Perception

Definition: Perception is a process by which people regard, analyze, retrieve and react to any kind of information from the environment. For example, some people feel happy about earning money while others feel happy about spending money.

Factors affecting Perception

The factors which affect the perception are shown in the figure below:

Process of Perception

• Reception: In this process, a person receives the information through stimuli.
• Selection: This is governed by two types of factors:
  • External factors: These are size, intensity, proximity, motion and novelty.
  • Internal factors: These are attitude, motives, experiences, interests and expectations.
• Organization: It is the process by which we sort stimuli into a meaningful pattern. It involves the following:
  • Grouping: Assembling of stimuli on the grounds of similarity.
  • Proximity: This is the closeness of stimuli to one another that affects perception.
  • Closure: It is the ability to organize stimuli so that together they form a whole pattern.
• Interpretation: It is the formation of an idea about the information that is sensed, selected and organized. It involves the following phenomena: primacy effect, selective perception, stereotyping, halo effect, projection and expectancy effect. They are the types of perceptual errors.
  • Primacy/ Recency Effect:  The first impression is given the most important which is known as the primacy effect. Recency effect, on the other hand, is that human beings remember latest events more than the less recent ones.
  • Stereotyping:  It is the effect caused by forming a certain belief about a category of stimuli and generalizing that notion to encounters with each member of that category. In reality, there is a difference between the perceived notion of each category and the actual traits of the members. It may affect the interview process in an organization.
  • Halo effect: It is the process of generalizing from a comprehensive analysis to a single attribute or trait. A negative halo effect is known as the reverse halo effect. It affects the performance appraisal of employees in a company.
  • Projection: It is a psychological defence mechanism which makes a person compare his negative traits with other people and conclude that they are better off than others.  Perceptual checking minimizes the negative effects of projection.
  • Selective Perception: This means a person sees, feels or hears what he wants to and skips other information which are inconsistent to his view.
  • Expectancy effect: It is the tendency of an individual to interpret any person or object based on how he expects the person or object to be in the first place. It is also called as Pygmalion effect.

Perception is an intellectual, psychological process which is subjective as individuals perceive similar incident differently.

Importance of Perception

Perception plays a pivotal role in an organization as it influences the following:

1. Interpersonal work relation.
2. Selection of employees.
3. Performance appraisal

Perception Errors

There are a few mistakes in perception which are describes as follows:

1. Illusion.

2. Hallucination.

3. Halo Effect.

4. Stereotyping.

5. Similarity.

6. Horn Effect.

7. Contrast.

Illusion

False thinking is delusion. The individual is going to botch an improvement here, and see it wrongly. In darkness, for example, a rope is mixed up like a snake, or the other way around. An unknown individual's voice is mixed up like the voice of a friend. An person that remains a way off and that may not be seen as a recognized entity.

Hallucination

Wherever the individual sees any stimuli, it can't in present in any situation. This mystery is called Hallucination. The person may see an object, a person, and so on, or he may hear some voice out, but there are actually no articles and sounds.

Halo effect

Individuals are evaluated on the basis of apparent positive quality, aspect, or function. A corona impact works when we draw a general impression about a person based for example, on a solitary trademark, knowledge, friendliness or appearance. In the end of the day, that is the tendency to score a man consistently high or low in different characteristics on the off chance that he is exceedingly high or low in one specific attribute: if a worker does not have several unfortunate shortcomings, his boss will award him a high rating in any other region of work.

Stereotyping

Individuals will typically fall into a general class based on physical or social characteristics in either situation, and then they are assessed. We use the simple route called stereotyping at the point where we judge others based on our understanding of the gathering that the individual has a place to.

 Similarity

Frequently, individuals will in general search out and rate all the more emphatically the individuals who are like themselves. This propensity to affirm of comparability may make evaluators give better appraisals to representatives who show similar interests, work techniques, perspectives or models.

Horn Effect

 At the point where the person is judged solely on the basis of an obvious negative attribute or highlight. These findings are lower than an acceptable rate in a general ranking. He can't spruce up in the office, which is why he could possibly grind away too.

Contrast

The propensity to rate individuals comparative with others instead of to the individual execution the individual is doing. Or maybe will assess a representative by contrasting that worker's exhibition and different workers.

Group Dynamics

A group is when "two or more people share a common definition and evaluation of themselves and behave in accordance with such a definition." (Vaughan & Hogg, 2002, Page 200). According to Keith Davis – “The social process by which people interact face to face in small groups is called group dynamics. It is concerned with the interaction of individuals in a face to face relationship. It focuses on team work, wherein small groups are constantly in contact with each other and share their ideas to accomplish the given tasks.”

Importance of Group Dynamics

The following importance of group dynamics as under: The group can influence the way it believes the members. The leaders are often informed by other leaders interacting within the party. Compared to a group with a bad leader, a group with a strong leader makes good.

1. The group will provide the impact of collective effort, i.e. if the collective is made up of positive thinking then each time its performance is more than double.

2. Apart from that, group dynamism can give the individuals work fulfillment.

3. Group may also impart the spirit of the team among members

4. Also members' attitudes & ideas depend on group dynamism. For example, with the help of the facilitator negative thinkers convert to positive thinkers.

Types of Group

A common way of classifying a group is through whether they are formal or informal in nature or not. Formal working groups are set up to achieve Organizational goals through an organization. Also, formal groups could take the form of command groups, task groups, and functional groups. It is decided by using the Organizational chart that depicts accepted formal connections within an organization between persons. Examples of command group are managers and faculty members in a business school, college managers and teachers, manufacturing supervisors and supervisors, and so on.

1. Command groups

 Through the aid of the Organizational map, command groups are assured, and sometimes consist of a supervisor and the subordinates who report to that supervisor. An example of a command group is the president of the academic division and the representatives of the faculty within that department.

2. Task groups

 Task groups consist of people working collectively to attain a common task. Members are collectively added to achieve a narrow variety of goals within a specified period of time. Task groups are often referred to as task forces, too. The organization appoints members and assigns the targets and duties to be fulfilled. Examples of assigned tasks include the development of a new product, the enhancement of a production process or the motivational contest proposal.

3. Functional groups

With the support of the enterprise a functional group is formed to accomplish dear objectives within an unspecified time frame. Functional organizations remain in place until existing goals d priorities have been accomplished. Examples of functional group may be a department for advertising and marketing, a department for the customer service, or an accounting department.

• Informal Group – There are different types of informal groups:

1. Interest groups.

 Interest groups generally go on over time, and may also end longer than general informal groups. Furthermore, leaders of interest groups may not be in the same Organizational department process today, but they are certain collectively by some shared interest. Team hobbies' aspirations and ambitions are special to each group and can no longer be aligned with corporate expectations and goals. College students who work together to create a community learning for a particular class will be an example of an interest group.

2. Friendship groups

 Friendship groups are influenced by members sharing common social events, political views, oral values, or different regular bonds. Members enjoy the company of each other, and meet frequently to engage in these events after work. For example, as soon as a month, a group of employees structuring a friendship group may also have an exercise group, a softball team, or a potluck lunch. Friendship groups enhance things to do or stage the office drama among the Organizational members when they share some common hobby such as taking part in certain sports activities, etc.

3. Reference groups

 A reference category is kind of a category that people use to find themselves. The fundamental purposes of the reference groups, Cherrington says, are social validation and social comparison. Public approval encourages people to explain their behaviors and beliefs and public affirmation enables individuals to understand their own actions by comparing themselves against others. Reference classes have a significant impact on the actions of members. Through discussing themselves with other stakeholders, individuals will evaluate if their conduct is acceptable or not, and whether their behaviors and beliefs are right or wrong.

Some major types of groups are discussed here

1. Primary Secondary
2. Membership reference
3. IN Out
4. Interest friendship
5. Open closed
6. Formal Informal
7. Temporary Permanent
8. Nominal Non-Performing

Primary & secondary types of group

Primary groups are the groups were in members have regular face to face interactions. Members in the group have a close interpersonal relationship. Family is the best example for the Primary group. In the case of the organization, the Quality circle is the best example.

Secondary Groups are such groups were members come together to earn money and transact goods and services.
the emotions love anger disappointment can be shared in the primary group whereas in a secondary group it is restrained

Membership & Reference

Membership groups are the group which requires formal registration and members need to obtain card or certificate. AIMA All India Management Association is an example of a membership group.

Reference groups are such groups by which the individual wants to identify himself as a member or to which group he wants to belong. Family is an example of a Reference group.

To be simple membership groups are which the individual actually belongs and reference groups are which the individual wants to belong

IN and OUT types of groups

In group is the group in which individuals hold powerful values and it plays a vital role in social functioning example Family, service organisation etc…

OUT groups are the groups which do not share any social value.

In another dimension In group is in which the individual is a member and out-group is in which he is not a member. And the members of in-group have enmity wit the outgroup

Interest and friendship Group

Interest groups are formed by individuals who have a common interest in achieving a particular task eg. Group coordinating any social gathering.

Friendship group is formed by members having one or more common features. Generally, people speaking the same language, belonging to the same place will become a part of a friendship group.

Open & closed Types of Groups

An open group is such group were in the membership is keep on changing that is any new member can join and existing member can leave the group. As the members are kept on changing the group will get new ideas and the same time perspective is limited to the near future.

A closed group are a group where the membership is closed it can be said as constant.

Temporary & Permanent Group

Temporary groups are formed for a particular purpose. When the task for which the group is formed is completed the group will be separated.

A permanent group are a group which is not task-based. Which will keep on go

Nominal & Non-Performing Group

The nominal group are groups which have problems to be solved tasks are undertaken by members. Have a structured way of performing. Suggestions of members will be taken in a written format.

A non-Performing group are a group which is only on paper are for show purpose. Which will not have any specific function to perform

Formal & Informal Types of Groups

Formal Groups are such groups which are formed generally by the organisation. There exist a structure and hierarchy among the members. These formal groups are formed basically from the organisational chart itself.

Command group and task group are examples of Formal groups

Informal type Groups

Informal groups are formed by the people voluntarily based on their interest. When people with similar interest within the organisation come together and form a group is called an informal group.