Chapter 3: Perception, Attribution, and Diversity
Textbook Notes
Chapter 3
1
Chapter 3: Perception, Attribution, and Diversity WHAT IS PERCEPTION? Perception is the process of interpreting the messages of our senses to provide order and meaning to the environment
•
Perception helps sort out and organize the complex and varied input received by our senses of sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing • The key word in this definition is interpreting • Some of the most important perceptions that influence organizational behavior are the perceptions that organizational members have of each other COMPONENTS OF PERCEPTION It has three components: a perceiver, a target that is being received, and some situational context in which the perception is occurring The Perceiver • The most important characteristics of the perceiver is experience • Past experiences lead the perceiver to develop expectations, and these expectations affect current perceptions • Our needs unconsciously influence our perceptions by causing us to perceive what we wish to perceive • Emotions such as anger, happiness, or fear can influence our perceptions Perceptual defense: The tendency for the perceptual system to defend the perceiver against unpleasant emotions
The Target • Perception involves interpretation and the addition of meaning to the target, and ambiguous targets are especially susceptible to interpretation and addition • The perceiver does not or cannot always use all the information provided by the target The Situation • Every instance of perception occurs in some situational context, and this context can affect that one perceives SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY Social identity theory: A theory that states that people form perceptions of themselves based on their personal characteristics and memberships in social categories
• •
Our sense of self is composed of a personal identity and a social identity. Our personal identity is based on our unique personal characteristics, such as our interests, abilities, and traits • Social identity is based on our perception that we belong to various social groups, such as our gender, nationality, religion, occupation, and so on As an individuals, we categorize ourselves and others to make sense have and understand the social environment – depends on what is most salient and appropriate to the situation We also form perceptions of others based on their memberships in social categories Social identity theory is useful for understanding stereotyping and discrimination A MODEL OF THE PERCEPTUAL PROCESS MODEL Unfamiliar target encountered Openness to target cues
EXAMPLE New co-worker Observation; search information
[Type text] Familiar cues encountered Target categorized Cue selectively Categorization strengthened
[Type text]
[Type text]
2
Co-worker is Stanford graduate with good grades Co-worker is a “good man” with “great potential” Co-worker’s is a poor performance ignored or distorted Co-worker is still “good man” with “great potential”
When the perceiver encounters an unfamiliar target, the perceiver is very open to the informational cues contained in the target and the situation surrounding it • The perceiver really needs information on which to base perceptions of the target and will actively seek out cues to resolve this ambiguity The perceiver encounters some familiar cues that enable her or him to make a crude categorization of the target, which follows from social identity theory Cue search becomes less open and more selective – begins to search out cues that confirm the categorization of the target • At this categorization becomes stronger, the perceiver actively ignores or even distorts cues that violate initial perceptions • It will take a good many contradictory cues before one re-categorizes the target, and that theses cues will have to overcome the expectations that have been developed Bruners’ model demonstrates three important characteristics of the perceptual process 1. Selective – Perceivers do not use all the available cues, and those they do use are thus given special emphasis. This means that our perception is efficient, and this efficiency can both aid and hinder our perceptual accuracy 2. The model illustrates that our perceptual system works to paint a constant picture of the target. Perceptual constancy refers to the tendency for the target to be perceived in the same way over time or across situation
3. The perceptual system also creates a consistent picture of the target. Perceptual consistency refers to the tendency to select, ignore, and distort cues in such a manner that they fit together to form a homogeneous picture of the target. We strive for consistency in our perception of people We distort cues that are discrepant with our general image of a person to make the cues consistent with this image BASIC BIASES IN PERSON PERCEPTION We form impressions of others that are susceptible to a number of perceptual biases Primacy and Recency Effects We tend to rely on the cues that we have encounter early in a relationship • Primacy effect: The tendency for a perceiver to rely in early cues or first •
impressions – often has lasting impact Recency effect: The tendency for a perceiver to rely on recent cues or last impressions – count most
Reliance on Central Traits Early cues do not receive equal weight • Central traits: Personal characteristics of a target person that are of particular interest to a perceiver
Often have a very powerful influence on our perception of others. Physical appearance is common central trait in work settings that is related to a variety of job-related outcomes Implicit Personality Theories
Textbook Notes •
Chapter 3
3
Personal theories that people have about which personality characteristics go together
Projection • The tendency for perceivers to attribute their own thoughts and feelings to others - is an efficient and sensible perceptual strategy
• People with similar backgrounds or interests often do think and feel similarly Stereotyping The tendency to generalize about people in a certain social category and ignore variations among them Three specific aspects to stereotyping • We distinguish some category of people (college prof) • We assume that the individuals in this category have certain traits • We perceive that everyone in this category possesses these traits Not all stereotypes are unfavorable – These accurate stereotypes ease the task of developing perception of others Most stereotypes are inaccurate Stereotypes still exist for two reasons: sometimes it is easier for the perceiver to rely on an inaccurate stereotype than it is to discover the true nature of the target, and inaccurate stereotypes are often reinforced by selective perception and the selective application of language that was discussed above ATTRIBUTION: PERCEIVING CAUSES AND MOTIVES Attribution: the process by which causes of motives are assigned to explain people’s behavior Dispositional attributions: explanations for behavior based on an actor’s personality or intellect Situational attributions: explanations for behavior based on an actor’s external situation or environment
Research indicates that as we gain experience with the behavior of a target person, three implicit questions guide our decisions as to whether we should attribute the behavior to dispositional or situational cause: • Does the person engage in the behavior regularly and consistently? (Consistency cues) • Do most people engage in the behavior, or is it unique to this person? (Consensus cues) • Does the person engage in the behavior in many situations, or it distinctive to one situation? (Distinctiveness) Consistency cues: • Attribution cues that reflect how consistently a person engages in a behavior over time
High consistency leads to dispositional attributions When behavior occurs inconsistently, we begin to consider situation attributions Consensus cues: • Attribution cues that reflect how a person’s behavior compares with that of others Unusual, low consensus behavior leads to more dispositional attributions that typical, high- consensus behavior Distinctiveness cues:
[Type text] •
[Type text]
[Type text]
4
Attribution cues that reflect the extent to which a person engages in some behavior across a variety of situations
When a behavior occurs across a variety of situation, it lacks distinctiveness, and the observer is prone to provide a dispositional attribution about it cause A behavior is highly distinctive when it occurs in only one situation Attribution in Action Observes of real life behavior have information at hand about consistency, consensus, and distinctiveness Biases in Attribution Observers often operate in a rational, logical manner in forming attributions about behavior. There’s three biases in attribution: • Fundamental Attribution Error: The tendency to overemphasize dispositional explanations for behavior at the expense of situational explanations
o It suggest that dispositional explanations for the poor performance will sometimes be made even when situational factors are the true cause • Actor Observer Effect: The propensity for actors and observers to view the causes of the actor’s behavior differently • Self-Serving Bias: The tendency to take credit for successful outcomes and to deny responsibility for failures PERSONAL PERCEPTION AND WORKFORCE DIVERSITY Workforce diversity – differences among recruits and employees in characteristics such as gender, race, age, religion, cultural background, physical ability, or sexual orientation
The Changing Workplace The changing employment pool is not the only factor that has prompted interest in diversity issues Valuing Diversity
1. Cost Argument
As organizations become more diverse, the cost of a poor job in integrating workers will increase. Those who handle this well will thus create cost advantages over those who don`t
2. Resource-Acquisition Argument
Companies develop reputations on favourability as prospective employers for women and ethnic minorities. Those with the best reputations for managing diversity will win the competition for the best personnel. As the labour pool shrinks and changes composition, this edge will become increasingly important
3. Marketing Argument
For multinational organizations, the insight and cultural sensitivity that members with roots in other countries bring to the marketing effort should improve these efforts in important ways. The same rationale applies to marketing to subpopulations within domestic operations
4. Creativity Argument
Diversity of perspectives and les emphasis on conformity to norms of the past should improve the level of creativity
5. Problem-Solving Argument
Heterogeneity in decision and problem solving groups potentially produces better decisions through a wider
Textbook Notes
Chapter 3
5
range of perspectives and more thorough critical analysis of issues An implication of the multicultural model for managing diversity Is that that the system will become less 6. System Flexibility Argument determinant, less standardized and therefore more fluid. The increased fluidity should create greater flexibility to react to environmental changes
Stereotypes and Workforce Diversity Stereotype threat – members of a social group feel they might be judged or treated according to a stereotype and that their behaviour or performance will confirm the stereotype
Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes • Racial and ethnic stereotypes are pervasive, persistent, negative, and selfcontradictory • Racial and ethnic stereotypes are also important in the context of the increasing globalization of business • If prejudice, negative stereotyping, ethnocentrism, and discrimination exist within the environment that an organization inhabits, it is very likely that these problems will surface within the organization itself Gender Stereotypes • Gender stereotypes are partially responsible for discouraging women from business careers and blocking their ascent to managerial positions • They lead to biases human resource decisions • One recent study found that when women are successful in traditional male jobs, they are less liked – and being disliked has a negative effect on their evaluations and recommendations for rewards, including salary and special job opportunities • Hiring and promotion decisions might confront managers with ambiguous targets or situations and prompt them to resort to gender stereotypes in forming impressions • Organizations that remove perceptual barriers to the advancement of women have much to gain Age Stereotypes • Knowing that a person falls into a certain age range or belongs to a particular age generation, we have a tendency to make certain assumptions about the person’s physical, psychological, and intellectual capabilities • Discrimination on the basis of age is experienced by people as young as 40-45 • To combat age stereotypes and discrimination, Canada’s Association for the 50 Plus (CARP) has worked with the Ontario Human Rights Commission on a public awareness campaign that included a poster featuring photographs of older people with the tag line, “Nobody has a shelf life. Stop age discrimination now” Managing Workforce Diversity Diversity needs to be managed to have a positive impact on work behaviour and an organization Common activities included in diversity programs:
[Type text]
[Type text]
[Type text]
6
•
Select minority members to get them beyond token status Encourage teamwork that brings minority and majority members together Ensure that those making career decisions about employees have accurate information about them rather than having to rely on hearsay and second-hand opinion • Train people to be aware of stereotypes • Recruiting: employee referral programs, diverse recruiting teams • Retention: corporate-sponsored employee resource or affinity groups, employee benefits • Development: leadership development training programs, mentoring programs • External partnership: Minority supplier programs, community service outreach • Communication: award programs providing public recognition of managers and employees for diversity achievement, newsletters or internal websites on diversity • Training: awareness training on the organizations diversity initiative • Staffing and infrastructure: dedicate diversity staff, executive and local diversity councils Although diversity training programs are one of the most common approaches for managing diversity there is little hard research on the success of these programs Awareness training should be accompanied by skills training that is relevant to the particular needs of the organization This might include training in resolving intercultural conflict, team building, handling a charge of sexual harassment, or leaning a second language Organizations must use a number of other tactics: • Attitude change programs that focus on diversity • Recognizing diversity in employee needs and motives • Using alternative working schedules to offer employees flexibility • Using employee surveys to foster better communication Diversity program will be most successful when the following actions are taken as part of a diversity initiative: • Build senior management commitment and accountability • Conduct a thorough needs assessment • Develop a well-defined strategy tied to business results • Emphasize team building and group process training • Establish metrics and evaluate the effectiveness of diversity initiatives PERCEPTION OF 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, benevolence, and integrity Ability refers to employee perceptions regarding managements competence and skills. Benevolence refers o the extend that employees perceive management as caring and concerned for their interests and willing to do good for tem
Textbook Notes
Chapter 3
7
•
Integrity refers to employee perceptions that management adheres to and behaves according to a set of values and principles that the employee finds acceptable • The combination of these three factors influences perceptions of trust • To create a great workplace, managers need to build trust, which is achieved by practicing credibility, respect, and fairness and by encouraging pride and camaraderie among employees – for elaboration on this if needed refer to page 95 of textbook for the Trust Model. PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT Perceived organizational support employees’ general belief that their organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being
•
When employees have positive perceptions of organizational support, they believe that their organization will provide assistance when it is needed for them to perform their job effectively and to deal with stressful situations Organizational support theory – a theory that states that employees who have strong perceptions of organizational support feel an obligation to care about the organization’s welfare and to achieve its objectives – as a result, employees incorporate their
membership and role within the organization into their social identity • When employees have this, they are more likely to have a positive mood at work and to be more involved in their job, and they are less likely to experience strain symptoms such as fatigue, burnout, anxiety, and headaches PERSON PERCEPTION IN HUMAN RESOURCES Perception of Recruitment and Selection How job applicants are treated during recruitment and selection process influences their perceptions toward the organization and their likelihood of accepting a job offer Signaling theory: Job applications 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
Applicants also form perceptions toward organizations based on the selection tests they are required to complete Perceptions in the Employment Interview • The factors that threaten the validity of an interview are: applicants are usually motivated to present an especially favourable impression of themselves, interviewers have a tendency to exhibit primary reaching - the information the interviewer acquired early in the interview will have an undue impact on the final decision • Negative information has undue impact on the decision • Contrast effects – previously interviewed job applicants affect an interviewer’s perception of a current applicant, leading to an exaggeration of differences between applicants – comparing the second interviewee to the first
• •
The validity of an interview improves when it is structured A structured interview consists of four dimensions: evaluation standardization (using standardized and numeric scoring procedures), question sophistication (behavioural questions), question consistency (the interviewer asking the same question in the same order to all candidates), and rapport building(do not ask personal questions unrelated to the job
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•
Structured interviews reduce information overload and ensure that applicants can be more easily compared Perceptions and the Performance Appraisal Objective and Subjective Measures • Objective measures do not involve a substantial degree of human judgement – the number of publications that a professor has in top journals is a good example • When objective indicators of performance to exist they are often contaminated by situational factors • Due to this, organizations have to rely on subjective measures of effectiveness – often given from a manager • This is hard because it is hard for managers to observe all activity – even when performance is observable, employees often alter their behaviour so that they look good when their manager is around Rater Errors Leniency – the tendency to perceive the job performance of rates as especially good Harshness – the tendency to perceive the job performance of rates as especially ineffective
Central tendency – the tendency to assign most rates to middle-rate to performance categories
Halo effect – the rating of an individual on one trait or characteristic tends to colour ratings on other traits or characteristics Similar-to-me effect - a rater gives more favourable evaluations to people who are similar to the rater in terms of background or attitudes
Given these problems, it is clear that it is difficult to obtain good subjective evaluations of employee performance HOFSTEDE’S CULTURAL VALUES • Power distance: relative acceptance of equal (low power distance) to extremely unequal power distribution (high) • Individualism vs. Collectivism: act as individuals vs. act as a member of groups • Quantity of Life vs. Quality of Life: value material acquisitions vs. relationships & welfare of others • Uncertainty Avoidance: preference for certain vs. ambiguous situations • Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation: tendency to look to future including valuing thrift & persistence vs. valuing the past (traditions) & present social obligations ATTITUDES: Attitudes are a combination of beliefs (an ideas about something) with values (what I care about, and the extent to which I care) Much more specific than values – usually targeted at something or someone Three components to attitudes: 1. Affect - from very negative to very positive. Attitudes vary in strength & importance to the person 2. Cognition - knowledge or belief 3. Intention to Act – guide for behavior Relationship between attitude toward cheating and actually cheating close to zero. Those who did poorly more likely to cheat.
Textbook Notes
Chapter 3
9
Meta-analysis of attitude studies showed less than .30 correlation between attitudes and behaviour. Types of Attitudes Job Involvement • Measures the degree to which people identify psychologically with their job and consider their perceived performance level important to self-worth • Psychological empowerment – employees’ beliefs in the degree to which they influence their work environment, their competence, the meaningfulness of their job and their perceived autonomy. Employee engagement • An individual’s involvement with, satisfaction with, and enthusiasm for work he or she does. • Highly engaged employees have a passion for their work and feel a deep connection to the company. Firms that have employees with a higher level of engagement tend to see positive results: • Higher customer satisfaction • More productive employees • Higher profits • Lower levels of turnover and accidents WHAT CAUSES JOB SATISFACTION? • Work itself, pay advancement opportunities, supervision, co-workers • Enjoying the work itself is almost always most strongly correlated with high levels of job satisfaction. • Once a person reaches the level of comfortable living the relationship between pay and satisfaction virtually disappears. • People with positive core self-evaluations, believe in their inner worth and basic competence, and are more satisfied with their work. • Social context such as interdependence, support, interaction outside the workplace, feedback • And justice… Perception of Justice/ Fairness Distributive fairness* – perceived fairness of the amount and allocation of outcomes Procedural fairness – perceived fairness of the process used to determine the distribution of outcomes Interactional fairness – quality of interpersonal treatment received (both in terms of respect and information) • Interpersonal fairness • Informational fairness
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Three-Component Model of Organizational
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Chapter 3
1
Chapter 3: Perception, Attribution, and Diversity WHAT IS PERCEPTION? Perception is the process of interpreting the messages of our senses to provide order and meaning to the environment
•
Perception helps sort out and organize the complex and varied input received by our senses of sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing • The key word in this definition is interpreting • Some of the most important perceptions that influence organizational behavior are the perceptions that organizational members have of each other COMPONENTS OF PERCEPTION It has three components: a perceiver, a target that is being received, and some situational context in which the perception is occurring The Perceiver • The most important characteristics of the perceiver is experience • Past experiences lead the perceiver to develop expectations, and these expectations affect current perceptions • Our needs unconsciously influence our perceptions by causing us to perceive what we wish to perceive • Emotions such as anger, happiness, or fear can influence our perceptions Perceptual defense: The tendency for the perceptual system to defend the perceiver against unpleasant emotions
The Target • Perception involves interpretation and the addition of meaning to the target, and ambiguous targets are especially susceptible to interpretation and addition • The perceiver does not or cannot always use all the information provided by the target The Situation • Every instance of perception occurs in some situational context, and this context can affect that one perceives SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY Social identity theory: A theory that states that people form perceptions of themselves based on their personal characteristics and memberships in social categories
• •
Our sense of self is composed of a personal identity and a social identity. Our personal identity is based on our unique personal characteristics, such as our interests, abilities, and traits • Social identity is based on our perception that we belong to various social groups, such as our gender, nationality, religion, occupation, and so on As an individuals, we categorize ourselves and others to make sense have and understand the social environment – depends on what is most salient and appropriate to the situation We also form perceptions of others based on their memberships in social categories Social identity theory is useful for understanding stereotyping and discrimination A MODEL OF THE PERCEPTUAL PROCESS MODEL Unfamiliar target encountered Openness to target cues
EXAMPLE New co-worker Observation; search information
[Type text] Familiar cues encountered Target categorized Cue selectively Categorization strengthened
[Type text]
[Type text]
2
Co-worker is Stanford graduate with good grades Co-worker is a “good man” with “great potential” Co-worker’s is a poor performance ignored or distorted Co-worker is still “good man” with “great potential”
When the perceiver encounters an unfamiliar target, the perceiver is very open to the informational cues contained in the target and the situation surrounding it • The perceiver really needs information on which to base perceptions of the target and will actively seek out cues to resolve this ambiguity The perceiver encounters some familiar cues that enable her or him to make a crude categorization of the target, which follows from social identity theory Cue search becomes less open and more selective – begins to search out cues that confirm the categorization of the target • At this categorization becomes stronger, the perceiver actively ignores or even distorts cues that violate initial perceptions • It will take a good many contradictory cues before one re-categorizes the target, and that theses cues will have to overcome the expectations that have been developed Bruners’ model demonstrates three important characteristics of the perceptual process 1. Selective – Perceivers do not use all the available cues, and those they do use are thus given special emphasis. This means that our perception is efficient, and this efficiency can both aid and hinder our perceptual accuracy 2. The model illustrates that our perceptual system works to paint a constant picture of the target. Perceptual constancy refers to the tendency for the target to be perceived in the same way over time or across situation
3. The perceptual system also creates a consistent picture of the target. Perceptual consistency refers to the tendency to select, ignore, and distort cues in such a manner that they fit together to form a homogeneous picture of the target. We strive for consistency in our perception of people We distort cues that are discrepant with our general image of a person to make the cues consistent with this image BASIC BIASES IN PERSON PERCEPTION We form impressions of others that are susceptible to a number of perceptual biases Primacy and Recency Effects We tend to rely on the cues that we have encounter early in a relationship • Primacy effect: The tendency for a perceiver to rely in early cues or first •
impressions – often has lasting impact Recency effect: The tendency for a perceiver to rely on recent cues or last impressions – count most
Reliance on Central Traits Early cues do not receive equal weight • Central traits: Personal characteristics of a target person that are of particular interest to a perceiver
Often have a very powerful influence on our perception of others. Physical appearance is common central trait in work settings that is related to a variety of job-related outcomes Implicit Personality Theories
Textbook Notes •
Chapter 3
3
Personal theories that people have about which personality characteristics go together
Projection • The tendency for perceivers to attribute their own thoughts and feelings to others - is an efficient and sensible perceptual strategy
• People with similar backgrounds or interests often do think and feel similarly Stereotyping The tendency to generalize about people in a certain social category and ignore variations among them Three specific aspects to stereotyping • We distinguish some category of people (college prof) • We assume that the individuals in this category have certain traits • We perceive that everyone in this category possesses these traits Not all stereotypes are unfavorable – These accurate stereotypes ease the task of developing perception of others Most stereotypes are inaccurate Stereotypes still exist for two reasons: sometimes it is easier for the perceiver to rely on an inaccurate stereotype than it is to discover the true nature of the target, and inaccurate stereotypes are often reinforced by selective perception and the selective application of language that was discussed above ATTRIBUTION: PERCEIVING CAUSES AND MOTIVES Attribution: the process by which causes of motives are assigned to explain people’s behavior Dispositional attributions: explanations for behavior based on an actor’s personality or intellect Situational attributions: explanations for behavior based on an actor’s external situation or environment
Research indicates that as we gain experience with the behavior of a target person, three implicit questions guide our decisions as to whether we should attribute the behavior to dispositional or situational cause: • Does the person engage in the behavior regularly and consistently? (Consistency cues) • Do most people engage in the behavior, or is it unique to this person? (Consensus cues) • Does the person engage in the behavior in many situations, or it distinctive to one situation? (Distinctiveness) Consistency cues: • Attribution cues that reflect how consistently a person engages in a behavior over time
High consistency leads to dispositional attributions When behavior occurs inconsistently, we begin to consider situation attributions Consensus cues: • Attribution cues that reflect how a person’s behavior compares with that of others Unusual, low consensus behavior leads to more dispositional attributions that typical, high- consensus behavior Distinctiveness cues:
[Type text] •
[Type text]
[Type text]
4
Attribution cues that reflect the extent to which a person engages in some behavior across a variety of situations
When a behavior occurs across a variety of situation, it lacks distinctiveness, and the observer is prone to provide a dispositional attribution about it cause A behavior is highly distinctive when it occurs in only one situation Attribution in Action Observes of real life behavior have information at hand about consistency, consensus, and distinctiveness Biases in Attribution Observers often operate in a rational, logical manner in forming attributions about behavior. There’s three biases in attribution: • Fundamental Attribution Error: The tendency to overemphasize dispositional explanations for behavior at the expense of situational explanations
o It suggest that dispositional explanations for the poor performance will sometimes be made even when situational factors are the true cause • Actor Observer Effect: The propensity for actors and observers to view the causes of the actor’s behavior differently • Self-Serving Bias: The tendency to take credit for successful outcomes and to deny responsibility for failures PERSONAL PERCEPTION AND WORKFORCE DIVERSITY Workforce diversity – differences among recruits and employees in characteristics such as gender, race, age, religion, cultural background, physical ability, or sexual orientation
The Changing Workplace The changing employment pool is not the only factor that has prompted interest in diversity issues Valuing Diversity
1. Cost Argument
As organizations become more diverse, the cost of a poor job in integrating workers will increase. Those who handle this well will thus create cost advantages over those who don`t
2. Resource-Acquisition Argument
Companies develop reputations on favourability as prospective employers for women and ethnic minorities. Those with the best reputations for managing diversity will win the competition for the best personnel. As the labour pool shrinks and changes composition, this edge will become increasingly important
3. Marketing Argument
For multinational organizations, the insight and cultural sensitivity that members with roots in other countries bring to the marketing effort should improve these efforts in important ways. The same rationale applies to marketing to subpopulations within domestic operations
4. Creativity Argument
Diversity of perspectives and les emphasis on conformity to norms of the past should improve the level of creativity
5. Problem-Solving Argument
Heterogeneity in decision and problem solving groups potentially produces better decisions through a wider
Textbook Notes
Chapter 3
5
range of perspectives and more thorough critical analysis of issues An implication of the multicultural model for managing diversity Is that that the system will become less 6. System Flexibility Argument determinant, less standardized and therefore more fluid. The increased fluidity should create greater flexibility to react to environmental changes
Stereotypes and Workforce Diversity Stereotype threat – members of a social group feel they might be judged or treated according to a stereotype and that their behaviour or performance will confirm the stereotype
Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes • Racial and ethnic stereotypes are pervasive, persistent, negative, and selfcontradictory • Racial and ethnic stereotypes are also important in the context of the increasing globalization of business • If prejudice, negative stereotyping, ethnocentrism, and discrimination exist within the environment that an organization inhabits, it is very likely that these problems will surface within the organization itself Gender Stereotypes • Gender stereotypes are partially responsible for discouraging women from business careers and blocking their ascent to managerial positions • They lead to biases human resource decisions • One recent study found that when women are successful in traditional male jobs, they are less liked – and being disliked has a negative effect on their evaluations and recommendations for rewards, including salary and special job opportunities • Hiring and promotion decisions might confront managers with ambiguous targets or situations and prompt them to resort to gender stereotypes in forming impressions • Organizations that remove perceptual barriers to the advancement of women have much to gain Age Stereotypes • Knowing that a person falls into a certain age range or belongs to a particular age generation, we have a tendency to make certain assumptions about the person’s physical, psychological, and intellectual capabilities • Discrimination on the basis of age is experienced by people as young as 40-45 • To combat age stereotypes and discrimination, Canada’s Association for the 50 Plus (CARP) has worked with the Ontario Human Rights Commission on a public awareness campaign that included a poster featuring photographs of older people with the tag line, “Nobody has a shelf life. Stop age discrimination now” Managing Workforce Diversity Diversity needs to be managed to have a positive impact on work behaviour and an organization Common activities included in diversity programs:
[Type text]
[Type text]
[Type text]
6
•
Select minority members to get them beyond token status Encourage teamwork that brings minority and majority members together Ensure that those making career decisions about employees have accurate information about them rather than having to rely on hearsay and second-hand opinion • Train people to be aware of stereotypes • Recruiting: employee referral programs, diverse recruiting teams • Retention: corporate-sponsored employee resource or affinity groups, employee benefits • Development: leadership development training programs, mentoring programs • External partnership: Minority supplier programs, community service outreach • Communication: award programs providing public recognition of managers and employees for diversity achievement, newsletters or internal websites on diversity • Training: awareness training on the organizations diversity initiative • Staffing and infrastructure: dedicate diversity staff, executive and local diversity councils Although diversity training programs are one of the most common approaches for managing diversity there is little hard research on the success of these programs Awareness training should be accompanied by skills training that is relevant to the particular needs of the organization This might include training in resolving intercultural conflict, team building, handling a charge of sexual harassment, or leaning a second language Organizations must use a number of other tactics: • Attitude change programs that focus on diversity • Recognizing diversity in employee needs and motives • Using alternative working schedules to offer employees flexibility • Using employee surveys to foster better communication Diversity program will be most successful when the following actions are taken as part of a diversity initiative: • Build senior management commitment and accountability • Conduct a thorough needs assessment • Develop a well-defined strategy tied to business results • Emphasize team building and group process training • Establish metrics and evaluate the effectiveness of diversity initiatives PERCEPTION OF 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, benevolence, and integrity Ability refers to employee perceptions regarding managements competence and skills. Benevolence refers o the extend that employees perceive management as caring and concerned for their interests and willing to do good for tem
Textbook Notes
Chapter 3
7
•
Integrity refers to employee perceptions that management adheres to and behaves according to a set of values and principles that the employee finds acceptable • The combination of these three factors influences perceptions of trust • To create a great workplace, managers need to build trust, which is achieved by practicing credibility, respect, and fairness and by encouraging pride and camaraderie among employees – for elaboration on this if needed refer to page 95 of textbook for the Trust Model. PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT Perceived organizational support employees’ general belief that their organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being
•
When employees have positive perceptions of organizational support, they believe that their organization will provide assistance when it is needed for them to perform their job effectively and to deal with stressful situations Organizational support theory – a theory that states that employees who have strong perceptions of organizational support feel an obligation to care about the organization’s welfare and to achieve its objectives – as a result, employees incorporate their
membership and role within the organization into their social identity • When employees have this, they are more likely to have a positive mood at work and to be more involved in their job, and they are less likely to experience strain symptoms such as fatigue, burnout, anxiety, and headaches PERSON PERCEPTION IN HUMAN RESOURCES Perception of Recruitment and Selection How job applicants are treated during recruitment and selection process influences their perceptions toward the organization and their likelihood of accepting a job offer Signaling theory: Job applications 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
Applicants also form perceptions toward organizations based on the selection tests they are required to complete Perceptions in the Employment Interview • The factors that threaten the validity of an interview are: applicants are usually motivated to present an especially favourable impression of themselves, interviewers have a tendency to exhibit primary reaching - the information the interviewer acquired early in the interview will have an undue impact on the final decision • Negative information has undue impact on the decision • Contrast effects – previously interviewed job applicants affect an interviewer’s perception of a current applicant, leading to an exaggeration of differences between applicants – comparing the second interviewee to the first
• •
The validity of an interview improves when it is structured A structured interview consists of four dimensions: evaluation standardization (using standardized and numeric scoring procedures), question sophistication (behavioural questions), question consistency (the interviewer asking the same question in the same order to all candidates), and rapport building(do not ask personal questions unrelated to the job
[Type text]
[Type text]
[Type text]
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Structured interviews reduce information overload and ensure that applicants can be more easily compared Perceptions and the Performance Appraisal Objective and Subjective Measures • Objective measures do not involve a substantial degree of human judgement – the number of publications that a professor has in top journals is a good example • When objective indicators of performance to exist they are often contaminated by situational factors • Due to this, organizations have to rely on subjective measures of effectiveness – often given from a manager • This is hard because it is hard for managers to observe all activity – even when performance is observable, employees often alter their behaviour so that they look good when their manager is around Rater Errors Leniency – the tendency to perceive the job performance of rates as especially good Harshness – the tendency to perceive the job performance of rates as especially ineffective
Central tendency – the tendency to assign most rates to middle-rate to performance categories
Halo effect – the rating of an individual on one trait or characteristic tends to colour ratings on other traits or characteristics Similar-to-me effect - a rater gives more favourable evaluations to people who are similar to the rater in terms of background or attitudes
Given these problems, it is clear that it is difficult to obtain good subjective evaluations of employee performance HOFSTEDE’S CULTURAL VALUES • Power distance: relative acceptance of equal (low power distance) to extremely unequal power distribution (high) • Individualism vs. Collectivism: act as individuals vs. act as a member of groups • Quantity of Life vs. Quality of Life: value material acquisitions vs. relationships & welfare of others • Uncertainty Avoidance: preference for certain vs. ambiguous situations • Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation: tendency to look to future including valuing thrift & persistence vs. valuing the past (traditions) & present social obligations ATTITUDES: Attitudes are a combination of beliefs (an ideas about something) with values (what I care about, and the extent to which I care) Much more specific than values – usually targeted at something or someone Three components to attitudes: 1. Affect - from very negative to very positive. Attitudes vary in strength & importance to the person 2. Cognition - knowledge or belief 3. Intention to Act – guide for behavior Relationship between attitude toward cheating and actually cheating close to zero. Those who did poorly more likely to cheat.
Textbook Notes
Chapter 3
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Meta-analysis of attitude studies showed less than .30 correlation between attitudes and behaviour. Types of Attitudes Job Involvement • Measures the degree to which people identify psychologically with their job and consider their perceived performance level important to self-worth • Psychological empowerment – employees’ beliefs in the degree to which they influence their work environment, their competence, the meaningfulness of their job and their perceived autonomy. Employee engagement • An individual’s involvement with, satisfaction with, and enthusiasm for work he or she does. • Highly engaged employees have a passion for their work and feel a deep connection to the company. Firms that have employees with a higher level of engagement tend to see positive results: • Higher customer satisfaction • More productive employees • Higher profits • Lower levels of turnover and accidents WHAT CAUSES JOB SATISFACTION? • Work itself, pay advancement opportunities, supervision, co-workers • Enjoying the work itself is almost always most strongly correlated with high levels of job satisfaction. • Once a person reaches the level of comfortable living the relationship between pay and satisfaction virtually disappears. • People with positive core self-evaluations, believe in their inner worth and basic competence, and are more satisfied with their work. • Social context such as interdependence, support, interaction outside the workplace, feedback • And justice… Perception of Justice/ Fairness Distributive fairness* – perceived fairness of the amount and allocation of outcomes Procedural fairness – perceived fairness of the process used to determine the distribution of outcomes Interactional fairness – quality of interpersonal treatment received (both in terms of respect and information) • Interpersonal fairness • Informational fairness
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Three-Component Model of Organizational
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