The Impact of Perception on Communication and Decision Making

This report explores the significant impact of perception on communication and decision-making processes, particularly within a management context. It begins by highlighting how individual perceptions, influenced by factors like personal beliefs and values, shape the interpretation of information and, consequently, the communication process. The report uses a perception test to illustrate how the same stimuli can be understood differently by individuals, leading to varied responses and behaviors. Furthermore, it examines the connection between perception and workplace behavior, including instances of bias and discrimination stemming from cultural diversity and differing views on gender equality. The report also addresses how the decoding process of communication is affected by individual perceptions, potentially leading to misunderstandings, and emphasizes the importance of managers understanding different perspectives to avoid biases in their decision-making and communication. References to relevant literature support the analysis, and the report offers insights into how managers can mitigate the negative impacts of perception.

Running head: PERCEPTION
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The aim of this paper is to discuss the impact of perception upon the communication
process and how this is closely connected with the decision making process of the managers.
From this perception test it has been found out that any subject can be interpreted in
myriads of ways. This is the process for selection, organization and interpretation of the
information. This affects the communication as one responds to the stimuli in different ways. For
example in the test, there were different images which could be interpreted differently. The
objects are seen in different ways that to one may represent one thing and for other completely
different. In this test I have found myself to be realist which reveals that I tend to explain thing
just as it is (Mindtools.com 2020). Through this test, it is realized that the understanding level,
beliefs and values of the persons determine how they will be reacting in the scenario. This is also
connected with the fact that the understanding of the communication or the objects create
impression in the minds of the people which ultimately connect their decision making ability.
Perception has a great connection with the workplace behavior I have witnessed a
situation where perception leads to the biasness. The organistion where I used to work was
culturally diverse. Therefore the teams had members from different cultural background. Some
of the cultures I have found that perceive the gender equality to be a luxury concept. To them
women are less capable to work than men. Hence the women employees in the team had to face
harassment and discrimination (Broomell & Kane, 2017).
The decoding process of the communication system relates to the perception of the
people. The perception of an individual is different from one another therefore, seeing one thing
can vary from person to person. Decoding sage of the communication therefore creates confusion
were the sender may have a point of view different from the receiver therefore decoding of the

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message may not affect the receiver as the way it did to the sender. Sufficient knowledge about
the background and knowing one another and reduce the confusion (Tsiourti et al., 2017). This is
the reason why the manager need to
 Listen to the employees or other stakeholders properly and think from their points of
view before making any decision and then communicate.
 Managers must thrive to become unbiased about the caste, creed, gender, religion and
culture because these perceptions are reflected in their decision making process as well a
communication.

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References:
Broomell, S. B., & Kane, P. B. (2017). Public perception and communication of scientific
uncertainty. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 146(2), 286.
Mindtools.com. (2020). Understanding Communication Skills: Applying the Seven Stages of the
Communications Process. Retrieved 9 February 2020, from
https://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/CommunicationIntro.htm
Tsiourti, C., Weiss, A., Wac, K., & Vincze, M. (2017, October). Designing emotionally
expressive robots: a comparative study on the perception of communication modalities.
In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Human Agent Interaction (pp.
213-222).

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