Factors Limiting and Distorting Perception and Bias in Organizations

This paper discusses the factors that limit and distort perception and contribute to bias in organizations. It covers topics such as stereotyping, projection, halo effect, pre-disposition, contrast effect, and primacy effect. The paper also suggests ways for individuals and organizations to overcome these factors, such as proper communication, accepting change, and reducing perceptual errors.

Running head: Organization Behavior
Organization Behavior
Student name

Organization Behavior
Discuss the factors that limit and distort our perception and
contribute to bias. What can individuals and organizations do to
overcome this?
In this paper the discussion will be made on the factors that limit and distort perception
of the individual and also contribute to bias. As stated in the statement it has been analyzed
that perception is different of every individual and it is reflected in the overall activities of the
people. It has been analyzed that perception is related with the mindset of the people. It is
considered as method that focuses on gathering, managing and interpreting the sensory
impressions. Perception has a role in the life of individuals and also in the organization
(Argyris, 2017). By considering perception it has been seen that people evaluate and find
meaning. The judgment which is made by the people is related with their own perception.
Each individual have their own mindset that can judge and take corrective actions. Perception
is also related with the overall behavior of the individual as different people have their own
mindset and also they try to solve the issues in their own way (Alfes et al., 2013).
In the workplace there are many people who are working and each employee have a
different way of thinking and evaluating things. Some employees think that equal
opportunities are offered to them and some think that biasness is shown in the workplace. So,
thinking of the individual varies from person to person. Perceptual distortion is also related
with that how in generalized way it is perceived. Perceptual distortion should not be present as
it can give adverse impact on the overall operations of the company and also on the
individuals. The behavior of the individual is also affected by distortion (Sims, 2016). When
people are not able to behave in the right manner then it can give adverse impact on the
overall working pattern. In the workplace biasness take place just because of the different
perception (Hystad, Mearns and Eid, 2014). Some people think positive for their directors but
some think negative for them. So, the thinking pattern of the individual varies from people to
people having different perception. There are many employees who focus on completing their
activities but it has been seen that not every employee same thing for other individual. Every
person in the workplace thinks different for the other person but when they are in group then
can create same mindset for the person. For example: if the person has a positive mindset
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towards B, he or she will behave in a positive manner. But if a person A is staying with C of
negative thoughts then it can easily impact the overall perception of A towards the person B.
due to different perception of the people the image is created in the mind of the people. Some
think positive and some thinks negative for the same person. Also there are many factors that
distort the perception of the people and this will be discussed in the coming phase of the
paper. Perception of the people is also created because of the environment or the surrounding
in which they are living. They are influenced by people who are staying with them and think
in the way others think. The perception of the people is also created just because of the
surroundings in which they live. Also the experience of the individual is considered in this
concept. As people gain experience they know to perceive things (Yabe, Dave and Goodale,
2017).
There are various steps which are related to perception and these steps are considered
by the people when they try to perceive something. It has been seen that initial stage is related
with stimuli in which sensory organs of an individuals are considered like vision, touch,
hearing, smell and taste. When these sensory organs are in the individuals then stimuli can
take place in an easy manner. Then selection of stimuli is taken into consideration in which
various stimuli are received by focus is given on that stimuli which make some sense. It is
important to consider those stimuli that give some meaning. The oral presentation of the
individual is received through hearing and written is received by watching. In the next step the
perceiver focuses on filling the gap with the proper information. Perceiver makes the efforts
so that flow of data can be easy to be maintained. The last is proximity in which the relation of
data is analyzed that should be considered by everyone. The closeness of the information is
also taken into consideration. Distortion in perception can give negative impact on the entire
process of communication. It is important to have proper process of communication so that as
it is only the source that can raise the issue. Through distortion the gap of communication has
been also enhanced (Ruesch et al., 2017). There are many issues which take place due to lack
of communication and if there is no proper communication then it can give impact on the
employees and on their assigned task. It has been evaluated that there are many factors that
can be considered in context to a situation of an object. The feature of perceivers also affects
the level of perception. It is essential to have proper communication so that level of perception
can be positive and also maintained (Habermas, 2015). It has been analyzed that when an
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individual emphasizes on targets and attempts to evaluate then it can be analyzed that personal
factors are considered by the perceiver. The feature through which the perceiver is influenced
is related to attitude. It has been analyzed that perception can be judged with the attitude of the
individual.
Mood of the individual is also considered as one of the characteristic that influence the
perception of the people. By having a good mood people can think in a positive way for
others and if people don’t have good mood they think negative for other which can impact the
other individual. So, it has been seen that perception of an individual can vary in context to
way of expression towards a specific thing. The change can be seen in the expressions if
perception is considered (Georgalis et al., 2015). There are various factors that are affecting
perception like needs and motive, stereotypes, projections, halo effects, pre disposition,
recency effect, prejudice and primacy effect. Stereotyping is considered as one of the factor in
this it has been seen that notion is perceived about the individuals by focusing on the group
from which they belong. For instance: there is a saying in which it is stated that Irish are
drunk but this is not a correct statement. The people who emphasize on stereotyping judge
other people in the wrong manner. Stereotypes give direct impact on the overall perception.
People give tag without knowing the true fact so it is considered as a wrong thing to judge the
person without knowing anything. Due to stereotypes in the workplace it has been seen that
negative impact is seen on the healthy environment of the company (Stevens et al., 2018). If
there are stereotypes in the workplace then direct impact is seen on the overall operations of
the company which are assigned to them. Stereotyping in the workplace can impact the
overall perception level of the individual. It has been seen that it is important to reduce
stereotyping so that perception of the people can be made in a positive manner.
Projection is also considered as one of the factor. It is a defense mechanism that can
focus on securing the thoughts and views of the people. Distortion can be analyzed when a
person point out some else for their own needs and also from their own thinking structure. Also,
in this it has been seen that an effective solution can help on the personal level which can also
give benefit to others. There are people who think that other give opinions and views of
themselves so that improvisation can be made.
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Halo effect is related with the perception and focuses on the characteristics of a person
and according to the behavior the conversion takes place on the general platform. Also the traits
of the people are invisible. In this effect it has been analyzed that one characteristics of a person
is taken into consideration and it generate an impression of the person on others (Jennings,
Mitchell and Hannah, 2015).
Perception is also affected by selective perception. This bias emphasizes on elaborating
the issue. There are some facts that are taken into consideration and also the important facts are
not considered.
Contrast effect is also the factor in which bias is present when one comparison is with
made the overall characteristics of a person with another person within a time frame. Recency
effect also focuses on updated information with focuses on the other person. This distortion
takes place when the HR manager focuses on the overall performance and productivity level of
the employees in the few months. Also appraisal is given according to the performance of the
employees in the workplace.
Next is pre disposition in which the person oversees what they want to see and it can be
done with investigation and also without any investigation. Primacy effect also affects the
perception and this takes place when the one person creates a view for the other by seeing the
first impression. It has always seen that at the time of interview first impression is important as it
gives impact on the perception of the interviewer (Heimer, 2016). At the time of recruitment, the
interviewer focuses on the candidates and makes perception. The evaluation process can be
diluted with primacy effect as judgment takes place of the interviewer for the candidates. If a
person is nervous at the time of interview then it can be analyzed by the interviewer. Therefore,
this is also one of the factors which impact the perception level (Fang, Van Kleef and Sauter,
2018).
There are also many ways that can help to overcome perception distortion. The initial
step is related with change. It is essential for the individual to be ready for the change. Also at
the time of considering the important decisions it is important to have proper information so that
accurate decisions can be made. The decisions are based on the information that should be
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factual so that proper decisions can be considered. Gathering of right information is important as
it can help to reduce the negative affect (Day, Crown and Ivany, 2017).
Next step is related with communication. There should be proper interaction between the
people so that conflict does not arise between individuals. It has been analyzed that if there is no
understanding between people then their opinion and views that are created will be negative.
Therefore, it is important for them to listen and understand the pint stated by the other person.
Also the individual should not focus on convincing the other individual about the situation of
right or wrong. But there should be proper interaction so that proper understanding can be
maintained and distortion of perception does not take place.
It is important to reduce the perceptual errors so that performance level can be maintained
of the people. If errors exist then it can affect the process of decision making so it is important to
minimize it.
So, by evaluating the paper it has been concluded that perception plays a great role in the
life of the individual and also in context too the company. There are many factors that focus on
affecting perception like stereotyping, pre disposition, contrast effect and also halo effect. These
factors should be maintained so that proper perception can be considered. Also there are ways
steps that should be considered like proper communication, accepting change and also to reduce
the perceptual errors so that individuals can take their own decisions.
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