Perception & Decision Making

Perception and Decision Making

Dawn Eytcheson

Axia College of University of Phoenix

Perception and Decision Making

Perception is a part of life and everyone perceives diverse situations in their own way. Webster's Third New International Dictionary Unabridged edition defines perception as the capacity for comprehension. People do not want to admit that perception is used to make decisions; however, it is the basis of many conclusions or assessments.

A person's perception of others or a certain situation can impact an organization's behavior in different ways. Since all people react differently in certain situations, the attribution theory suggests ways to develop explanations in which to judge people. This theory may help someone decide whether the issue is caused internally or externally. Internal behaviors are believed to be controlled by the individual as external behaviors are believed to beyond a person's control.

The different perceptions are based on certain circumstances, whether positive or negative. It is easy to make a fast judgment or assumption about a situation or a person without understanding the causes or the individual. By making fast assumptions about someone or a situation, we are not given them a fair chance and are more likely to make errors in judgment.

Everyone is guilty of using "shortcuts" when judging others. People who use shortcuts are able to make judgments quickly. These shortcuts can be valuable; however, they should not be the sole determining factor in any situation. There are a variety of shortcuts used to form perceptions about people. Some examples are selective perception, the halo effect, the contrast effect, and stereotyping. Selective perception occurs when a certain characteristic makes a person or situation standout. The halo effect occurs when conclusions are based on one characteristic. The contrast effect occurs when a perception is based on what others have experienced or encountered. Stereotyping occurs when a perception is formed about an individual based on the type of company they hold or the particular group of people they are associated with. These shortcuts can be used as tools to speed up the process of making an accurate perception as possible that can save time and manpower. They should not be the sole benefactor when making certain decisions because they are not foolproof or without errors.

Managers and nonmanagerial employees make decisions in organizations in many ways. Robbins (2005) stated "How individuals in organizations make decisions and the quality of their final choices are largely influenced by their perceptions." Not all decisions are rational or just, especially in real-world organizations.

When making a decision about a certain individual or circumstance every viable bit of information is not assessed. It would be an impossible task to perform; therefore, as individuals, we try to narrow down the important factors and base decisions on those. It is probably not the best way to come to a final decision, but in today's workforce time is gold and it is important to find ways to reduce tasks that require a great deal of time. This type of decision making is also known as bounded rationality or a more simplified form of making a decision.

The following discusses just a few examples of how organizations make their decisions their consequences. These examples are confirmation bias, hindsight bias or intuition.

Confirmation bias decision making is when an individual selectively gathers as much information about the problem. This selective information is used to reiterate choices or decisions made in the past. This could