But the principal inaccuracy of individual perception lies in implicit personality, stereotyping, selective perception, first impression, etc.
Stereotypes are generalizations of the positive or negative characteristics to a person in a specific social group. (Mullin, 1999, P.396) Obviously; the perception of that person is mainly based on nationality, sex, occupation and age, etc. For example, French people are all romantic and imaginative. The tendency for persons to choose this personal standard for judgments of others or objectives is simple. Such unconscious pre-judgment can vastly advance and simplify perceptions rather than focus on what a person is saying or doing to build up new impressions of him. But one can overcome some negative effects of stereotyping if he changes his perceptual outlook and see the situation in a totally new way.
The implicit personality theory involves individual’s expectation of others. ‘Sometimes one always carries around his own implicit theories about which personality characteristics tend to go with others.’(Arnold, 1995, P.239). In other words, before judging a person’s personality, he has shaped out a clear standard of his own implicit personality theory. For example when an employer decides to hire a salesman before interview with an employee, he must have formed expectations to identify certain characteristics of salesmanship with his own implicit theory such as outgoing personality. But the problem is that such expectation of others may influence building up the first impression or even risk distorting it.
Other errors in perceiving others are ‘First impressions are the strongest’ or ‘halo and horn’ effects. These color individual judgments of desirable and undesirable features but importantly cause inaccurate perceptions of people. ‘A major danger of these errors is that they may block out accuracy of the individual or individual situation, or even lead to potential situations of distortion or prejudice.’ (Mullins, 1999, P.397)
An individual can improve his perceptual skills in several ways such as raising his self-awareness of perceptual inaccuracies. He can exchange his perceptions with others, but also be open and receptive to other’s ideas which are different from his own.
The individual’s perception of self and others is considerably important for evaluating and managing people and it lays a solid foundation for an understanding of human behavior in different environments. Actually, personal perception is quite crucial to a wide range of activities in the workplace. As for a professional manager it is vital for him to realize the importance of accurate perception and the perceptual difference between individuals The more a business manager is conscious of the importance of perception of others, the greater chance he has of improving interpersonal communication in the workplace and managing social situations with skill.
What can assist someone to be a qualified manager?
The work of managers varies in different organizations. In general, managers have to meet necessary requirements to fulfill the qualification before they start to carry out the process of management and execution of work. Such factors as accurate perception, personality assessment, attitudes evaluations and work motivation analysis all will assist the individual to be a qualified manager.
‘Individual’s perception is fundamental to understand human behavior in organizations since the theories of motivation, personality, attitude are based on concepts introduced under the heading of perception’.(Buchanan, 1991, P.37) In fact, individuals making judgments on what they have perceived is largely dependent on his expectation and previous experience and motivation. So, it is quite important to realize that individual’s stereotype conceals other part of the truth beyond the information given. Searching for as much about situation as possible before a decision is made is a good way to evaluate the situation objective and avoid common stereotypes. As for a manager, it is very essential for him to be aware of his bias towards stuffs or some organization problems such as prejudice and discrimination are originated from perceptual selectivity. Widening his understanding of how others see the world and look at the situation from other’s eyes will benefit the manager dealing with potential difficulty situations.
Different individuals have different perceptions and attitudes towards their work. Such difference between individuals based on individual personality may work either favourably or negatively in the workplace. A competent manager is specialized in various personality analysis and developing each member potential in the long run. Maintaining the individual personality and balancing its dependence with group co-operation in organization life is one of the most important tasks of the manager. That’s to say, ‘recognizing and improving individual talent and potential is critical to ensure that many roles and functions of an organization are achieved effectively.’(Mullins, 1999, P.337). It will definitely enhance organization creativity if properly apply it to group-work. On the contrary, failing in analyzing the team member personality may cause personality clashes or become origin of conflicts. Personality assessment is therefore very helpful for managers to understand and predict the human behavior as well as guiding individual’s development and future planning.
The truth is that all of the activities individuals perform at work are directed toward motives. That motive is the reason for the activities. It is crucial for managers to understand and predict what stuffs feel and how they think in order to motivate them properly by financial incentives, promotional opportunities or effective communication. Because only by understanding of what motivate individuals could managers know which way to meet subordinates needs and lead them to work willingly and effectively. And even can influence subordinates behaviors in a desirable way. ‘A successful manager understands the least principal theories of motivation and knows exactly how to encourage staff to direct their efforts towards the successful attainment of the goals and objectives of the organization.’(Mullins, 1992, P.406) So motivation theories also contribute the individual a lot to be a qualified manager.
‘In the work place people have attitudes towards the boss, the pay, colleagues, customers and the physical environment.’(Arnold, 1995, P.249) Such attitude reveals how satisfied they are with their job and how committed they are to their organizations (Muchinsky, 2000, P.271). Individual attitudes and beliefs towards work can dramatically and importantly affect their behaviors in the workplace. If the attitudes employees hold are positive and optimistic to their current job, they are more likely to work effectively and influence others with enthusiasm. In addition, ‘Employee attitudes can be a formative factor in determining the culture of an organisation.’ (Mullins, 1999, P.326) As far as a manager is concerned, one of his main responsibilities is to maintain the organizational culture and help employees build up positive attitude. ‘To some extent, managers play a key role in personifying the culture and consecutively influencing the attitude of employeess’ (Mullins, 1999, P.326). Recognition of this responsibility will definitely guide manager’s work.
All in all, wherever managers work, perception, personality, attitude and motivation are four essential factors for business success. Managers have to not only realize the importance of four tools stated above, but also properly apply them to particular work situation. These are potential qualities that every manager is expected to have.
Reference and bibliography
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Arnold, J and Cooper, L.C and Robertson, I (1995) Work psychology: understanding human behaviour in the workplace, 2nd Edition, London : Pitman
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Hucyznski, A.A & Buchannan, D. A (1991) Organizational Behaviour: An introductory text, 2nd Edition, New York: Prentice-Hall
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James, W(1890) The Principles of Psychology[online]
Available World Wide Web:
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(Accessed 22nd October 2003)
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Lowe, A & Andriopoulos, C (2000) Enhancing organizational creativity: the process of perpetual challenging, Management Decision,38, 734
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Mullins, L.J (1999) Management and Organizational Behaviour, 5th Edition, London: Financial Times Management
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Muchinsky, P.M (2000) Psychology applied to work: an introduction to industrial and organizational psychology, 6th Edition, London : Wadsworth
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Xiao, Q( 2002) Leadership VS Teamwork, English Salon, China: World Knowledge Press
