Chapter 3

Perceiving Ourselves and Others in Organizations

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2013 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Changing Self and Other-Perceptions of Female Firefighters

Camp Fully Involved, a six-day intensive firefighter

course for teenage girls, builds self-confidence and

dissolves the stereotype that firefighting is only for men.

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Self-Concept Defined

An individual’s self-beliefs and self-evaluations “Who am I?” and “How do I feel about myself?” Compare perceived job with our perceived and ideal selves. Includes three self-concept dimensions and four “selves”

processes

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Complexity• People have multiple self-views

Consistency• Similar personality and values across multiple selves

Clarity• Clearly and confidently described, internally

consistent, and stable across time. People have better well-being with:

• multiple selves (complexity)• well established selves (clarity)• selves are similar and compatible with traits

(consistency)

Self-Concept Dimensions (3 C’s)

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Self-enhancement• Promoting and protecting our positive self-view

Self-verification• Affirming our existing self-concept

Self-evaluation• Evaluating ourselves through self-esteem, self-

efficacy and locus of control

Social self• Defining ourselves in terms of group membership

Four “Selves” of Self-Concept

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Drive to promote/protect a positive self-view • competent, attractive, lucky, ethical, valued

Positive self-concept outcomes:• better personal adjustment and mental/physical

health • inflates personal causation and probability of

success

Self-Concept: Self-Enhancement

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Motivation to verify/maintain our self-concept Stabilizes our self-concept People prefer feedback consistent with their

self-concept Self-verification outcomes:

• More likely to perceive information consistent with our self-concept

• We interact more with those who affirm/reflect our current self-concept

Self-Concept: Self-Verification

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Self-esteem• High self-esteem -- less influenced, more

persistent/logical

Self-efficacy• Belief in one’s ability, motivation, role perceptions,

and situation to complete a task successfully• General vs. task-specific self-efficacy

Locus of control• General belief about personal control over life events• Higher self-evaluation with internal locus of control

Self-Concept: Self-Evaluation

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Self-Concept: Social Self

• Social identity -- defining ourselves in terms of groups to which we belong or have an emotional attachment

• We identify with groups that support self-enhancement

Employees at other firms

People living in other countries

Graduates ofother schools

An individual’s

social identity

Edward Jones Employee

AmericanResident/Citizen

Indiana U.Graduate

Contrasting GroupsSocial Identity

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Perception Defined

The process of receiving information about and making sense of the world around us• Determining which information

gets noticed• how to categorize this

information• how to interpret information

within our existing knowledge framework

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Selective Attention

Selecting vs ignoring sensory information

Affected by object and perceiver characteristics

Emotional markers attached to selected information

Confirmation bias• Information contrary to our

beliefs/values is screened out

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Categorical thinking• Mostly nonconscious process of organizing

people/things Perceptual grouping principles

• Similarity or proximity• Closure -- filling in missing pieces• Perceiving trends

Interpreting incoming information• Emotional markers automatically evaluate

information

Perceptual Organization/Interpretation

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Internal representations of the external world

Help make sense of situations• Fill in missing pieces• Help to predict events

Problem with mental models:• May block recognition of new

opportunities/perspectives

Mental Models in Perceptions

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Stereotyping

Assigning traits to people based on social category membership

Occurs because:• Categorical thinking• Innate drive to understand and

anticipate others’ behavior• Enhances our self-concept

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Social identity and self-enhancement reinforce stereotyping through:

Categorization -- Categorize people into groups

Homogenization -- Assign similar traits within a group; different traits to other groups

Differentiation process -- Assign less favorable attributes to other groups

Stereotyping Through Categorization, Homogenization, Differentiation

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Stereotyping Problems• Overgeneralizes – doesn’t represent everyone in

the category• Basis of systemic and intentional discrimination

Overcoming stereotype biases• Difficult to prevent stereotype activation• Possible to minimize stereotype application

Stereotyping Problems/Solutions

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Attribution Process

Perception that behavior is caused by person’s own motivation or ability

Internal Attribution

External Attribution

Perception that behavior is caused by situation or fate -- beyond person’s control

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Attribution Rules

External Attribution

Frequently

Consistency

Seldom

Internal Attribution

Frequently

Distinctiveness

Seldom

Seldom

Consensus

Frequently

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Fundamental Attribution Error• attributing own actions to internal and external

factors and others’ actions to internal factors

Self-Serving Bias• attributing our successes to internal factors and

our failures to external factors

Attribution Errors

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Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Cycle

Supervisorforms

expectations

Expectationsaffect supervisor’s

behavior

Supervisor’sbehavior affects

employee

Employee’sbehavior matches

expectations

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...at the beginning of the relationship (e.g. employee joins the team)

...when several people have similar expectations about the person

...when the employee has low rather than high past achievement

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Effect is Strongest...

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Halo effect• One trait affects perception of person’s other traits

False-consensus effect• overestimate how many others have similar beliefs

or traits like ours

Primacy effect• First impressions

Recency effect• Most recent information dominates perceptions

Other Perceptual Effects

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1. Awareness of perceptual biases

2. Improving self-awareness• Applying Johari Window

3. Meaningful interaction• Close, frequent interaction toward a shared goal• Equal status • Engaged in a meaningful task

Strategies to Improve Perceptions

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Known to Self Unknown to Self

Knownto Others

Unknownto Others

OpenArea Blind

Area

UnknownArea

HiddenArea

Know Yourself (Johari Window)

OpenArea

BlindArea

HiddenArea

UnknownArea

Disclosure

Feedback

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Meaningful Interaction at Herschend Family Entertainment

Herschend Family Entertainment

CEO Joel Manby worked incognito

along-side employees as part of

the television program Undercover

Boss. The experience helped

Manby improve his perceptions of

the workplace as well as his own

leadership behavior.

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An individual’s ability to perceive, appreciate, and empathize with people from other cultures, and to process complex cross-cultural information. • awareness of, openness to, and respect for other

views and practices in the world • capacity to empathize and act effectively across

cultures• ability to process complex information about novel

environments• ability to comprehend and reconcile intercultural

matters with multiple levels of thinking

Global Mindset

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1. Self-awareness activities – understand own values, beliefs, attitudes

2. Compare mental models with people from other cultures

3. Cross-cultural training

4. Immersion in other cultures

Developing a Global Mindset

Chapter 3

Perceiving Ourselves and Others in Organizations