Page 137 - DMGT519_Conflict Management and Negotiation Skills

Unit 7: Perception and Communication

Introduction Notes

T.A. Judge and R. Ilies links the five factor model of personality in the workplace to the individual
and overall satisfaction in the workplace. The “Big Five” personality traits; extraversion
(assertiveness), agreeableness (cooperative), conscientiousness (dependable), emotional stability
(self-confident), and openness to experience (curious), make up the basic framework as a model
of behavior in the workplace. Judge and Ilies performed extensive research at the universities of
Florida and Iowa finding all the correlations these five factors have on the overall job satisfaction
of a given professional environment. Although the control factors, methods, and results that
Judge and Ilies came up with were impressive, there are many more studies that have produced
varying results.

7.1 Social Perception

Perception is used everyday. Perception is how we, as individuals, asses situations. A burning
stove top is perceived to be hot. Traffic is perceived to be speeding up or slowing down. People
are perceived to be friendly or threatening. Yet when it comes to perceiving people, there are
many more perceptions that are made. These social settings and environments are what make
up social perception. The same settings can be applied to a smaller scale. This scale can be school,
family, or the work force. The work setting can be one of many challenging social perceptions.
From the job interview, to leaving the company, and everything in between, employers are
evaluating their employee’s job performances, and employees are not only assessing one another,
but their employer as well.

Perhaps the most important part of social perception is the first meeting of a person, or the first
impression. When two people meet for the first time, an instant anchor is dropped. This is a
mental anchor that gives a brief, and very general, view of the new individual. Clothes that are
worn, the way the hair is combed, the way the person stands or sits, all create the impression a
person gets when they are met for the first time. From this impression, an individual makes
instant reactions to whether the person is friendly, outspoken, quite, etc. It allows one to make
a brief judgment on the personality of an individual. This is necessary in order to be able to
interact with people. Although a first impression does not provide an in depth characterization
of an individual, it does allow one to be able to initially interact with them. This process allows
employers in a job interview to make quick decisions that will either be positive or negative for
both the employer and the employee. Mentally the decision is made in the first few moments of
contact. As time goes on the employer can justify further, with continuous questions, that the
interviewee will be good for the company, or if they employer needs to search for a new
candidates.
First impressions can be slowly swayed over time. It is not easy to change someone’s first
impression, nor is it ever changed much. The anchor can only be pulled in one direction or
another so far, and after much effort, in this case continuous interactions. Familiarity is the only
way to obtain the truest sense of who a person really is. By learning the personality and tendencies
of a person, one can better understand that person’s behaviors and actions.

Did u know? Perception of internal and external forces has resulted in the fundamental
attribution error. The fundamental attribution error occurs when one views the bad
behavior of others as internal and their own bad behavior as external. It is much more
difficult for others to see the external forces surrounding the individual conducting the
bad behavior, where as, it is clear to the individual conducting the bad behavior, to relate
their own behavior to their surrounding forces.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 131