that people’s expectations determine their behavior. Managers must ensure that only positive expectations must be conveyed to their employees to make them put on more effort to become outstanding employees.

Performance Evaluation:

During the performance appraisal, the managers are subjected to have influenced by various perceptual errors particularly, halo effect, stereotyping, contrast effect etc. In general, managers use subjective measures in evaluating employees performance as good or bad based on their overall perception Due to this, their assessment is found to be faulty leading to severe implications in job outcomes. In order to avoid such errors, managers need to be trained in evaluation techniques.

Employee Effort:

Assessment of an individual’s effort is purely subjective judgment susceptible to perceptual distortions and bias. If manager is free from such perceptual errors and his judgment is just and fair, the employees will put more effort and help the organization to meet its objectives.

Employee Loyalty:

Managers tend to perceive employees differently. If employees are looking for employment outside the organization, the employees may be labeled as disloyal. If an employee questions top management decision, he is branded as disloyal, If an employee reports unethical practices of management to authorities outside the organization, he is branded as disloyal. The assessment of an employee’s loyalty or commitment is highly subjective judgmental. Due care must be taken to ensure proper judgment free from such perceptual errors.