Perception and Attributions: The Perceptual Process

Joseph Arroyos

MGMT631

May 7, 2018

Chapter 4: Perception and Attributions: The Perceptual Process

        An impression of a person can be the lasting perception of when a person first meets them or even a developed perception by working with a person. This impression changes with every person that interacts with them. In the work environment, an impression of an employee begins, and some time ends, with the first interaction during the initial greeting of an interview. Perception is all in the eye of the beholder, meaning that every person has a different perception of the world around them. I work in the IT department and I find it exciting that I work with computers and different equipment all day long, where my mother sees it boring that I sit behind a desk all day and finds working in the element’s all day as more invigorating because she gets the sudden burst or energy when she sees the sun shining. A worker develops a perception of the fellow workers around them and the management based off “observing, selecting, and interpreting information” of the job environment.

Question: With so many different personalities and misconceptions that can develop from judging people based off the initial meeting, how can a new way be developed to bring better candidates for a job knowing that the background in a field is exceptional but their social skills may be lacking? And how can someone who has great interview and people skills be eliminated for a position? Would a board of members doing interviews be better than an automated system that weeds out positional candidates based off of yes and no questions in an application or vice versa?

Chapter 5: Understanding and Managing Individual Behaviors: Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory

        Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory is a theory of motivation of employees and the way they work. The two factors are Hygiene factors and Motivators which represent the dissatisfiers and the satisfiers. Hygiene factors are the external factors of the job and the motivators are the internal factors that determine the mood of the person. There are different combinations of the two factors of both being either positive or negative that can help determine the employee contribution to the employer or the total satisfaction of the job making the employee either more likely to excel in the job or leave the current position. When an employee feels a good sense of the job and enjoys what they, this motivator becomes good and the hygiene factor becomes less relevant to the turnover of employees. Organizational Citizenship Behaviors can also lead to the positive motivators because of the employee dedication to the company and the image they try to uphold for the company. These OCB can lead to a better job satisfaction. Southwest has been recognized as the LUV company where employees LUV their job and customers appreciate this with the great customer service that they provide. Employees go above and beyond the call of duty to impress their customers with customer service.