1. How can managers and organizations minimize the negative impact of stereotypes and other barriers to accurate social perception in interpersonal relations?

In the perceptual process, several barriers can be identified that inhibit the accuracy of our perception. These barriers are (1) stereotyping, (2) selective perception, and (3) perceptual defense. Each is briefly considered below as it relates to social perception in work situations (see Table 3.2).

Table 3.2 — Barriers to Accurate Perception of Others. Each row names a barrier to accurate social perception and gives its definition.
Barrier Definition
Stereotyping A tendency to assign attributes to people solely on the basis of their class or category.
Selective perception A process by which we systematically screen out or discredit information we don't wish to hear and focus instead on more salient information.
Perceptual defense A tendency to distort or ignore information that is either personally threatening or culturally unacceptable.

Stereotyping

One of the most common barriers to perceiving others at work is stereotyping. A stereotype is a widely held generalization about a group of people—a process in which attributes are assigned to people solely on the basis of their class or category. It is especially likely when we meet new people, since we know very little about them at the time. On the basis of a few prominent characteristics such as sex, race, or age, we tend to place people into a few general categories and ascribe to them a series of traits drawn from those categories. We assume older people are old-fashioned, conservative, obstinate, or perhaps senile. We view professors as absentminded, impractical, idealistic, or eccentric.

One explanation for stereotypes, suggested by Jain, Triandis, and Weick, is that they may be based to some extent on fact. People tend to compare other groups with their own, accentuating minor differences between groups to form a stereotype. Older people as a group may indeed be somewhat more conservative or old-fashioned, for example; these traits then become emphasized and attributed to particular older individuals.

At least three types of stereotype appear in organizations: those dealing with age, race, and gender. Age stereotypes are found throughout organizations. A study by von Hippel et al. found clear stereotypes of older employees, who were thought to be (1) more resistant to organizational change, (2) less creative, (3) less likely to take calculated risks, (4) lower in physical capacity, (5) less interested in learning new techniques, and (6) less capable of learning them. When asked to make personnel decisions about older people, business students generally followed several trends: they gave older people lower consideration in promotion decisions; older people received less attention and fewer resources for training and development; and older people tended to be transferred to other departments rather than confronted by their superiors when performance problems emerged.

Similar problems arise for people from different racial or cultural backgrounds and for gender. A particular issue in many companies today involves attitudes toward women as managers or executives. Although succeeding in a managerial position is always difficult, the job is harder still if your coworkers, superiors, or subordinates are unsupportive.

Expanding Around the Globe

To See Ourselves as Others See Us

In considering stereotyping in organizations, it can be interesting to examine how people in different countries and cultures view others around the world. "Foreigners" often hold certain stereotypes of what a "typical" American looks and acts like. Table 3.3, for example, shows how visitors from seven countries view the typical American. Note the sizable differences in perception.

Table 3.3 — Foreign Observations of Americans. Quotations from foreign visitors to the United States, listed by the visitor's country of origin alongside their observation.
Country Observation of the typical American
India "Americans seem to be in a perpetual hurry. Just watch the way they walk down the street. They never allow themselves the leisure to enjoy life; there are too many things to do."
Kenya "Americans appear to us rather distant. They are not really as close to other people—even fellow Americans—as Americans overseas tend to portray. It's almost as if an American says, 'I won't let you get too close to me.' It's like building a wall."
Turkey "Once we were out in a rural area in the middle of nowhere and saw an American come to a stop sign. Though he could see in both directions for miles and no traffic was coming, he still stopped!"
Colombia "The tendency in the United States to think that life is only work hits you in the face. Work seems to be the one type of motivation."
Indonesia "In the United States everything has to be talked about and analyzed. Even the littlest thing has to be 'Why, Why, Why?' I get a headache from such persistent questions."
Ethiopia "The American is very explicit; he wants a 'yes' or 'no.' If someone tries to speak figuratively, the American is confused."
Iran "The first time . . . my [American] professor told me, 'I don't know the answer, I will have to look it up,' I was shocked. I asked myself, 'Why is he teaching me?' In my country a professor would give the wrong answer rather than admit ignorance."

When examining these comments, consider how accurate or inaccurate you think these perceptions and stereotypes are. Why do people in different countries form such divergent opinions of the United States? How might their perceptions color the behavior and effectiveness of American managers working abroad? On this basis, you might reassess your own stereotypes of people in different countries. How accurate do you think your own stereotypes have been?

Selective Perception

Selective perception is the process by which we systematically screen out information we don't wish to hear, focusing instead on more salient information. Saliency here is a function of our own experiences, needs, and orientations. The Dearborn and Simon study of managers, described earlier, provides an excellent glimpse of selective perception: production managers focused on production problems to the exclusion of others, and accountants, personnel specialists, and sales managers were similarly exclusive. Everyone saw their own specialty as more important to the company than other specialties.

Another example, provided by Miner, summarizes a series of experiments on groups competing in problem-solving exercises. Consistently, groups evaluated their own solutions as better than those proposed by others. Such findings resemble a syndrome found in many research organizations: scientists frequently view ideas or products originating outside their organization or department as inferior, and judge other researchers as less competent and creative than themselves. This is often called the "Not-Invented-Here" syndrome. Similar patterns appear among managers, service workers, and administrative staff.

Perceptual Defense

A final barrier to social perception is perceptual defense, which is founded on three related principles:

  1. Emotionally disturbing or threatening stimuli have a higher recognition threshold than neutral stimuli.
  2. Such stimuli are likely to elicit substitute perceptions that are radically altered so as to prevent recognition of the presented stimuli.
  3. These critical stimuli arouse emotional reactions even though the stimuli are not recognized.

In other words, through perceptual defense we tend to distort or ignore information that is personally threatening or culturally unacceptable. Because emotionally disturbing stimuli have a higher recognition threshold, people are less likely to fully confront or acknowledge the threat; instead, they may perceive entirely different or even erroneous stimuli that feel safer. Even so, the critical stimulus often produces heightened emotion despite the lack of recognition. Suppose, during a contract negotiation for an assembly plant, word leaked that declining profits might force the plant to close permanently. Anxious workers might ignore the message and choose to believe management is merely spreading false rumors to gain leverage in wage negotiations. Even if workers accept the leverage claim as truth, strong emotional reactions against the company can be expected.

One effect of perceptual defense is to spare us from squarely facing events we do not wish to handle—or may be incapable of handling. We dissipate our emotions by directing attention to other (substitute) objects and hope the original distressing event will eventually disappear.

Perceptual defense is especially pronounced when people face a situation that contradicts long-held beliefs and attitudes. In a classic study, Haire and Grunes presented college students with descriptions of factory workers that included the word intelligent. Because the word ran contrary to the students' beliefs about factory workers, they rejected it using perceptual defenses. Four such defense mechanisms can be identified:

  1. Denial. A few subjects denied the existence of intelligence in factory workers.
  2. Modification and distortion. One of the most frequent defenses—explaining away the conflict by joining intelligence with some other characteristic, e.g., "He is intelligent but doesn't possess the initiative to rise above his group."
  3. Change in perception. Many students changed their perception of the worker because of the intelligence characteristic, though the change was usually subtle—for example, "cracks jokes" became "witty."
  4. Recognition, but refusal to change. A very few students explicitly recognized the conflict between their perception and the characteristic confronting them. One stated, "The trait seems to be conflicting . . . most factory workers I have heard about aren't too intelligent."

Perceptual defense makes any conflict-prone situation more difficult. It creates blind spots and causes us to fail to hear and see events as they really are. The challenge for managers is to reduce or minimize the perception of threat in a situation so these defenses are not immediately triggered—for example, by reassuring people that what is important to them will not be tampered with, or by accentuating the positive.

Concept Check

  1. What are the barriers that can inhibit the accuracy of our perception?
  2. What cultural factors can influence perception?
  3. What is perceptual defense, and what are examples of the mechanisms that can be identified?

Source: OpenStax. View original source.
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