McGraw-Hill/Irwin

© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Understanding Social Perception and Managing Diversity Chapter Four

Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

After reading the material in this chapter, you should be able to:

LO4.1

Describe

perception

in terms of the social information processing model.

LO4.2

Explain seven managerial implications of social perception.

LO4.3

Explain, according to Kelley’s model, how external and internal causal attributions are formulated.

4-2

After reading the material in this chapter, you should be able to:

LO4.4

Demonstrate your familiarity with the demographic trends that are creating an increasingly diverse workforce.

LO4.5

Identify the barriers and challenges to managing diversity.

LO4.6

Discuss organizational practices used to manage diversity 4-3

A Social Information Processing Model of Perception

Perception

 cognitive process that enables us to interpret and understand our surroundings 4-4

Social Perception: A Social Information Processing Model

4-5

Stage 1: Selective Attention/Comprehension

Attention

 Process of becoming consciously aware of something or someone People pay attention to salient stimuli

Salient

 something that stands out from context 4-6

Question?

Beverly has $11,000 for investment. She speaks with various friends and neighbors to find out what stocks they have invested in. Beverly can be described as being on which stage of the social information processing model?

A.

Selective attention; comprehension B.

Encoding C.

Simplification D.

Storage and Retention 4-7

Stage 2: Encoding and Simplification

Schema

 Represents a person’s mental picture or summary of a particular event or type of stimulus 4-8

Stage 2: Encoding and Simplification

Stereotype

 An individual’s set of beliefs about the characteristics or attributes of a group Not always negative May or may not be accurate 4-9

Stereotyping Process

1.

2.

3.

Categorize people into groups according to various criteria Infer that all people within a category possess the same traits Form expectations of others and interpret their behavior according to our stereotypes 4-10

Stereotyping Process

4.

– Stereotypes are maintained by: Overestimating the frequency of stereotypic behavior exhibited by others – Incorrectly explaining expected and unexpected behaviors – Differentiating minority individuals from oneself 4-11

Commonly Found Perceptual Errors

Table 4-1 4-12

Stage 3: Storage and Retention

Event memory

 information about both specific and general events

Semantic memory

 general knowledge about the world, mental dictionary of concepts

Person memory

 information about a single individual or groups of people 4-13

Stage 4: Retrieval and Response

Decisions are based on

:  The process of drawing on, interpreting, and integrating categorical information stored in long-term memory  Retrieving a summary judgment that was already made 4-14

Managerial Implications: Hiring

Interviewers make hiring decisions based on their impression of how an applicant fits the perceived requirements of a job and on the basis of implicit cognition

Implicit cognition

 represents any thoughts or beliefs that are automatically activated from memory without our conscious awareness.

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Managerial Implications: Performance Appraisal

Important for managers to accurately identify the behavioral characteristics and results indicative of good performance Characteristics serve as the benchmarks for evaluating employee performance 4-16

Managerial Implications: Leadership

Good leaders exhibit the following behaviors:    Assigning specific tasks to group members Telling others they had done well Setting specific goals for the group 4-17

Question?

Which of these is (are) managerial implication(s) of perception?

A.

Interviewers with racist and sexist schemata can undermine the accuracy and legality of hiring decisions.

B.

Faulty schemata about what constitutes good versus poor performance can lead to inaccurate performance appraisal, which can erode work motivation, commitment, and loyalty.

C.

Research demonstrates that employees' evaluations of leader effectiveness are influenced strongly by their schemata of good and poor leaders.

D.

All of these.

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Causal Attributions

Causal Attributions

 suspected or inferred causes of behavior 4-19

Performance Charts

4-20

Kelley’s Model of Attribution

Behavior can be attributed either to:

Internal factors

within a person (such as ability) or to:

External behavior

within the environment (such as a difficult task) 4-21

Kelley’s Model of Attribution

Consensus

 involves a comparison of an individual’s behavior with that of his peers.

Distinctiveness

 involves comparing a person’s behavior on one task with the behavior from other tasks.

Consistency

 determined by judging if the individual’s performance on a given task is consistent over time.

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Question?

Francesca has had stable performance and high quality from one task to another. This refers to: A.

Low consensus.

B.

High distinctiveness.

C.

High consensus D.

Low distinctiveness.

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Attributional Tendencies

Fundamental attribution bias

 Reflects one’s tendency to attribute another person’s behavior to his or her personal characteristics, as opposed to situational factors.

Self-serving bias

 Represents one’s tendency to take more personal responsibility for success than for failure.

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Managerial Implications

Managers tend to disproportionately attribute behavior to internal causes An employee’s attributions for his own performance have dramatic effects on subsequent motivation, performance, and self-esteem 4-25

Defining and Managing Diversity

Diversity

 represents the multitude of individual differences and similarities that exist among people 4-26

Four Layers of Diversity

4-27

Defining and Managing Diversity

Affirmative action

 an artificial intervention aimed at giving management a chance to correct an imbalance, an injustice, a mistake, or outright discrimination that occurred in the past.

Managing diversity  Enables people to perform up to their maximum potential 4-28

Increasing Diversity in the Workforce: Demographic Trends

1.

Women navigate a labyrinth after breaking the glass ceiling 2.

3.

Racial groups are encountering a glass ceiling and perceived discrimination Mismatch between workers’ educational attainment and occupational requirements 4.

Generational differences in an aging workforce 4-29

Increasing Diversity in the Workforce

Glass ceiling

 represents an absolute barrier or solid roadblock that prevented women from advancing to higher level positions.

4-30

Table 4-2

Generational Differences

4-31

Ways Organizations Can Motivate and Retain an Aging Workforce 1.

Provide challenging work assignments that make a difference to the firm.

2.

Give the employee considerable autonomy and latitude in completing a task.

3.

Provide equal access to training and learning opportunities when it comes to new technology.

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Ways Organizations Can Motivate and Retain an Aging Workforce 4.

5.

6.

7.

Provide frequent recognition for skills, experience, and wisdom gained over the years.

Provide mentoring opportunities whereby older workers can pass on accumulated knowledge to younger employees.

Ensure that older workers receive sensitive, high quality supervision.

Design a work environment that is both stimulating and fun.

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Barriers and Challenges to Managing Diversity

1.

Inaccurate stereotypes and prejudice 2.

Ethnocentrism 3.

Poor career planning 4.

An unsupportive and hostile working environment for diverse employees 5.

Lack of political savvy on the part of diverse employees 4-34

Barriers and Challenges to Managing Diversity 6.

7.

8.

9.

Difficulty in balancing career and family issues Fears of reverse discrimination Diversity is not seen as an organizational priority The need to revamp the organization’s performance appraisal and reward system 10.

Resistance to change 4-35

Question?

Jacques, a French national, is the CEO of French Global Empire with significant operations in Japan and the United States. Jacques recently announced that all employees of the company, no matter which part of the world they may be in, must learn French and communicate in French only. Which challenge to diversity does this represent?

A.

Cultural flexibility B.

Polychronic time C.

Cultural relativism D.

Ethnocentrism 4-36

Organizational Practices Used to Effectively Manage Diversity

Option 1: Include/Exclude Option 2: Deny Option 3: Assimilate Option 4: Suppress

4-37

Organizational Practices Used to Effectively Manage Diversity (cont.)

Option 5: Isolate Option 6: Tolerate Option 7: Build Relationships Option 8: Foster Mutual Adaptation

4-38

Question?

A group of minority employees complained about alleged discriminatory practices to their manager. She told them to quit whining and get back to work. This is the use of _________ to manage diversity.

A.

Denial B.

Suppression C.

Isolation D.

Building relationships 4-39

Video Case: Andre Thornton

What attributes or experiences help Andre Thornton in being successful at GPI?

In what ways can Thornton serve as an example for all minority individuals?

Does GPI’s size help or hinder them in serving the needs of their clients?

Can you draw correlations between sports and business? What are they?

4-40