Factors Limiting and Distorting Perception and Bias in Organizations

Running head: Organization Behavior
Organization Behavior

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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Organization Behavior
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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