| To Resource Centre | Home |

What Is The Process Of Perception?

Looking at an organization is like observing a landscape. We might perceive only the gross anatomical features, or we might take a specialist's view, as a geologist might focus on the kinds of rocks in the landscape, a botainist on the plant life, an artist on how a mountain relates to the total environment. All special-lists look at the same landscape but, depending on interest and perspective, perceive something different. All can contribute, however, to a better understanding of the area if their views are integrated. The same is true of studying organizations: different viewpoints can yield different but complementary ideas. A story of three bricklayers is a case in point. They were asked what they were doing. One replied "Laying bricks." Another said "Making a wall." The third said "Building a cathedral ." When we break up work into pieces, when we foster a unique and segmented perception of the job, we are setting perceptual distortion into motion. Data from management research indicate that there are great perceptual differences between individuals at different levels of management hierarchy. In a study by Norman Maier and his associates, fifty-eight pairs of managers and subordinates were asked questions concerning the duties of the subordinate. Only 46 percent of the pairs gave the same answers to more than half of the questions. More striking was the difference in opinion about obstacles standing in the way of the subordinate's performance; in this category, only 8 percent of the pairs agreed more than half the time. Either the subordinates were not fully aware of what their superiors expected of them, or the superiors did not know what work the subordinates were required to perform. In either case, it seems likely there was not enough communication between levels to provide an accurate understanding ofjob requirements.

Another study by Rensis Liked reported dramatic differences in perception between superiors and subordinates concerning the communication process. Many studies verify that gross differences in perception exist at all levels of the hierarchy. It appears to be almost a universal problem of organzations. In leadership, it is absolutely necessary to understand the nature of the perceptual process in order to overcome people's tendencies to distort reality. The very nature of classic organizational design fosters perceptual distortion because division of labor and hierarchical relationships separate individuals and cause them to see only a segment of the total organizational whole. If not controlled, perceptual distortion can result in reduction of coordination and communication, and in negative attitudes about individuals within the organization and the organization itself and, hence, create a self-fi.tlfilling prophecy. Perception relates to what we experience at any moment, based on a number of variables. These include information being received from the five senses (sight, smell, taste, hearing, touch), memory, emotions, feelings, and needs. What we experience is based primarily on what is going on inside us, the internal factors affecting perception, rather than what is happening in the external world. People constantly seek to serve their self-interest, but because we don't share a common belief in what is possible, we define self-interest in an enormous variety of ways. Psychological advantage - the individual's private notions about what constitutes self-interest - is the product of the way he perceives his environment and his ability to affect it. To a great extent, psychological advantage depends first on what seems possible, on what the enenvironment can reasonably be expected to yield, and second on which possible outcome, if any, is desirable.

Psychological advantage is a very subjective thing. By virtue of where they stand and what they do in the organization, managers have one set of assumptions and viewpoints and employees have another. For example, what management may perceive as a minor alteration in work process - say, the rescheduling of activities or the shifting of equipment - can be perceived by the employees as an attempt by the management to exploit them or to impose unfair systems or procedures. The relationship between management and labor in the past will have a significant effect on the perceptions of management by employees. Because each of us perceives a different world, we should try to recognize those general elements that shape our unique vision of reality. Every person has a definition of reality that is based on the following determinations:

(I) personal wants and goals

(2) past experiences

(3) physiological structure

(4) physical and social environment

| To Resource Centre | Home |