The Reality Vs. Perception

The Reality Vs. Perception

Attribution theory is based on how individuals perceive events and how the events affect their thinking and behavior.  In this theory, persons try to establish why people do what they do, by attributing the causes to personal conduct. In the purpose of determining why a person did a thing, the use of the action is attributed to a specific behavior or trait (Martinko, 2018). A three-stage process underlies an attribution, and it begins with a person observing a behavior. After perception of behavior, the individual believes that the action was deliberately done, and then finally, the person must determine whether the behavior is attributed to an external or internal cause. The critical factors that contribute to achievement include effort, task difficulty, and personal abilities. The process of decision making in an organization depends highly on the relationship between perception of attributes and performance.  Causal attributions in organizations determine efficient reactions to success or failure.

Perception is the ability to recognize and interpreting information in our environment and how we give meaning to that information (Martinko, 2018). However, perception is a dynamic process where the external environment tries to impose a reality on to us, and we convert it into a self-conceived perspective.  Perception is critical in understanding human behavior because of every individual approach life situations differently. Prediction of people’s behavior can be made by following their perception of situations in the environment through changing circumstances.  Perception is very important in organizations where, for a manager to avoid mistakes when dealing with people and events, a high comprehension of human behavior is necessary. However, complications arise since people perceive situations differently.

Perception is essential since it takes in observations within the environment and produces a reality, based on previous experiences. It also helps in establishing characters, which define various categories that individuals fall into. In order to understand human behavior, it becomes primarily essential to comprehend how they perceive different situations.

Factors affecting perception

Attribution Theory

In this theory, when people observe situations, they try to determine whether the action was done deliberately or not. In an organization setting, the decision-making process is based on the relationship between the perception of attributes and the goals or achievements of the organization (Hoffman, 2018).  Internally caused behaviors are the action we believe occur out of ones’ control while, on the other hand, externally caused behavior are actions we perceive the situation forced the individual to do. Being late for work can be externally attributed to traffic or internally assigned to the employee having partied the new in the night hence oversleeping. However, in most cases, the judgment of behavior is biased since we tend to underestimate the effect of external factors and emphasize the contribution of personal factors. In most organizations, success is attributed to internal factors such as competency and individual abilities, while failure is attributed to external factors such as unproductive workers.

Relatively, people attribute tend to accept positive feedback and dismiss negative feedback, a phenomenon referred to as self-giving bias. In this, there is a high tendency of individuals tend to attribute their success to internal factors while attributing their failures to external factors. Different cultures portray variations when it comes to the attributions people make.

Bounded Rationality

Decision-making processes in organizations and the overall success of the firm is based on the behavior theory of the organization (Vargas-Hernández  & Ortega, 2019). In a bounded rationality decision-making perspective, the main aim is to clarify how decisions are made based on the human aspect. The Decision-making process involves choosing between several alternatives (Koch, D’Mello & Sackett, 2015). The favorable choice depends on success or failure and must cover the uncertainties in the overall action. In an organization, the decision-making process is complex; therefore, understanding the various alternatives available is more important than the work (Hoffman, 2018). In organizations, the decision-making process aims at achieving and being in line with the organization’s goals. However, this cannot be made since it’s not possible to verify all the possible alternatives.

Conjunction Fallacy

Conjunction fallacy; fallacy is the failure of one to apply logical rules in the decision making process. Therefore, conjunction fallacy occurs in bounded rationality when one judges the probability of a conjunction of two events to occur than one function.  In conjunction with a fallacy, human judgment violates the fundamental principles of probability theory.

Primacy and Recency Effect

Primacy effect refers to the ability to recall first items on a list. It is defined as a form of involuntary mental bias where one can retain information that was presented to him at first than the ones that are given later. Primacy effects are critical in an organization’s decision-making process.  During the interviewing process, this effect arises when the interviewer judges the candidates based on their first impression.  The first impression of a candidate may also have a long lasting impact on the manager’s mind (Katsikopoulos, 2014). Recency effect, on the other hand, is defined as recalling the best items that come at the end of a list. In an organization, this bias occurs where employees can slack more time within a year and pick up, work hard a few months to performance review.

Selective Perception Theory

Selective perception theory refers to the process through which we select stimuli within the environment and bring meaning out of it while blocking out incentives that are not in line with our expectations.  Managers in an organization express this kind of bias by unknowingly paying much attention to only a part of the information that is provided to them.

Stereotyping Effect

Stereotype is a general assumption about a class of individuals who possess particular specific traits. Opinions are held on people based on their ethnic background, gender, tribe, or race. Stereotypes can also be made in such a way that it treats them to lead to the favorable treatment of some individuals.

In conclusion, the decision-making process is a critical component of an organization’s success. Substantial considerations need to be made to evaluate various alternatives and favorable potential outcomes. Ethics and culture form strong pillars in the decision-making process. Ethics aims at ensuring fundamental human rights are followed. However, bias becomes the most significant pitfall in an organization’s decision-making process. Yet, various cultures have different methods of decision-making.

References

Hoffman, D. D. (2018). The interface theory of perception. Stevens’ Handbook of Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, 2, 1-24.

Martinko, M. (2018). Attribution theory: An organizational perspective. Routledge.

Koch, A. J., D’Mello, S. D., & Sackett, P. R. (2015). A meta-analysis of gender stereotypes and bias in experimental simulations of employment decision making. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(1), 128.

Vargas-Hernández, J. G., & Ortega, R. P. (2019). BOUNDED RATIONALITY IN DECISION-MAKING. Challenges of the Knowledge Society, 1134-1142.

Katsikopoulos, K. V. (2014). Bounded rationality: the two cultures. Journal of Economic Methodology, 21(4), 361-374.