Organisational behaviour
Keer49
ORGB2810-Chapter3-Online.pptxChapter 3
Perception, Attribution, and Diversity
ABOUT THIS SLIDESHOW
Yellow-gradient background – New Section
There are links on some slides that will take you to either articles or videos on the topic at hand.
There are notes for most slides that can be read when the slideshow is in edit mode (the mode it is in when you are creating content). You may need to click the word ‘Notes’ at the bottom and then click and drag the bottom to see the notes section. You can also see the notes if you go to print mode and print slides with notes. (refer to the picture on the next slide)
I’ve included a couple of links to the online textbook for more information about the topic at hand – you will see them in a box with a green background
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NOTES SECTION
Learning Objectives
Define perception and what influences it.
Explain social identity theory and Bruner’s model of the perceptual process.
Describe the main biases in perception.
Describe how people form attributions about the causes of behaviour and various biases in attribution.
Discuss the concepts of workforce diversity and valuing diversity and how racial, ethnic, religious, gender, age, and LGBT stereotypes affect organizational behaviour and what organizations can do to manage diversity.
Define trust perceptions and perceived organizational support, and describe organizational support theory.
Discuss person perception and perceptual biases in human resources.
New Section
We start off by looking at perception, the components of perception, how people tend to define themselves (Social Identity Theory) and finish with the perceptual process
What Is Perception?
Perception: The process of interpreting the messages of our senses to provide order and meaning to the environment.
People base their actions on their interpretation of reality
Ex. If you believe you deserve a better grade, you might complain, even though your grade was the highest in the class
Ex. Whether you stay in a class or drop it might depend on your perception of how difficult it would be
EXAMPLE (visual perception)
These are all the same… but they are different depending on where you are.
E
E
E
E
The first is the letter “E”, the second is the letter “W”, the third is the letter “M”, and the fourth is the number “3”
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Components of Perception
Perception has three components:
A perceiver
A target that is being perceived
Some situational context in which the perception is occurring
Each component influences the perceiver’s impression or interpretation of the target.
The perceiver would be YOU.
The target is what you are creating a perception of. As an example, maybe you just met your teacher and you use the cues from them (could be looks, could be voice, etc.) and based on those cues you form a perception.
The situation is context (at school in a classroom, or when they come in for dinner at the restaurant you work in, or at the grocery store, etc.)
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1) The Perceiver
Past experiences lead the perceiver to develop expectations that affect current perceptions.
Ex. Easier to tell if someone is joking if you’ve been around them awhile
Needs unconsciously influence perceptions by causing us to perceive what we wish to perceive.
Ex. Hungry people tend to notice food more than satiated people
Emotions, such as anger, happiness, or fear, can influence our perceptions.
Past Experience: Another example is that Caucasian men are much less likely to perceive race and gender as barriers to promotion than Caucasian women and non-Caucasians.
Needs: Lonely people tend to misperceive innocent actions as others having interest in them
Emotions: You might be so happy to get a promotion that you don’t notice that others are upset
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Perceptual Defence
Perceptual Defence: The tendency for the perceptual system to defend the perceiver against unpleasant emotions.
People often “see what they want to see” and “hear what they want to hear.”
Our perceptual system works to ensure we do not see or hear things that are threatening.
Click the link to find out more if you need clarification.
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2) The Target
Ambiguous targets are especially susceptible to interpretation and the addition of meaning.
Perceivers have a need to resolve ambiguities.
More information isn’t always helpful as the perceiver might not be able to use all the information provided by the target.
As a result, a reduction in ambiguity might not be accompanied by greater accuracy.
The definition of the word ‘ambiguous’ is OPEN TO INTERPRETATION.
If you ask someone out on a date and they shrug their shoulders and say “Hmmmm… maybe, maybe not”, that is AMBIGUOUS (unclear)
If you ask someone out on a date and they say, “NO WAY. I HATE YOU!”, and they look upset and disgusted and then they run away, that is NOT AMBIGUOUS.
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3) The Situation
Perception occurs in some situational context, and this context can affect what is perceived.
The most important effect that the situation can have is to add information about the target.
The perception of a target can change with the situation even when the perceiver and target remain the same.
Ex. A person makes a joke about gender (different if just after a gender issue at work)
Another example: Your boss making a comment about a small critique of your performance if you were up for promotion than if you weren’t.
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Question
What is the first thing that comes to mind if someone were to ask you, “Who are you” OR “Describe yourself”?
Your job or that you are a student
Your religion
Your race
Your gender or age
Other
Social Identity Theory
People form perceptions of themselves based on their personal characteristics and memberships in social categories.
Our sense of self is composed of:
Personal identity: based on our unique personal characteristics (e.g., interests).
Social identity: based on our perception that we belong to various social groups (e.g., gender).
Personal and social identities help us answer the question: “Who am I?”
A theory based on the question “Who Am I”? How do you define yourself?
The link takes you to a short article on social identity theory focusing on groups of people and whether you belong to a group and how that might define you.
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Social Identity Theory (continued)
We perceive ourselves and others as embodying the most typical attributes of a category or what are called “prototypes.”
If you are majoring in accounting, what might someone say about you?
We also form perceptions of others based on their membership in social categories.
Social identities are relational and comparative.
Tend to perceive members of your own social categories in more favourable ways.
If you identify as part of a group, you would perceive yourself as embodying typical attributes of that group.
Other people that you perceive as part of the same groups you are part of are perceived in more favorable ways. For example, if you are a huge soccer fan and you met two people, one of whom was a soccer fan and one who isn’t, you would tend to see the soccer fan in a more favorable light.
In simple terms, you like people more if they identify or belong to the same groups that you do.
The link takes you to the Wikipedia site for Social Identity Theory.
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Bruner’s Model of the Perceptual Process
When the perceiver encounters an unfamiliar target, the perceiver is very open to the informational cues in the target and the situation.
The perceiver will actively seek out cues to resolve ambiguity.
As the perceiver encounters some familiar cues, a crude categorization of the target is made.
Bruner’s model describes the perceptual process (the steps we go through to form our perceptions).
When target is unfamiliar, you are open to cues.
You actively seek cues. For example, if you don’t know someone you might look at their gender, age, race, clothes, etc. in order to try and learn more about them.
Once you find some familiar cues, you make a crude categorization. Ex. Someone has tattoos and you think tattoos are cool, therefore this person must be cool.
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Bruner’s Model of the Perceptual Process (continued)
The search for cues then becomes less open and more selective.
The perceiver will search for cues that confirm the categorization of the target.
As the categorization becomes stronger, the perceiver will ignore or even distort cues that violate initial perceptions.
D) Continuing with the tattoo example; now that you’ve made your crude categorization, you don’t look as hard for cues.
E) Now you only search for cues that confirm that this person is cool
F) You might even ignore cues that would suggest the opposite. You are trying to reaffirm your crude categorization by ignoring evidence to the contrary.
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Bruner’s Model of the Perceptual Process: An Example
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Characteristics of the Perceptual Process
Bruner’s model demonstrates three important characteristics of the perceptual process:
Perception is selective: don’t use all cues so accuracy isn’t great (but efficient)
Perceptual constancy: same over time and across situations (hard to change)
Anyone make a bad first impression with their girlfriend or boyfriend’s parents?
Perceptual consistency: select, ignore, and distort cues to provide a homogenous picture
By only using a few cues, you are able to make a crude categorization rather quickly (efficient). Ex. All people with tattoos are cool. (This is often wrong, but it is a fast way to categorize someone).
Once a perception is made, it can be hard to change as people tend to reaffirm they are right and ignore evidence to the contrary.
People look for cues that provide an easy to understand, homogenous picture. They want targets to be easily categorized.
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New Section
Now we take a closer look at some of the biases in perception (mistakes people can make)
Basic Biases in Person Perception
The impressions we form of others are susceptible to a number of perceptual biases:
Primacy and recency effects
Reliance on central traits
Implicit personality theories
Projection
Stereotyping
The next few slides will cover these.
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Primacy and Recency Effect
Primacy Effect: The reliance on early cues or first impressions
Primacy can have a lasting impact.
Recency Effect: The tendency for a perceiver to rely on recent cues or last impressions
Last impressions count most. (what have you done for me lately?)
True or False: The primacy effect is greater than the recency effect.
Primacy: You do something really bad on your first day and no matter how much good stuff you seem to do afterward, your boss still has a negative perception of you based on that first day
Recency: You do something really good on the last day and no matter how much you screwed up before, your boss has a very positive perception of you based on what you did most recently.
Basically, with the primacy effect you tend to remember the first encounter in a series of encounters the best while with the recency effect you tend to remember the last encounter in a series of encounters the best.
Some students will try to make a good first impression by attending and participating early in a course but as time goes by they begin to skip class and don’t participate as much. They are betting on the Primacy effect.
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Reliance on Central Traits
People tend to organize their perceptions around central traits.
Central traits: personal characteristics of a target person that are of particular interest to a perceiver.
Central traits often have a very powerful influence on our perceptions of others.
Ex. Physical appearance is a common central trait in work settings.
When looking for cues in an ambigious target, perceivers tend to organize their perceptions around central traits which are personal characteristics that are important to them. For example, some perceivers might care more about gender or age and therefore focus on those traits when perceiving a target person.
The central traits can differ depending on the perceiver and the situation. You might care more about certain traits if you were going to play a sport with someone than if you were going to work on a project with someone.
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Personal theories that people have about which personality characteristics go together.
Ex. You might expect hardworking people to also be honest, or people of average intelligence to be friendly.
If such implicit theories are inaccurate, they provide a basis for misunderstanding.
From the example, a person might assume that a hardworking person is honest. What about a hardworking criminal? These types of biases can lead to misunderstandings.
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Question
If you think a test is hard, do you usually assume everyone else would think the same as you?
Yes
No
Projection
Projection: tendency for perceivers to attribute their own thoughts and feelings to others.
In some cases, projection is an efficient and sensible perceptual strategy.
Projection can lead to perceptual difficulties and can serve as a form of perceptual defence.
It is quite common to think that others think and feel the same as you do about a number of things. Most of the time you are probably right, but you can be wrong.
You might think a test was unfair and assume everyone else would think the same (projection). You could be right, but you may also be wrong.
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Stereotyping
The tendency to generalize about people in a social category and ignore variations among them. (ex. Race, religion, age, gender)
There are three specific aspects to stereotyping:
We distinguish some category of people.
We assume that the individuals in this category have certain traits.
We perceive that everyone in this category possesses these traits.
Example:
For the sake of not offending I will use Asgardians (Thor’s people from the Marvel universe)
We may assume that Asgardians are all jerks and are really old.
Therefore if you are an Asgardian, you are a jerk and are really old.
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Stereotyping (continued)
Why do we use stereotypes?
People can evoke stereotypes with incredibly little information.(EASY)
Stereotypes help us develop impressions of ambiguous targets. (HELPS US MAKE SENSE)
Most stereotypes are inaccurate, especially when we use them to develop perceptions of specific individuals.
It would be very inefficient if you had to judge everyone without the use of stereotypes. Stereotypes allow us to make quick judgements and categorizations which saves us time and brain power. We can easily use stereotypes to perceive targets, but we run the risk of being inaccurate.
Ex. You might think that anyone who wears glasses is a ‘nerd’. This means you can see a bunch of people and quickly categorize those with glasses as nerds. However, the chances of you being correct about everyone are very low.
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Why Do Stereotypes Persist?
Several factors work to reinforce inaccurate stereotypes.
Incorrect stereotypes still help us process information about others quickly and efficiently.
Inaccurate stereotypes are often reinforced by selective perception (see what we want and ignore contrary information).
We keep using them because they are quick and efficient and we look for information that supports them and ignore information that doesn’t.
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New Section
We move from Perception to Attribution
Question
You work at Wal-Mart. The new guy (21-year-old TRU student) comes in late to work on Sunday morning. If you had to guess, which option below is the most likely?
Missed the bus or car trouble
Got drunk Saturday night and is hungover
Attribution: Perceiving Causes and Motives
Attribution is the process by which we assign causes or motives to explain people’s behaviour.
WHY DID THEY DO WHAT THEY DID?
Rewards and punishments in organizations are based on judgments about what really caused a target person to behave in a certain way.
An important goal is to determine whether some behaviour is caused by dispositional or situational factors.
Dispositional: The person is the reason why they did what they did
Situational: The situation is the reason why they did what they did
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Dispositional or Situational Attributions?
Dispositional attributions suggest that some personality or intellectual characteristic unique to the person is responsible for the behaviour.
Intelligence, greed, friendliness, or laziness.
Situational attributions suggest that the external situation or environment in which the target person exists was responsible for the behaviour.
Bad weather, good luck, proper tools, or poor advice.
Think about the question of why someone might be late to class. You might guess they are just a lazy person that doesn’t care about school (dispositional) or you might guess that the bus was late or they had car trouble or it was the weather (situational).
Those attributions would make a difference in how you are perceived and any punishments or rewards you might get. If I thought you were a lazy student you would get in more trouble than if I thought you had an accident on your way to school.
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Attribution Cues
We rely on external cues and make inferences from these cues when making attributions.
Three implicit questions guide our decisions as to whether we should attribute some behaviour to dispositional or situational causes.
How do we make attributions? We rely on cues. In this case, we ask three questions (not out loud, but in our mind).
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Three Attribution Questions
Does the person engage in the behaviour regularly and consistently? (Consistency cues).
Highly consistent - dispositional
Do most people engage in the behaviour, or is it unique to this person? (Consensus cues).
Low consensus - dispositional
Does the person engage in the behaviour in many situations, or is it distinctive to one situation? (Distinctiveness cues).
Is typical behaviour in this job same as last job? If so, then Low
Low distinctiveness - dispositional
If they always do it, then it is more dispositional. If you are always late to everything, then you are the reason you’re late.
Does everyone do it, or just you. If everyone does it, it is more likely to be situational. If you are the only one who does it, then it is more likely to be dispositional.
Do you do this everywhere, or just in this circumstance? If you do it everywhere, it means it isn’t distinct (unique) and it is likely to be dispositional. If you only do it under this circumstance, then it is more likely to be situational.
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Attribution in Action
Observers use these 3 sets of cues to form attributions.
EXAMPLE: Consider three students who are absent from class.
A teacher must develop an attribution about the cause to decide which action is warranted.
We need to answer, “Why are they absent?”
Attribution in Action (continued)
Kevin is absent a lot, his classmates are seldom absent, and he was absent a lot in his other courses.
Disposition or Situation?
Anna is absent a lot, her classmates are also absent a lot, but she was almost never absent in her other courses.
Disposition or Situation?
Sofie is seldom absent, her classmates are seldom absent, and she was seldom absent in her other courses.
Disposition or Situation?
Kevin – Absent a lot (consistent), classmates are NOT absent a lot (goes against consensus), and he is absent in other courses (not distinctive).
Anna – Absent a lot (consistent), classmates are absent a lot (high consensus), never absent in other courses (distinctive).
Sofie – Not usually absent (not consistent), classmates are NOT absent a lot (usually she is high on consensus, but not in this case), she usually attends class (this is a distinctive case for her).
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Cue Combinations and Resulting Attributions
| Consistency | Consensus | Distinctiveness | Likely attribution | |
| Kevin | High | Low | Low | Disposition |
| Anna | High | High | High | Situation |
| Sofie | Low | High | Low | Temporary Situation |
High Consistency – Dispositional
Low Consensus – Dispositional
Low Distinctiveness – Dispositional
Kevin and Anna’s answers are quite easy. Sofie’s is a bit more difficult. If you look at her situation, it appears that this is an abnormality. Everyone attends class regularly (including her). She usually attends all her classes, but today she isn’t in class. It is more likely that she got in an accident or was sick today or her bus was late. This is considered TEMPORARY because it likely won’t occur again and is unique to today. Anna’s absence might be because she (and others) just don’t like the class.
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Biases in Attribution
Although observers often operate in a rational, logical manner in forming attributions about behaviour, this does not mean that such attributions are always correct.
Three biases in attribution:
Fundamental attribution error
Actor-observer effect
Self-serving bias
We aren’t always right. We might attribute someone’s absence to one factor when really it is something different. As an example, some teachers might attribute your absence to being lazy more often than not.
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Fundamental Attribution Error
FAE: The tendency to overemphasize dispositional explanations for behaviour at the expense of situational explanations.
Why?
Often discount the strong effects that social cues can have on behaviour.
Often observe people in constrained and constant situations and fail to realize that observed behaviour is distinctive to a particular situation.
When making attributions, most people tend to ignore situational explanations. We aren’t aware of all the situational factors that another person is dealing with.
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Actor-Observer Effect
AOE: The propensity for actors and observers to view the causes of the actor’s behaviour differently.
Actors are prone to attribute much of their own behaviour to situational factors while observers are more likely to invoke dispositional causes.
Why are actors prone to attribute much of their own behaviour to situational causes?
Actor’s are more aware of situation and own thoughts
Research shows this effect is reversed in positive situations
Self-Serving Bias
SSB: The tendency to take credit for successful outcomes and to deny responsibility for failures.
People will explain the very same behaviour differently on the basis of events that happened after the behaviour occurred.
If it goes well… it was my fault.
If it goes badly… it was your fault.
This bias is quite common. If I did well on a test = it was all me (I’m great!). If I did poorly on a test = bad luck, the test was too hard, the teacher is a jerk, etc. (It wasn’t my fault).
The funny thing about this bias is that we only make the attribution after we know the result.
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New Section
Now we move to a discussion of perception and diversity
Person Perception and Workforce Diversity
Workforce diversity refers to differences among recruits and employees in characteristics, such as gender, race, age, religion, cultural background, physical ability, or sexual orientation.
Interest in diversity stems from 2 facts:
The workforce is becoming more diverse.
Many organizations have not successfully managed workforce diversity.
The link takes you to the online textbook. You may need to navigate further once you get to the site by clicking on the ‘contents’ link on the left and scrolling down.
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The Changing Workplace
The Canadian population and labour force is becoming increasingly multicultural and multiethnic.
By 2031, over 30% of the population will be visible minorities.
In less than a decade, 48% of the working-age population will be between the ages of 45 and 64.
I don’t expect you to memorize this. Just be aware that we’re changing.
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The Changing Workplace (continued)
Many organizations are seeking to recruit more representatively from the labour pool.
Many employees are required to interact with people from substantially different national or corporate cultures.
The increased emphasis on teamwork as a means of job design and quality enhancement also requires people from different cultures to work together.
Because of these issues, you need to understand how diversity can influence the workplace. You might have already had to work with someone who has a different background than yourself. They might perceive the world differently as a result of that background. They might have different values, make different attributions, communicate differently, etc.
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Valuing Diversity
Some have argued that organizations should value diversity, not just tolerate it.
What are the advantages of valuing and embracing diversity?
Diversity and proper management can yield strategic and competitive advantages:
Improved problem solving and creativity.
Improved recruiting and marketing.
Improved competitiveness in global markets.
Valuing Diversity (continued)
Organizations are adopting diversity as part of their corporate strategy to improve their competitiveness in global markets.
A diversity climate is related to business-unit performance.
Retail stores have higher customer satisfaction and productivity when their employees represent the ethnicity of their customers.
Organizations with more gender-diverse management teams have superior financial performance.
To clarify the third point: This basically says that stores do better when the people they have working are a reflection of the customers who are shopping. Would you rather buy clothes from someone of a similar background as you?
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Stereotypes and Workforce Diversity
A major barrier to valuing diversity is the stereotype.
Common workplace stereotypes are based on gender, age, race, religion, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
Can have negative effects on how individuals are treated at work.
So… I’m Irish, English, and French
Irish are drunks
English have bad teeth and love tea
French are snobs
When you don’t know much about a person, you use stereotypes as a way to categorize them. These stereotypes are typically based around diversity. People from a certain cultural are all seen as very similar. (We’ve discussed stereotypes before).
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Stereotype Threat
Stereotype Threat: Members of a social group feel they might be judged or treated according to a stereotype and that their behaviour and/or performance will confirm the stereotype.
Workers are often pressured to cover up or downplay their membership in a particular group.
Can you think of any examples of when, at work, you might downplay membership in a particular group?
The link will provide more information regarding ‘stereotype threat’.
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Racial, Ethnic, and Religious Stereotypes
Racial, ethnic, and religious stereotypes are pervasive, persistent, frequently negative, and often contradictory.
Discrimination at all stages (hiring, once hired)
Ex. Hiring and name, perception of standards, perception of barriers, attribution of performance
The link takes you to an article where African and Asian people ‘whiten’ their resumes to get jobs.
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Gender Stereotypes
One of the most problematic stereotypes for organizations is the gender stereotype.
Women are severely underrepresented in managerial and administrative jobs.
Women hold only 14.4% of corporate officer positions (2016). Unlikely to reach 25% until 2025.
Stereotypical business, management, and leadership traits don’t align with stereotypical female traits
Less likely to be promoted and supported but more likely to be aloud leave for childcare
Video
The link takes you to a video that shows a quick example of gender stereotyping.
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Question
For international students, does gender play a more significant role in the jobs people perform than it does in Canada?
Yes
No
Gender Stereotypes (continued)
Stereotype effects are reduced or removed with increased experience and training of decision makers and when decision makers:
are held accountable for their decisions
have good job-related information about the qualifications, competence, and performance of particular women
have an accurate picture of the job and its requirements
Women do not suffer from gender stereotypes in performance evaluations that their supervisors provide.
The more you know someone, the less stereotypes persist.
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Gender Stereotypes (continued)
Some Canadian organizations have made efforts to ensure that women are represented in senior positions.
Most progress in Financial Services
Least progress in male-dominated industries
Question
True or false:
Older people are harder to train than younger people
Older people are more dependable
The majority of older people would quit work if they could afford it
A person’s performance declines with age
Older workers resist change and are set in their ways
Age Stereotypes
Make certain assumptions about the person’s physical, psychological, and intellectual capabilities based on age.
Older workers are seen as:
Having less capacity for performance
Being less productive, creative, logical, and capable of performing under pressure, and as having less potential for development.
Being more rigid and dogmatic, and less adaptable to new corporate cultures.
However, they are perceived as more honest, dependable, and trustworthy.
Keep in mind that the points here are PERCEPTION, not fact.
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Age Stereotypes (continued)
These stereotypes are inaccurate.
Age seldom limits the capacity for development until post-employment years.
Research has found that age is not related to task performance or creativity.
However, age is related to other forms of job performance
More OCB and safety-related behaviour and fewer counterproductive work behaviours
Less workplace aggression, on-the-job substance use, tardiness, and absenteeism
Age Stereotypes (continued)
Age stereotypes affect human resource decisions regarding hiring, promotion, and skills development.
Older workers are often passed over for merit pay and promotions and pressured to take early retirement.
Some organizations have implemented programs and practices to promote the hiring of older workers.
But many organizations do not actively recruit and hire older workers.
There are certain service jobs where it would be rare to see someone over 30 working. Now this isn’t part of the job requirements, but you can imagine that people will hire younger people for certain jobs on purpose.
People might not want to hire someone who is older thinking that the older person might be close to retirement and you don’t want to invest in someone that is just going to retire. People might also think that an older person isn’t as good with technology and it might be harder to train them. Some women might even be passed over if they are in the age range of someone who might get pregnant.
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Question / Scenario
The Australian government paid employers $1,000 for every worker over 50 they hired and kept for at least 3 months.
This was done to battle the stereotypes that older workers faced.
Yes
No
Why or why not?
LGBT Stereotypes
LGBT employees face barriers and discrimination in the workplace that can limit their career advancement.
Many LGBT employees do not come out at work for fear of potential repercussions and negative consequences.
Misperceptions and stereotypes lead to discriminatory behaviour towards LGBT employees.
Those who don’t feel safe to come out at work are less productive and more likely to suffer from depression and stress.
The fourth point: It is hard to do your best when you can’t be yourself.
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LGBT Stereotypes (continued)
An increasing number of organizations have begun to make their workplaces more inclusive for LGBT employees.
LGBT-inclusive workplaces help:
increase employee engagement
reduce turnover
Increase perceptions of fairness
Increase organizational commitment
Increase career satisfaction
Places where you (and others) can be themselves can reap the benefits that are listed in the slide.
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Managing Workforce Diversity
What can organizations do to achieve and manage a diverse workforce?
Employ a more diverse workforce (not just token minorities)
Mix teams up
Ensure that those making career decisions about employees have accurate information about them.
Train people to be aware of stereotypes and to value diversity.
A token minority: For those that don’t know, this might mean that an organization that was mainly Caucasian would hire a person of colour just to say that they have a person of colour. It is like filling a quota “We need one minority so we don’t get in trouble.”
The third point: Accurate information reduces stereotypes.
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Questions
Which of the following best describes you when you choose your own groups for a school assignment:
I choose people who look similar to me and are likely from the same place I’m from
I choose people who are different than me
I just choose whomever is closest
Diversity Training Programs
Common approach for managing diversity.
Cover both awareness training and skills training that is relevant to the particular needs of the organization.
However, don’t simply rely on training alone.
They need to integrate diversity into all of the organization’s policies and practices
Perceptions of Trust
Employee trust toward management is on the decline.
Why do we care?
Trust perceptions influence organizational processes and outcomes.
What is Trust?
Trust: A psychological state in which one has a willingness to be vulnerable and to take risks with respect to the actions of another party.
Trust perceptions toward management are based on three distinct perceptions:
Ability (competence and skills)
Benevolence (caring and concerned)
Integrity (values and principles)
Perceptions of fairness are related to trust perceptions.
Perceptions of Trust (continued)
Perceptions of trust in management are positively related to:
job attitudes
job performance
and negatively related to:
turnover intentions.
Trust among co-workers is also important and has been found to be related to fewer physical symptoms (e.g. trouble sleeping) and less withdrawal from work.
Perceived Organizational Support (POS)
POS: Employees’ general belief that their organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being.
When employees have positive POS, they believe their organization will provide assistance when they need it.
Do you think TRU cares about you?
Yes
No
Organizational Support Theory
Employees who have strong POS:
Obligation to care about the organization’s welfare
Obligation to help the organization achieve its objectives
Greater sense of purpose and meaning
Strong sense of belonging to the organization
Obligated to reciprocate the organization’s care and support.
Perceived Organizational Support (continued)
Factors that contribute to POS include:
Favourable treatment, support, and concern for one’s well-being from supervisors or what is known as perceived supervisor support (PSS).
Fair organizational procedures.
Favourable rewards and job conditions.
Supervisors who experience greater POS are more supportive of others.
Your supervisor is a representative of the organization. If you perceive that you are supported by your supervisor, that correlates with perceiving you are supported by your organization (most of the time).
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Predictors and Consequences of POS
Perceived Organizational Support (continued)
How to improve employee POS
Supportive human resource practices that demonstrate an investment in employees and recognition of employee contributions lead to the development of greater POS.
Supportive human resources practices include:
Participation in decision making.
Opportunities for growth and development.
Fair reward and recognition system.
Equality and diversity programs.
Question
Yes or No
Has anyone worked where you thought compensation was unfair?
Who here has ever felt they were perfect for a job but didn’t get it because of the interview?
Person Perception in Human Resources
Perceptions play an important role in HR and can influence
who gets hired
how employees are evaluated once they are hired
Job applicants form perceptions during the recruitment and selection process which influence
their attraction to an organization
whether or not they decide to accept a job offer
Both the interviewer and the job applicant form perceptions which influence whether a job offer will be made and whether it will be accepted.
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Person Perception in Human Resources (continued)
Perceptions play an important role in three areas of human resources:
Recruitment and selection
Employment interview
Performance appraisal
Perceptions of Recruitment and Selection
Job applicants form perceptions based on:
How they are treated during the R&S process
What selection tests are used
According to signalling theory, job applicants have incomplete information so they interpret their recruitment experiences as cues or signals about unknown characteristics of an organization and what it will be like to work in an organization.
Ex. Discriminating questions might signal discrimination within the organization
If you are treated fairly, you are more likely to think positively of an organization and therefore more likely to accept a job. Imagine going into an interview where you were met by someone who was happy and smiling, who offered you a drink, who put you at ease and managed a few jokes, who seemed professional, who was dressed well, who asked you insightful questions, who did NOT say anything offensive or ask you any personal questions. NOW IMAGINE THE OPPOSITE. Where would you want to work? (easy answer)
Some selection tests may appear biased or unrelated or too difficult, etc., which can give you a negative impression of the organization.
Signalling theory is about cues. The information you get during the interview process can serve as a ‘signal’ as to what the organization will be like. Signals given during the process help job applicants form perceptions (categorizations), much like Bruner’s model would suggest.
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Question
Has anyone ever gone to a job interview and, once there, decided they didn’t want to work for that company?
Yes
No
Perceptions of Recruitment and Selection (continued)
Job applicants form more positive perceptions of the selection process when they are perceived to be fair.
More positive perceptions of selection fairness lead to:
More favourable org evaluations
More likely to accept job
More likely to recommend org to others
In my doctoral program we had to select three topics to focus on. One of my three was justice and fairness. This is a huge issue. EVERYBODY cares about fairness and justice. If you think you don’t, just imagine if you handed in the same answers as someone else and they got an “A” and you got a “C”. Or you can think about a group project where you did most of the work yet your other members all got the same grade.
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Perceptions in the Employment Interview
The employment interview is one of the most common organizational selection devices.
The interview is a valid selection device although it is far from perfectly accurate, especially when it is unstructured.
Validity improves when the interview is structured.
What factors threaten the validity of the interview?
The link takes you to a video about the small lies you can probably tell in a job interview and that you would have to assume others are telling you if you are the interviewer.
The question asks about factors that threaten validity. In other words, why isn’t this tool necessarily the best tool for finding effective employees? (Think about the lies you saw in the video or the lies you might have told in an interview. Nobody is saying they suck.)
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Factors that Threaten Interview Validity
Applicants are motivated to present a favourable impression of themselves.
Interviewers compare applicants to a stereotype of the ideal applicant.
Interviewers have a tendency to exhibit primacy reactions.
Interviewers give less importance to positive information about the applicant so negative information has undue impact on the decision.
Point One: Everybody tries to ‘bend’ the truth. Nobody tells an interviewer that they are lazy.
Point Two: The ideal doesn’t always exist. Many job postings ask for a huge list of requirements, but it is hard for applicants to be perfect. Judging everyone against the perfect or ideal candidate can cause problems.
Point Three: Primacy effects (first impressions count the most). In other words, don’t come in late to an interview.
Point Four: Interviewers tend to assume that you will talk about the positives and therefore ignore much of those comments. Anything negative that you bring up will be given extra attention as they assume that any bad thing you say is likely worse that what you’ve said.
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Contrast Effects
Previously interviewed job applicants affect an interviewer’s perception of a current applicant, leading to an exaggeration of differences between applicants.
Just like with student presentations. You want everyone else to suck to make your group look better.
When going for a job interview, if the applicants that go before you are horrible, you will look way better by comparison. Some people and companies have been known to send a few bad job applicants to a job posting so that the good applicant they send looks even better.
This type of effect happens in our everyday lives. Our judgement about what is hard or easy is based on a comparison of things we’ve seen and done before.
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Structured Employment Interviews
Validity improves when the interview is structured.
Interview structure involves four dimensions:
Evaluation standardization (same questions and comparable numeric scoring systems)
Question sophistication (use job-related behavioural and situational questions)
Question consistency (same questions in same order for every applicant)
Rapport building (don’t get personal)
Structuring an interview helps remove some of the subjectivity within the process and creates the perception of fairness.
Same questions for everyone with the same scoring system. Imagine if everyone was asked different questions and some were graded on a 1 to 10 scale, some with thumbs up and thumbs down, others with grades, others with good-average-poor.
Keep the questions appropriate and related to the work.
Same questions in the same order.
You want the best employee, not a new best friend. I understand that you may need to get along with that person and having things in common might help, but you are running the risk of missing out on good employees and getting yourself in trouble.
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Perceptions and the Performance Appraisal
Once a person is hired, further perceptual tasks confront organization members.
A performance appraisal is required for decisions regarding pay raises, promotions, transfers, and training needs.
Example of perceptions and evaluations: Employees with late start times receive lower job performance ratings from their supervisors due to a negative stereotype.
In some jobs you can use objective (easy to measure) performance indicators to evaluate job performance. However, in the majority of office work (managers in particular) those easy to measure variables don’t exist. This is when subjectivity and perception come into play. I might like someone and, as a result, say their performance is good.
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Question
3 TRU instructors are up for promotion. You can only choose 1 of them. How do you measure their performance so that you promote the best one?
Think… what measures could you use?
Objective and Subjective Measures
It may or may not be possible to find objective measures of performance for some jobs.
As we move up the organizational hierarchy, it becomes more difficult to find objective indicators of performance.
Organizations often rely on subjective measures of employees’ performance provided by managers.
Subjective Measures of Performance
Managers are confronted by a number of perceptual roadblocks.
Managers might not be in a position to observe many instances of effective and ineffective performance.
As a result, the target is frequently ambiguous.
Employees often alter their behaviour so that they look good when their manager is around.
Perceptual Biases in Subjective Performance Appraisals
A subjective performance appraisal is susceptible to some of the perceptual biases discussed earlier:
Primacy
Recency
Stereotypes
A number of other perceptual tendencies occur in performance evaluations that are known as rater errors.
Primacy example: The first project you did was great, so no matter what else you do, you get a good performance evaluation.
Recency example: The last project you did was great, so no matter what else you did, you get a good performance evaluation.
Stereotypes: You belong to a certain group of people who are stereotyped so your performance is judged in accordance with that group.
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Rater Errors
Rater errors in performance evaluation include the following:
Leniency: rate to high
Harshness: rate to low
Central tendency: rate most in the middle
Halo effect: use one aspect to stand for all aspects (usually around a trait the rater sees as important)
Similar-to-me effect: rate high if they are like the rater
The first three happen in school all the time. A teacher might mark too easy (leniency) or to hard (harshness) or might simply grade everyone in the middle (central tendency).
The Halo Effect example: A teacher might be good at presenting material so they get a good review even though they aren’t good at marking or returning marked work or designing exams.
Similar-to-me: People tend to like people who are just like them. As a result, they rate them higher.
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Leniency, Harshness, and Central Tendency Rater Errors
This graph just shows how the rater errors skew the true performance.
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Questions
Yes or No
Should all TRU instructors grade on a curve?
Should all Introductory OB courses be structured in the same way?
Do any of you research instructors before signing up for courses? How?
Rater Errors (continued)
These rating tendencies are partially a function of the rater’s personal experiences.
However, not all instances of leniency, harshness, and central tendency necessarily represent perceptual errors.
In some cases, raters intentionally commit these errors.
Personal experiences lead to stereotypes.
Not all errors are accidents. A boss might not want to upset anyone so they are lenient. A boss might not want anyone to feel jealous so they commit the error of central tendency. A boss might not want to give bonuses so they rate harshly.
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Techniques for Reducing Perceptual Errors and Biases
It is difficult to obtain good subjective evaluations of employee performance.
Human resources specialists have developed techniques for reducing perceptual errors and biases. Two examples of this are:
Behaviourally anchored rating scale (BARS)
Frame-of-reference (FOR) training
These are just two methods that have been developed to try and make subjective evaluations more objective. (Similar to what rubrics do for course work.)
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Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS)
Rating scales that give very specific behavioural examples of good, average, and poor performance.
E.g. a Rubric with lots of detail
With such an aid, the rater may be less susceptible to perceptual errors.
The link on the word ‘example’ just takes you to a google image search of a number of examples of BARS.
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Frame-of-Reference (FOR) Training
A training method to improve rating accuracy that involves providing raters with a common frame-of-reference to use when rating individuals.
Raters learn what behaviours reflect different levels of performance on each performance dimension and to use the same frame-of-reference when rating all individuals.
You actually practice rating and then receive feedback from the trainer as to how you did
Using this method you are basically training the evaluators. You would show them (provide them with a frame-of-reference) what good, average, and poor performance would look like so when evaluators rate employees, they know what to look for.
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