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Unit 10: Emotions and Perception

Take care of routine details. Have a clear set of logical standards, systematically follow them Notes
and want others to also. Forceful in implementing their plans.
ESFJ: Warmhearted, conscientious, and cooperative. Want harmony in their environment, work
with determination to establish it. Like to work with others to complete tasks accurately and on
time. Loyal, follow through even in small matters. Notice what others need in their day-by-day
lives and try to provide it. Want to be appreciated for who they are and for what they contribute.
ENFJ: Warm, empathetic, responsive, and responsible. Highly attuned to the emotions, needs,
and motivations of others. Find potential in everyone, want to help others fulfill their potential.
May act as catalysts for individual and group growth. Loyal, responsive to praise and criticism.
Sociable, facilitate others in a group, and provide inspiring leadership.
ENTJ: Frank, decisive, assume leadership readily. Quickly see illogical and inefficient procedures
and policies, develop and implement comprehensive systems to solve organisational problems.
Enjoy long-term planning and goal setting. Usually well informed, well read, enjoy expanding
their knowledge and passing it on to others. Forceful in presenting their ideas.

Task Choose any five people of your choice and classify their personalities
according to MBTI.

10.3 Attribution

As human beings, we are innately curious. We are not content merely to observe the behaviour
of others; we want to know why they behave the way they do. We also seek to understand and
explain our own behaviour. Attribution simply refers to how a person explains the cause of
another's or his or her own behaviour. Attribution thus is the most relevant application of
perception concepts to organisation behaviour – the issue of person perception. The attributions
or inferred causes we provide for behaviour have important implications in organisations. In
explaining the causes of employee performance, good or bad, we are asked to explain the
behaviour that was the basis for the performance.
Our perceptions of people differ from our perceptions of inanimate objects like machines or
buildings. Non-living objects are subject to the laws of nature; they have no beliefs, motives or
intentions. People do. The result is that when we observe people, we attempt to develop
explanations of why they behave in certain ways. Our perception and judgement of a person's
actions, therefore, will be significantly influenced by the assumptions we make about the person's
internal state. We explore Harold Kelly's attribution model, which is based on the pioneering
work of Fritz Heider, the founder of attribution theory.

10.3.1 Internal and External Attributions

Attribution theory has been proposed to develop explanations of the ways in which we judge
people differently, depending on what meaning we attribute to a given behaviour. Basically,
the theory suggests that when we observe an individual's behaviour, we attempt to determine
whether it was internally or externally caused.
1. Internal attributions: Attributions can be made to an internal source of responsibility.
That means something within the individual's control. For example, suppose you perform
well in your MBA examination, you might say you did well because you are smart or
because you studied hard. If you attribute your success to ability or effort, you are citing
an internal source.

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