NM1604

ORGANISATIONAL
BEHAVIOUR
PERCEPTION – CH 8
 Revision Ch 6 & 7
• Name 2 content theories of motivation and explain what
they are
• What are their criticisms?
• Name 2 process theories of motivation and explain what
they are
• What is the trait theory of leadership? What are the
criticisms of this theory?
• What are Lewin 3 styles of leadership? Describe each of
them.
• Describe the different characteristics of Transactional &
Transformation leadership
Learning Objectives

• Find out how perception affects people at work.

• Look at how famous experiments have shaped
our ideas of perception and how people behave
at work.
 Perception

• Psychological process responsible for

attending to, organising and interpreting
sensory data.
• Dolly Parton: “I don’t believe blondes are
dumb. On the other hand I have never
believed I am blonde”.
Perception

. The Hamun Brain is so Azaming, as

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Perception

• Optical Illusions test

• The Invisible Gorilla
• http://www.theinvisiblegorilla.com/videos.html
Optical Illusions How many
faces can
you see?
 Can you see a
Optical Illusions duck/rabbit?
Optical Illusions
Are these lines
the same size?
 Perception of detail
• On a scale of 1 to 7 rate your own
understanding of how a bicycle works –
where 1 is ‘no idea’ and 7 is ‘expert level’
 Bicycle
• On a piece of paper draw a bicycle
 Selective Perception Test
• Door study
• Watch the video about selective perception
• What is selective attention/perception?
 Process of perception
Elements in process of perception:
• Sensory input
• Selective attention
• Perceptual organisation
• Interpretation
• Behaviour response

- ‘Bottom-up’ processing (sensation)

- ‘Top-down’ processing (perception)
Significance of perception

• These optical illusions show that the way

people see things is different. This affects
how we behave, especially in the work place.

• Perception does not necessarily coincide with

reality
 Milgram 1963
• Do people follow authority?
• Learner memorizing various word pairs. As
instructed by the experimenter, the teacher
administered a shock for each incorrect
response, and more importantly, increased
one level on the shock generator
• Though the learner is not really ever being
shocked.
• Milgram Experiment
Milgram- Results & Conclusion
• No subject stopped before 300 volts,. A total
of 14 subjects defied the experimenter, and
26 of the 40 participants obeyed till the end,
administering 450-volts to the learner
• Conclusion- people will follow authority even
when things are wrong
• Perception of authority is high in the work
place
• “Just following orders”, Abu Ghraib prison
case Iraq war
Zimbardo/The Stanford Prison Experiment
(1971)
• Zimbardo(1971) 18 young middle class young
white men were randomly allocated to the
role of guards and prisoners.

• Experiment was prepared as if it was a play

or a film but the dramatisation quickly
became believable.

• Stanford Prison Experiment

The Stanford Prison Experiment
• When the prisoners rebelled the guards’
perception of the prisoners changed so it was
no longer just an experiment.

• The guards imposed severe penalties on the

prisoners.

• Prisoners broke down despite being

psychologically healthy before the experiment
The Stanford Prison Experiment
• Most prisoners believed that the subjects
selected to be guards were chosen because
they were bigger than those who were made
prisoners, but actually, there was no
difference in the average height of the two
groups.

• Experiment proved that a person’s perception

can be manipulated depending on the
situation they are in
Asch Experiment (1950s)

• Asch Experiment
• What does the Asch Experiment illustrate
about groups and conformity?

• Peer pressure is high in the workplace and

people conform to group decisions

• A person’s perception can be altered

Halo effect

• Letting our assessment of an individual be

influenced by one trait or characteristic.
• Thorndike(1920) people seen as having a
good or bad characteristic, you will take this
to mean they are wholly good or bad. E.g- a
beautiful person, you may think that they are
nice, kind, light hearted and easy going.
Halo Effect
• Giam Cipriani and Angelo Zago looked at the
exam results of 885 economics students in
Verona, Italy, over three years.
• Those who were more beautiful than others
performed much better in their exams than
those who were not so good looking.
• It may be, then, that those who are more
beautiful are given more attention by teachers
and therefore a greater chance to excel.
Unconscious Bias
• Researchers distributed 5,000 resumes to
1,250 employers. “Typically white,” others
“typically black.”
• Results: CVs with “typically white” names
received 50 percent more callbacks than
those with “typically black” names.
• Average “typically white” named candidates
received more callbacks than highly skilled
“typically black” named candidates! (Bertrand
& Mullainathan 2004).
Perception and race
• Guardian article 2011, found that the apprenticeship
scheme has not been hiring enough people from
minority back grounds when they have the same or
equivalent qualifications.
“Michael Nyamekye left school with two A-levels,
but his attempts to find an apprenticeship
scheme were also unsuccessful. Over an 18-
month period, he applied, and was turned down
for, over 150 jobs and apprenticeships”
• Therefore perception can affect peoples chances of
getting jobs
Perceptions of age
• Perception of older workers: poor health,
inflexibility, resistance to change and low
trainability, outdated skills (Tinsley 1990)
• New legislation people cannot discriminate
based on age (Equality Act 2010)
• Ageism and the BBC – Mariam O’Reilly
sacked from a show, won a case and proved
that it was because of her age.
BBC ageism row
 Knife Crime

• The perception propagated by the media is

that knife crime is on the increase.
• Twenty people died in knife attacks in
London between the first day of 2008 and
10th July 2008.
• However according to the statistics, knife
crimes fell by 15.5%, from 11,986 to 10,131
between 2006/07 and 2007/08. Perceptions,
then, are distorted, or the statistics are wrong.
Perception of debt & link to class
• Students’ perceptions of and attitudes to debt
appear to be influenced by class.

• Those from low social classes are more debt-

averse than those from other social classes,
and are far more likely to be deterred from
going to university because of their fear of
debt (Callender and Jackson, 2005).
How to tackle bad perceptions

• Put your self in someone else's shoes

• More contact with minority groups

Conclusions
• Perception gives us excellent examples of
how and why we need to be wary of what we
think we see and know.
• Need to weigh and balance evidence and
arguments, and appreciate consequences of
inaccurate perceptions, particularly where
there are vested interests and lack of
research facts.
• Question the assumptions you and others
make.
Discussion Questions
• The chapter on perception argues that we need to
critically reflect on the process of perception and
understand how we may see things differently.
• What experience do you have that suggests we may
each see things differently, or should doubt the
accuracy of our perceptions?
• What would be the consequence of not bothering to
critically reflect on what we think we see?
• Discuss the significance of each of the 3 experiments
(Milgram, Zimbardo/Stanford & Asch)
Revision
• Open Forum Questions
• Exam Revision
Exam Format
• One case study
• 5 questions (8 marks each)
• Essay style answers for EACH question required
(Introduction, Body, Conclusion)
• Marks awarded per question as follows:
– 2 Marks – Structure
– 2 Marks – Relevant theory/description/definition
– 2 Marks – Application to case study
– 2 Marks – Criticism/Disadvantages/Alternatives/Limitations/
Critical Analysis