Sir richard branson, founder of virgin group, is known for his use of which reinforcement strategy?

Perception,

Attribution,

and Learning

3

■ Bringing OB to LIFE RAISING EXPECTATIONS AND GETTING BETTER FEEDBACK

■ Worth Considering . . . or Best Avoided? NOT ENOUGH WOMEN ON BOARD? EUROPE TURNS TO QUOTAS

■ Checking Ethics in OB WORKERS REPORT VIEWS ON ETHICAL WORKPLACE CONDUCT

■ Finding the Leader in You RICHARD BRANSON LEADS WITH PERSONALITY AND POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT

■ OB in Popular Culture POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT AND BIG BANG THEORY

■ Research Insight INTERACTIONAL JUSTICE PERCEPTIONS AFFECT INTENT TO LEAVE

The Key Point

■ What Is Perception,

and Why Is It

Important?

■ What Are

the Common

Perceptual

Distortions?

■ What Is the

Link Between

Perception,

Attribution, and

Social Learning?

■ What Is Involved

in Learning by

Reinforcement?

Chapter at a Glance

What’s Inside?

51

It can be a shock when people view the same thing and come to diff erent conclusions.

But this is reality—people often perceive and respond to situations in diff erent

ways. Th e better we understand perception and attribution and their eff ects on

how people behave and learn, the better we can be at dealing with events, people,

and relationships. ■

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

52 CHAPTER 3 ■ Perception, Attribution, and Learning

The Perception Process L E A R N I N G

R OA D M A P

FACTORS INFLUENCING PERCEPTION

INFORMATION PROCESSING AND THE PERCEPTION PROCESS

PERCEPTION, IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT, AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Perception is the process by which people select, organize, interpret, retrieve, and

respond to information from the world around them. 1 It is a way of forming impressions

about ourselves, other people, and daily life experiences. It also serves as a screen or fi lter

through which information passes before it has an eff ect on people. Because perceptions

are infl uenced by many factors, diff erent people may perceive the same situation quite

diff erently. Since people behave according to their perceptions, the consequences of

these diff erences can be great in terms of what happens next.

Consider the example shown in Figure 3.1. It shows substantial diff erences in how

performance-review discussions are perceived by managers and members of their work

teams. Th e managers here may end up not giving much attention to things like career

development, performance goals, and supervisory support since they perceive that these

issues were adequately addressed at performance-review time. However, the team mem-

bers may end up frustrated and unsatisfi ed because they perceive that less attention was

given and they want more.

Factors Infl uencing Perception

We can think of perception as a bubble that surrounds us and infl uences signifi cantly

the way we receive, interpret, and process information received from our environ-

ments. As the perception process varies, so too can things like decisions made and

actions taken. When someone does things that we don’t understand or in ways that

we don’t understand or that surprise us, the reason may well be due to the fact that

their perceptions in the situation diff ered from ours or what we would normally

Perception is the process

through which people receive

and interpret information

from the environment.

FIGURE 3.1 Contrasting perceptions between managers and subordinates regarding performance appraisal interviews.

No Mention

When asked how much these points were discussed during performance reviews

the managers in this study and their team members responded as follows:

1

High Mention

5

Some Mention

3 Past performance

Career development

Performance development

Need for supervisor’s help

Future performance goals

Salary

Manager’s perceptions

Team member’s perceptions

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

53Th e Perception Process

expect. Th e many factors infl uencing perception include characteristics of the

perceiver, the setting, and the perceived.

Characteristics of the Perceiver A person’s past experiences, needs or motives, personality, values, and attitudes may all influence the perceptual process.

Someone with a strong need for achievement need tends to perceive a situation

in terms of that need. If doing well in class is perceived as a way to help meet your

achievement need, for example, you will tend to emphasize that aspect when choos-

ing classes to take. In the same way, a person with a negative attitude toward younger

workers may react poorly when asked to work for a young, newly hired but very

competent team leader.

Characteristics of the Setting Th e physical, social, and organizational context can infl uence the perception process. A teammate perceived by peers as temperamental

may well be tolerated on the team. But take that person and make them the team leader

and the same temperamental behavior may be perceived as bullying or intimidating.

Characteristics of the Perceived Characteristics of the perceived person, object, or event are also important in the perception process. We talk

about them in terms of contrast, intensity, fi gure–ground separation, size, motion,

and repetition or novelty. In respect to contrast, for example, one iPad among six

Android tablets or one man among six women will be perceived diff erently than

one of six iPad computers or one of six men. In respect to intensity, a bright red

sports car stands out from a group of gray sedans; whispering or shouting stands

out from ordinary conversation. Th is links with a concept known as fi gure–ground

separation. Look, for example, at the margin illustration. What do you see, faces or

a vase? It depends on which image is perceived as the background and which as

the fi gure or object of our attention.

In the matter of size, very small or very large objects or people tend to be

perceived diff erently. In terms of motion, moving objects and people are per-

ceived diff erently than stationary ones. In addition, repetition or frequency can

also infl uence perceptions. Television advertisers well know that the more they

put something in front of us the more likely we are to give it attention. Finally, the

novelty of a situation aff ects its perception. A college student who enters class with

streaks of hair dyed purple may be perceived quite diff erently by an instructor than

others with a more common hair color.

Information Processing and the Perception Process

Th e ways we process information during the perception process aff ect how we respond

to experiences through feelings, thoughts, and actions taken. Th e four stages of this infor-

mation processing are attention and selection, organization, interpretation, and retrieval.

A good understanding of these stages can help us manage our own perceptions better, as

well as both understand and infl uence the perceptions of others.

Attention and Selection Our senses are constantly bombarded with so much information that if we don’t screen it, we quickly become incapacitated with information

overload. We tend to deal with this through selective screening that lets in only a tiny

portion of all the information available.

Some of the selective screening that we do comes from controlled processing: con-

sciously deciding what information to pay attention to and what to ignore. Th ink, for

example, about the last time you were at a noisy restaurant and screened out all the

sounds but those of the person with whom you were talking. Some screening also takes

Selective screening allows

only a portion of available

information to enter our

perceptions.

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

54 CHAPTER 3 ■ Perception, Attribution, and Learning

place without conscious awareness. We often drive cars without thinking about the

process; we’re aware of things like traffi c lights and other cars, but we don’t pay con-

scious attention to them. Th is selectivity of attention and automatic information pro-

cessing works well most of the time. But if a nonroutine event occurs, such as an animal

darting in front of your vehicle, you may have an accident unless you quickly shift to

controlled processing.

Organization Even when selective screening takes place in the attention stage, it’s still necessary for us to organize information efficiently. This is done to some

extent through schemas. These are cognitive frameworks that represent organized

knowledge developed through experience about a concept or stimulus. 2 The schemas

most commonly used are script schemas, person schemas, and person-in-situation

schemas.

A script schema is a knowledge framework that describes the appropriate sequence of

events in a given situation. 3 For example, an experienced team leader might use a script

Schemas are cognitive

frameworks that represent

organized knowledge

developed through experience

about people, objects, or

events.

w

BRINGING OB

TO LIFE Raising Expectations and Getting Better Feedback Wine tasting test: Does a glass of wine taste better if you

have never heard of the vintage or if you have previously

read a positive review of it? As you might expect, it will

most often be the one that you taste after reading the

positive review. Th e reason traces to a common OB

understanding of perception and expectations. We

basically end up perceiving things—the glass of wine, a

test drive of a new BMW, or a new teammate—as we

expect them to be.

Does this mean that before your next big presentation

to the class or to an executive team you should prepare

the audience by announcing ahead of time “You’re going

to like this one”? Well, perhaps—but some caution is in

order. Raising expectations can be overplayed with the

result that disappointment sets in. Th ink of a movie or

restaurant recommendation you might have made to a

friend. You raved about it and just couldn’t wait for him

to have the same experience. Instead, he reports, “It

was okay but not great. I was hoping for better.” What

happened is that the high bar of excellence set in your

expectations created a situation ripe for a letdown.

Dan Ariely, professor of psychology and behavioral

economics, advises that we have to be careful in

communicating expectations. If we overhype something

because we’re hoping for positive feedback, we may end

up getting a negative review. His rule of thumb is to go

ahead and send out the high expectations, but don’t

overexaggerate too much. You have to stay in a range

where reality can deliver the results. He suggests

shooting for about a 20 percent stretch of positive

expectations. Th at’s a comfortable target for pulling the

perceiver’s feedback in a positive direction.

Th is notion of raising expectations for positive

feedback is an interesting one to test in everyday

experience. Why not try it? See how well you can manage

expectations of friends and teammates. Maybe this is a

skill that could serve you well in many life and work

situations.

“If you want your friends to experience something as better than it truly is, go for it

and exaggerate. But don’t exaggerate by too much.”

MarkSwallow/iStockphoto

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

55Th e Perception Process

schema to think about the appropriate steps involved in running a meeting. A self schema

contains information about a person’s own appearance, behavior, and personality. For

instance, people with decisiveness schemas tend to perceive themselves in terms of that

aspect, especially in circumstances calling for leadership.

Person schemas sort people into categories—types or groups, in terms of similar

perceived features. Th ey include prototypes which are pre-set bundles of features

expected to be characteristic of people in certain categories or roles. An example might

be the prototype of a “good teammate” as someone who is intelligent, dependable, and

A prototype is a bundle of

features expected to be

characteristic of people in

certain categories or roles.

Research Insight

Research reported by Merideth Ferguson, Neta Moye, and Ray Friedman links perceptions of interactional justice during recruitment interviews with effects on long- term employment relationships. Focusing on issues of fairness in the workplace, a substantial literature on organ- izational justice shows that people respond to perceived fair and unfair treatments in positive and negative ways, with the links between perceived injustice and negative behaviors being particularly strong.

Interactional Justice Perceptions Affect Intent to Leave

Source: Merideth Ferguson, Neta Moye, and Ray Friedman, “The Lingering Effects of the Recruitment Experience on the Long-Term Employment Relationship,” Negotiation and Confl ict Management Research 1 (2008), pp. 246–262.

Perceived high pressure negotiating tactics by recruiters

Less perceived interactional justice in job negotiation

More long-term intent to leave by employees

Hypothesis 1 Hypothesis 2

intentions to leave. The second study asked a sample of recent MBA graduates to report perceptions of interac- tional justice during their job negotiations; they were asked six months later to report on their intentions to leave the new employer. Results from both studies offered confi rmation for the two hypotheses.

In conclusion, Ferguson et al. state that “the sense of injustice one feels during a negotiation affects an employ- ee’s turnover intentions with the hiring organization . . .

negotiations in the recruit- ment process can set the tone for the future employ- ment relationship.” They recommend future research to examine how negotiating tactics like slow responses, dishonesty, disrespect, and lack of con cessions infl uence justice perceptions and later intent to leave. They also suggest that perceived injus-

tice in recruiting when jobs are plentiful may lead to ap- plicants making alternative job choices, whereas such injustice when jobs are scarce may result in employees accepting the jobs but harboring intent to leave when the opportunity permits.

Do the Research What is your experience with interactional justice in the recruiting process? Can you design a study to gather the experiences of your cohorts, friends, and others on campus? How can your study pinpoint the impact of tactics such as setting a tight time limit on a job offer?

This research examined fairness perceptions regard- ing negotiations taking place during the recruitment process and how these perceptions affected later inten- tions to leave. Two hypotheses were tested. First, it was hypothesized that perceived use of negotiation pres- sure by recruiters would have a negative impact on per- ceived interactional justice by job applicants. Second, it was hypothesized that perceived interactional injustice during recruiting negotiations would have a positive long-term impact on later intentions to leave by the newly hired employees.

Two studies were conducted. The fi rst study asked a sample of sixty-eight university alumni of a business program about their retrospective perceptions of interac- tional justice during job negotiations and their current

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

56 CHAPTER 3 ■ Perception, Attribution, and Learning

hard-working. Once formed, person schemas are stored in long-term memory and

retrieved only when needed for a comparison of how well a person matches the

schema’s features. 4

Interpretation Once your attention has been drawn to certain stimuli and you have grouped or organized this information, the next step is to uncover the reasons behind the

actions. Even if your attention is called to the same information and you organize it in the

same way your friend does, you may still interpret it diff erently or make diff erent assump-

tions about what you have perceived. As a team leader, for example, you might interpret

compliments from a team member as due to his being eager and enthusiastic about a

task; your friend might interpret the team member’s behavior as an attempt at insincere

fl attery.

Retrieval Each stage of the perception process becomes part of memory. Th is infor- mation stored in our memory must be retrieved if it is to be used. But all of us at times

have trouble retrieving stored information. Memory decays, so that only some of the

information may be retrieved. Schemas can make it diffi cult for people to remember

things not included in them. If you hold the prototype of a “good worker” as someone

showing lots of eff ort, punctuality, intelligence, articulateness, and decisiveness, you may

emphasize these traits and overlook others when evaluating the performance of a team

member whom you generally consider good.

Perception, Impression Management, and Social Media

Richard Branson, CEO of the Virgin Group, is one of the richest and most famous execu-

tives in the world. He may also be the ultimate master of impression management, the

systematic attempt to behave in ways that will create and maintain desired impressions

in the eyes of others. 5 One of Branson’s early business accomplishments was the success-

ful start-up of Virgin Airlines, now a global competitor to the legacy airlines. In a memoir,

the former head of British Airways, Lord King, said, “If Richard Branson had worn a shirt

and tie instead of a goatee and jumper, I would not have underestimated him.” 6

Don’t you wonder if creating

a casual impression was part of

Branson’s business strategy?

Whether intended or not, the

chances are he’s used this per-

sona to very good advantage in

other business dealings as well.

It’s an example of how much our

impressions can count, both pos-

itive and negative, in how others

perceive us. And it’s not a new

lesson; we’ve all heard it before.

Who hasn’t been told when

heading off to a job interview

“Don’t forget to make a good fi rst

impression”?

Th e fact is that we already

practice a lot of impression man-

agement as a matter of routine in

everyday life. Impression man-

agement is taking place when

we dress, talk, act, and surround

Impression management is

the systematic attempt to

infl uence how others

perceive us.

Don’t let your social media presence get out of control. Impression management

counts online as well as face to face, and here are some things to help you make

it work for you.

• Ask: How do I want to be viewed? What are my goals in this forum?

• Ask: What am I communicating, or about to communicate, to my “public”

audience?

• Ask: Before I post this item, is it something that I want my family, loved ones,

or a potential employer to see?

• Do: Choose a respectable username.

• Do: Profi le yourself only as you really would like to be known to others; keep

everything consistent.

• Do: View your online persona as a “brand” that you are going to wear for a long

time; make sure your persona and desired brand are a “fi t” and not a “misfi t.”

• Do: Post and participate in an online forum only in ways that meet your goals

for your personal brand; don’t do anything that might damage it.

How to Build Your Personal Brand Through Impression Management in Social Networks

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

57Common Perceptual Distortions

ourselves with what reinforces a desirable self-image and helps to convey that image

to other persons. When well done, that can help us to advance in jobs and careers,

form relationships with people we admire, and even create pathways to group mem-

berships. We manage impressions by such activities as associating with the “right”

people, “dressing up” and “dressing down” at the right times, making eye contact when

introduced to someone, doing favors to gain approval, fl attering others to impress

them, taking credit for a favorable event and apologizing for a negative one, and agree-

ing with the opinions of others. 7

One of the most powerful forces in impression management today might be the one

least recognized—how we communicate our presence in the online world of social

media. It might even be the case that this short message deserves to go viral: User beware!

Th e brand you are building through social media may last a lifetime. For tips to remem-

ber, check the sidebar on “How to Build Your Personal Brand Th rough Impression Man-

agement in Social Networks.”

It’s no secret that more and more employers are intensely scouring the Web to learn

what they can about job candidates. What they are gathering are impressions left in the

trails of the candidates’ past social media journeys. One bad photo, one bad nickname, or

one bad comment sends the wrong impression and can kill a great job opportunity. We

are creating impressions of ourselves whenever we are active in the online world. Th e

problem is that those impressions may be fun in social space but harmful in professional

space. Th ere’s a lot to learn about impression management and social media. At a mini-

mum it pays to keep the two social media spaces—the social and the professional—

separated with a good fi rewall between them.

Common Perceptual Distortions L E A R N I N G

R OA D M A P

STEREOTYPES • HALO EFFECTS • SELECTIVE PERCEPTION

PROJECTION • CONTRAST EFFECTS • SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECIES

Given the complexity of the information streaming toward us from various environ-

ments, we use various means of simplifying and organizing our perceptions. However,

these simplifi cations can cause inaccuracies in our impressions and in the perception

process more generally. Common perceptual distortions trace to the use of stereo-

types, halo eff ects, selective perception, projection, contrast eff ects, and self- fulfi lling

prophecies.

Stereotypes

One of the most common simplifying devices in perception is the stereotype. It

occurs when we identify someone with a group or category, and then use the attri-

butes perceived to be associated with the group or category to describe the individual.

Although this makes matters easier for us by reducing the need to deal with unique

individual characteristics, it is an oversimplifi cation. Because stereotypes obscure

individual diff erences, we can easily end up missing the real individual. For managers

this means not accurately understanding the needs, preferences, and abilities of others

in the workplace.

Some of the most common stereotypes, at work and in life in general, relate to

such factors as gender, age, race, and physical ability. Why are so few top executives

in industry African Americans or Hispanics? Legitimate questions can be asked

about racial and ethnic stereotypes and about the slow progress of minority managers

into America’s corporate mainstream. 8 Why is it that women constitute only a small

A stereotype assigns

attributes commonly

associated with a group

to an individual.

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

58 CHAPTER 3 ■ Perception, Attribution, and Learning

percentage of American managers sent abroad to work on international business

assignments? A Catalyst study of opportunities for women in global business points

to gender stereotypes that place women at a disadvantage compared to men for these

types of opportunities. The tendency is to assume women lack the ability and/or

willingness to work abroad. 9 Gender stereotypes may cause even everyday behavior

to be misconstrued. For example, consider “He’s talking with co-workers” (Interpreta-

tion: He’s discussing a new deal) and “She’s talking with co-workers” (Interpretation:

She’s gossiping). 10

Ability stereotypes and age stereotypes also exist in the workplace. Physically or

mentally challenged candidates may be overlooked by a recruiter even though they

possess skills that are perfect for the job. A talented older worker may not be pro-

moted because a manager assumes older workers are cautious and tend to avoid

risk. 11

Yet a Conference Board survey of workers age 50 and older reports that 72

percent felt they could take on additional responsibilities, and two-thirds were inter-

ested in further training and development. 12

Then there’s the flip side: Can a young

person be a real leader, even a CEO? Facebook’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg

is still in his twenties. When current CEO Sheryl Sandberg was being recruited from

Google, she admits to having had this thought: “Wow, I’m going to work for a CEO

who is quite young.” “Mark is a great leader,” she now says. After working for him, her

perception has changed. “Mark has a real purity of vision. . . . He brings people along

with him.” 13

Halo Eff ects

A halo eff ect occurs when one attribute of a person or situation is used to develop an

overall impression of that individual or situation. Like stereotypes, these distortions are

more likely to occur in the organization stage of perception. Halo eff ects are common in

our everyday lives. When meeting a new person, for example, a pleasant smile can lead to

a positive fi rst impression of an overall “warm” and “honest” person. Th e result of a halo

eff ect is the same as that associated with a stereotype, however, in that individual diff er-

ences are obscured.

Halo eff ects are particularly important in the performance appraisal process

because they can infl uence a manager’s evaluations of subordinates’ work perfor-

mance. For example, people with good attendance records may be viewed as intelli-

gent and responsible while those with poor attendance records are considered poor

performers. Such conclusions may or may not be valid. It is the manager’s job to try to

get true impressions rather than allowing halo eff ects to result in biased and errone-

ous evaluations.

Selective Perception

Selective perception is the tendency to single out those aspects of a situation,

person, or object that are consistent with one’s needs, values, or attitudes. Its stron-

gest impact occurs in the attention stage of the perceptual process. Th is perceptual

distortion was identifi ed in a classic research study involving executives in a manu-

facturing company. 14

When asked to identify the key problem in a comprehensive

business policy case, each executive selected a problem consistent with his or her

functional area work assignments. Most marketing executives viewed the key prob-

lem area as sales, whereas production people tended to see the problem as one of

production and organization. Th ese diff ering viewpoints would likely aff ect how each

executive would approach the problem; they might also create diffi culties as the

executives tried to work together to improve things.

A halo eff ect uses one

attribute to develop an overall

impression of a person or

situation.

Selective perception is the

tendency to defi ne problems

from one’s own point of view.

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

59Common Perceptual Distortions

Projection

Projection is the assignment of one’s personal attributes to other individuals. It is espe-

cially likely to occur in the interpretation stage of perception. A classic error is projecting

your needs, values, and views onto others. Th is causes their individual diff erences to get

lost. Such projection errors can be controlled through a high degree of self-awareness and

empathy—the ability to view a situation as others see it.

Suppose, for example, that you enjoy responsibility and achievement in your work.

Suppose, too, that you are the newly appointed leader of a team whose jobs seem dull

and routine. You may move quickly to expand these jobs so that members get

increased satisfaction from more challenging tasks. Basically, you want them to expe-

rience what you value in work. However, this may not be a good decision. Instead of

designing team members’ jobs to best fi t their needs, you have designed their jobs to

best fi t yours.

Projection assigns personal

attributes to other

individuals.

WORTH CONSIDERING ...OR BEST AVOIDED?

The consulting fi rm McKinsey & Company reports that women are hired to fi ll more than 50 percent of profes- sional jobs in America’s large corporations. Then they start leaking from the career pipeline. They hold 3 percent of CEO positions, 14 percent of C-suite jobs, and 28 percent of direc- tor positions on corporate boards. That’s the good news. Data from the rest of the world are worse. Women hold just 13.7 percent of seats on corporate boards in Europe and 7.1 percent elsewhere in the world.

The low percentage of women serving at the top of cor- porate hierarchy doesn’t match well with data showing their presence has a positive performance impact. A Millward Brown Optimor study found that top global companies with women on their boards showed 66 percent brand growth over a 5-year period and those with no female board members had 6 percent brand growth. An Ernst & Young study concludes, “The undisputed conclusion from all the research is that having more women at the top im- proves fi nancial performance.” The report went on to say that “Performance increased signifi cantly once a certain critical mass was attained, namely at least three women on management committees for an average membership of 10 people.”

Rather than leave the future of female representation on corporate boards to chance, Europe has started to consider quotas. Norway, Spain, Iceland, and France have already passed 40 percent quotas. When legislation requiring all EU-listed companies to appoint women to 40 percent of nonexecutive board seats by 2020 was proposed by the European Commission, it was later pulled for lack of sup- port. Some member countries say they plan to fi le it again in the future.

Not Enough Women on Board? Europe Turns to Quotas

A Heidrick & Struggles survey showed 51 percent of women directors supporting quotas like those appearing in Europe. Only 25 percent of men directors voiced similar support.

Do the Analysis Is Europe on the right path with quotas to correct gender disparities in corporate boards? Should this conversation be limited to women in general? What about women of color? What about other minorities—male or female? When it comes to career advancement for women and minorities in the corporate world, is it time for quotas, or are we better off waiting for changes to take a natural course?

© Trista Weibell/iStockphoto

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

60 CHAPTER 3 ■ Perception, Attribution, and Learning

Contrast Eff ects

We mentioned earlier how a bright red sports car would stand out from a group of gray

sedans. Th is shows a contrast eff ect in which the meaning or interpretation of something

is arrived at by contrasting it with a recently occurring event or situation. Th is form of

perceptual distortion can occur, say, when a person gives a talk following a strong speaker

or is interviewed for a job following a series of mediocre applicants. A contrast eff ect

occurs when an individual’s characteristics are contrasted with those of others recently

encountered who rank higher or lower on the same characteristics.

Self-Fulfi lling Prophecies

A fi nal perceptual distortion is the self-fulfi lling prophecy: the tendency to create or

fi nd in another situation or individual that which you expected to fi nd in the fi rst place.

A self-fulfi lling prophecy is sometimes referred to as the “Pygmalion eff ect,” named for a

mythical Greek sculptor who created a statue of his ideal mate and then made her come

to life. 15

Self-fulfi lling prophecies can have both positive and negative outcomes. In eff ect, they

may create in work and personal situations that which we expect to fi nd. Suppose you

assume that team members prefer to satisfy most of their needs outside the work setting

and want only minimal involvement with their jobs. Consequently, you assign simple,

A contrast eff ect occurs

when the meaning of

something that takes place is

based on a contrast with

another recent event or

situation.

A self-fulfi lling prophecy

is creating or fi nding in a

situation that which you

expected to fi nd in the fi rst

place.

CHECKING ETHICS IN OB

Workers Report Views on Ethical Workplace Conduct These data on ethical workplace conduct are from a survey conducted for Deloitte & Touche USA.

• 42 percent of workers say the behavior of their manag- ers is a major infl uence on an ethical workplace.

• Most common unethical acts by managers and supervi- sors include verbal, sexual, and racial harassment, misuse of company property, and giving preferential treatment.

• Most workers consider it unacceptable to steal from an employer, cheat on expense reports, take credit for another’s accomplishments, and lie on time sheets.

• Most workers consider it acceptable to ask a work colleague for a personal favor, take sick days when not ill, and use company technology for personal affairs.

• Top reasons for unethical behavior are lack of personal integrity (80 percent) and lack of job satisfaction (60 percent).

• Among workers, 91 percent are more likely to behave ethically when they have work–life balance; 30 percent say they suffer from poor work–life balance.

Whose Ethics Count? Shouldn’t an individual be accountable for her or his own ethical reasoning and analysis? How and why is it that the ethics practices of others, including managers, infl uence our ethics behaviors? What can be done to strengthen people’s confi dence in their own ethical frameworks so that even bad management won’t result in unethical practices?

Izvorinka Jankovic/iStockphoto

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

61Perception, Attribution, and Social Learning

highly structured tasks designed to require little involvement. Can you predict what

response they will have to this situation? In fact, they may show the very same lack of

commitment you assumed they would have in the fi rst place. In this case your initial

expectations get confi rmed as a negative self-fulfi lling prophecy.

Self-fulfi lling prophecies can also have a positive side. In a study of army tank

crews, one set of tank commanders was told that some members of their assigned

crews had exceptional abilities whereas others were only average. However, the crew

members had been assigned randomly so that the two test groups were equal in abil-

ity. Th e commanders later reported that the so-called “exceptional” crew members

performed better than the “average” ones. Th e study also revealed that the command-

ers had given more attention and praise to the crew members for whom they had the

higher expectations. 16

Don’t you wonder what might happen with students and work-

ers in general if teachers and managers adopted more uniformly positive and optimis-

tic approaches toward them?

Perception, Attribution, and Social Learning

L E A R N I N G

R OA D M A P

IMPORTANCE OF ATTRIBUTIONS • ATTRIBUTION ERRORS

ATTRIBUTION AND SOCIAL LEARNING

One of the ways in which perception exerts its infl uence on behavior is through

attribution. Th is is the process of developing explanations or assigning perceived causes

for events. It is natural for people to try to explain what they observe and what happens

to them. What happens when you perceive that someone in a job or student group isn’t

performing up to expectations? How do you explain this? And, depending on the expla-

nation, what do you do to try and correct things?

Importance of Attributions

Attribution theory helps us understand how people perceive the causes of events,

assess responsibility for outcomes, and evaluate the personal qualities of the people

involved. 17

It is especially concerned with whether the assumption is that an individ-

ual’s behavior, such as poor performance, has been internally or externally caused.

Internal causes are believed to be under an individual’s control—you believe Jake’s

performance is poor because he is lazy. External causes are seen as coming from

outside a person—you believe Kellie’s performance is poor because the software she’s

using is out of date.

According to attribution theory, three factors infl uence this internal or external

determination of causality: distinctiveness, consensus, and consistency. Distinctiveness

considers how consistent a person’s behavior is across diff erent situations. If Jake’s

performance is typically low, regardless of the technology with which he is working, we

tend to assign the poor performance to an internal attribution—there’s something

wrong with Jake. If the poor performance is unusual, we tend to assign an external

cause to explain it—there’s something happening in the work context. Consensus takes

into account how likely all those facing a similar situation are to respond in the same

way. If all the people using the same technology as Jake perform poorly, we tend to

assign his performance problem to an external attribution. If others do not perform

poorly, we attribute Jake’s poor performance to internal causation. Consistency con-

cerns whether an individual responds the same way across time. If Jake performs

poorly over a sustained period of time, we tend to give the poor performance an

Attribution is the process

of creating explanations

for events.

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

62 CHAPTER 3 ■ Perception, Attribution, and Learning

internal attribution. If his low performance is an isolated incident, we may well attri-

bute it to an external cause.

Attribution Errors

People often fall prey to perception errors when making attributions about what caused

certain events. 18

Look, for example, at the data reported in Figure 3.2. When executives

were asked to attribute causes of poor performance among their subordinates, they

most often blamed internal defi ciencies of the individual—lack of ability and eff ort,

rather than external defi ciencies in the situation—lack of support. Th is demonstrates

what is known as fundamental attribution error—the tendency to underestimate the

infl uence of situational factors and to overestimate the infl uence of personal factors

when evaluating someone else’s behavior. When asked to identify causes of their own

poor performance, however, the executives mostly cited lack of support—an external,

or situational, defi ciency. Th is demonstrates self-serving bias—the tendency to deny

personal responsibility for performance problems but to accept personal responsibility

for performance success.

Th e managerial implications of attribution errors trace back to the fact that percep-

tions infl uence behavior. 19

For example, a team leader who believes that members are

not performing well and perceives the reason to be an internal lack of eff ort is likely to

respond with attempts to “motivate” them to work harder. Th e possibility of changing

external, situational factors that may remove job constraints and provide better organi-

zational support may be largely ignored. Th is oversight could sacrifi ce major perfor-

mance gains for the team.

Attribution and Social Learning

Perception and attribution are important components in social learning theory, which

describes how learning takes place through the reciprocal interactions among people,

Fundamental attribution

error overestimates internal

factors and underestimates

external factors as infl uences

on someone’s behavior.

Self-serving bias

underestimates internal

factors and overestimates

external factors as infl uences

on someone’s behavior.

Social learning theory

describes how learning

occurs through interactions

among people, behavior, and

environment.

FIGURE 3.2 Attribution errors by executives when explaining poor performance by others and themselves.

Cause of Poor Performance

by Themselves

Few Few Many

Most Frequent Attribution

Lack of ability Lack of effort Lack of support

Cause of Poor Performance by

Others

Many Many Few

Bias against Black Leaders Found on the Football Field Are black leaders at a disadvantage when leadership

success is evaluated? The answer is “yes” according

to research reported in the Academy of Management

Journal.

Scholars Andrew M. Carton and Ashleigh Shelby

Rosette studied how the performance of football

quarterbacks was reported in the news. They found

that successful performances by black quarterbacks

were attributed in news articles less often to the

players’ competence, such as

“making decisions under

pressure,” and more often to

factors that made up for

incompetence, such as having

“the speed to get away.” The

researchers expressed concern

that black leaders may suffer

from poor career advance-

ment because of biased

evaluations. Sportschrome/NewsCom

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

63Perception, Attribution, and Social Learning

behavior, and environment. According to the work of Albert Bandura, an individual uses

modeling or vicarious learning to acquire behavior by observing and imitating others. 20

In

a work situation, the model may be a higher manager or co-worker who demonstrates

desired behaviors. Mentors or senior workers who befriend younger and more inexperi-

enced protégés can also be important models. Indeed, some have argued that a shortage

of mentors for women in senior management has been a major constraint to their pro-

gression up the career ladder. 21

The symbolic processes shown in Figure 3.3 are important in social learning.

Words and symbols used by managers and others in the workplace help communi-

cate values, beliefs, and goals and thus serve as guides to an individual’s behavior.

For example, a “thumbs up” or other signal from the boss lets you know your behav-

ior is appropriate. At the same time, the person’s self-control is important in influ-

encing his or her own behavior. And self-efficacy—the person’s belief that he or she

can perform adequately in a situation—is an important part of such self-control.

Closely associated with the concept of self-efficacy are such terms as confidence,

competence, and ability. 22