Perception & Impression

Management- Need & Relevance

Contents
1. Perception
I. Definition
II. Why it matters?
III. Types of Perception and Theories affecting Decision Making

2. Impression Management
I. Definition
II. Why It Matters?
III. A Self Evaluation
IV. First Impression
V. Strategies for Impression Management.
What is Perception
 Perception is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their
sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.
 Perception is important because people’s behavior is based on
their perception of what reality is, and not on reality itself.*

 We make perceptions about people, countries, companies and products

everyday.

*Pg157- Organizational Behavior- Robbins, Judge, Sanghi

Color Illusion Video
The target of perception is whatever the
perceiver is trying to make sense of. In OB
terms, the target of perception is often
another person.

The perceiver is the person trying

to interpret some observation that
he or she has just made, or the input
from his or her senses.
The situation is the
context in which
perception takes place.
Attribution Theory
 Locus - location of the cause—internal (dispositional) or external
(situational) to the person

 Stability - whether the cause is likely to stay the same in the near future or
can change

 Controllability - whether the person can control the cause

Perception Influencing Decisions in
Organization
 Selective Perception

 Halo Effect

 Contrast Effect

 Stereotyping

 Pygmalion Effect
Pygmalion Effect Video
 How Perception matters
 “The executive was interested in the deal, but his skepticism was if the deal
is so simple why is such an important man dealing with me”.

(Mark McCormack-What they don’t teach you at Harvard Business School).

Companies use this to their advantage
What is impression management
 It is an attempt that is goal-directed,may be
conscious or unconscious to influence the
perceptions of other people about a person,
object or event by regulating and controlling
information in social interaction.

Wikipedia.org
Impression- why it matters?
 It is an age old saying that first impression is the last impression.

 An effect, feeling, or image retained as a consequence of experience is

called impression in dictionary.

 Within three seconds of seeing a person for the first time we decide their:
o social status
o education
o friendliness
o approachability
First Impressions: the 93% rule
55%
appearance 38% tone,
& body pitch & pace
language of your voice

7% what
you say
Some Aids to Impression Management
Impression management theory
 Impression management theory says that any individual or
organization must establish and maintain impressions that are in
tune with the perceptions they want to convey to consumers.
A Self Evaluation
1 = Definitely not true of me.
2 = Generally not true of me.
3 = Occasionally true of me.
4 = Definitely true of me.
1. I would probably make a good actor.
2. I can argue only for ideas I believe in.
3. I feel a bit awkward with strangers and do not show up quite as well
as I should.
4. I may fool people by being friendly when I really dislike them.
5. I can make off-the-cuff speeches even on topics about which I have
almost no information.
6. I find it hard to imitate the behavior of other people.
A Self Evaluation-Scoring
 For items 2 and 6:
1 = 4; 2 = 3; 3 = 2; 4 = 1
 Add your scores for all of the items.
 Your score should range from 6 to 24.
 The average for college students is about 10-11.

Low Somewhat unconcerned with or unaware of social

demands.

High Somewhat concerned with what others think and try

to react with appropriate behavior.
Shakespeare crafted the famous
sentence "All the world is a stage, and all
the men and women merely players".
Erving Goffman on Impression
management
 "All the world is not, of course, a stage, but the crucial ways in which it isn't
are not easy to specify.

 The actor, shaped by the environment and target audience, sees

interaction as a performance. The objective of the performance is to
provide the audience with an impression consistent with the desired goals
of the actor.

 Thus, impression management is also highly dependent on the situation

Situation : Interview
HR manager’s views
 We asked 10 HR managers from different companies what impression
would they get from a person coming in Jeans and T-Shirt for a managerial
position ?

 Casual or Focused

 The response from all 10 was that the person will be perceived as
Casual and easy going.

 This helps us understand that Dressing sense plays a very critical role
in Interviews. It helps a person to form a positive impression in the
mind of a person.
Strategies for Impression Management
 Now we will discuss a few impression management strategies that have
been discussed by organizational researchers (e.g. Jones and Pittman,
1982; Tedeschi andRiess, 1981

 The attempt to be liked. It includes, among others, flattery , opinion

conformity, association, excuse, self descriptions and doing a
favor for the target in order to increase his or her liking for you.
Impression management
Before During elections
Rise to power
 One of the best incidence of using impression management.

 Portrayed herself as someone who suffered a lot of social

atrocities.

 Was able to turn the sympathy of people into votes and

became MP in 1996 and 1999.
Can you guess the name of this
person?
1. Born in a famous family.
2. Studied at The Doon School.
3. Studied at Harvard.
4. M.Phil in Development Studies from Trinity College,
Cambridge
5. Worked as consultant for Michael Porter's Management
consulting firm, Monitor Group.
Impression Management-Rahul Gandhi
 Able to change people’s
perception about congress.

 Managed to project himself

as leader of masses.

 Congress got 206 seats,1st to

cross 200 mark since 1984-
89.
Ingratiation (seven steps)
1. Show respect.
2. Be friendly.
3. Express consent.
4. Smile.
5. Be polite.
6. Be congenial.
7. Listen patiently.
Self-promotion
 This involves drawing attention to one’s personal
accomplishments so as to appear competent

 Five steps to Self Promotion:

1. Demonstrate my experience.
2. Demonstrate my dependability.
3. Demonstrate my expertise.
4. Submit accurate reports.
5. Demonstrate self-confidence.
Exemplification
 The exemplifier wants to be respected and admired for his or
her integrity and moral rectitude. For example, an individual
might always arrive at work early or leave late in order to
create the image of dedication to his or her job.

 Six Steps to Exemplification:

1. Voluntarily invest in my work beyond what is required.
2. Show initiative whenever I have a chance.
3. Initiate conversations on work-related issues.
4. Actively participate in meetings.
5. Say things like “I am making a special effort”.
6. Volunteer for various missions and activities.
Impression Management Tactics
The target of perception matches A subordinate tries to imitate her boss’s
Behavioral
his or her behavior to that of the behavior by being modest and soft-spoken
Matching perceiver. because her boss is modest and soft-spoken.

The target tries to present herself A worker reminds his boss about his past
Self-
or himself in as positive a light as accomplishments and associates with co-
Promotion possible. workers who are evaluated highly.

Conforming The target follows agreed-upon A worker stays late every night even if she has
completed all of her assignments because
to Situational rules for behavior in the staying late is one of the norms of her
Norms organization.
organization.
Appreciating The target compliments the per- A coworker compliments a manager on his
ceiver. This tactic works best when excellent handling of a troublesome employee.
or Flattering
flattery is not extreme and when it
Others involves a dimension important
to the perceiver.

Being The target’s beliefs and behaviors A subordinate delivering a message to his boss
are consistent. There is agreement looks the boss straight in the eye and has a
Consistent between the target’s verbal and sincere expression on his face.
nonverbal behaviors.

2002,Prentice-Hall
 Thank You!
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Ayush Shukla (P10074)| Debomita Mukherjee (P10079)|Himanshu Kapila (P10086)|Mrigank
Aggarwal (P10091)| Shruti Tharad (P10110)