Leadership & Management

1. Leadership & Management Reading for Lesson 12: The Power of Perception

2. Lesson 12Reading Objectives 1. The student will comprehend the effect of the following on leadership situations:   a.  Perception b. Perceptual biases c. Errors

3. Lesson 12Reading Objectives 2. The student will comprehend and apply the following concepts: a.  Attributions b.  Fundamental attribution error c.  Perceptual set d.  Self-serving bias e.  Actor/observer difference f.  Self-fulfilling prophecy.

4. Lesson 12Discussion Objectives 1. The student will comprehend the effect of the following on leadership situations:   a.  Perception b. Perceptual biases c. Errors

5. Lesson 12Discussion Objectives 2. The student will comprehend and apply the following concepts: a.  Attributions b.  Fundamental attribution error c.  Perceptual set d.  Self-serving bias e.  Actor/observer difference f.  Self-fulfilling prophecy.

6. Perception • The process individuals use to make sense out of the environment by selecting, organizing, and interpreting information from the environment • Perceptions vary because individuals differ in what they perceive and how they organize and interpret it • Superiors, peers and subordinates judge a leader’s performance primarily by perceptions of intentions and effectiveness

7. Perceptual Biases • Perceptions are based on limited observation and incomplete information • Individuals do not see and hear everything that happens in a particular leadership situation • They are selective in what they attend to and what they, in turn, perceive • This selectivity leads to the tendency or bias to perceive one thing and not another

8. Errors • Errors in perceptual judgment arise from inaccuracies in any part of the perception process

9. Perception and Leadership • The effect of perception, perceptual biases and errors on leadership situations: • We tend to see our own success due to intelligence, personality or physical abilities, while we view others’ success as more attributable to situational factors or luck

10. Aspects of Perception • Attributions: • Explanations we develop in our own minds for the behaviors or actions we attend to • Fundamental Attribution Error: • Tendency to overestimate the dispositional causes of behavior and underestimate the environmental causes

11. Aspects of Perception • Perceptual Set: • Tendency or bias to perceive one thing and not another • Self-Serving Bias • Tendency to make external attributions (i.e., blame the situation) for one’s own failures, yet make internal attributions (i.e., take credit) for one’s successes

12. Aspects of Perception • Actor/Observer Difference: • People who are observing an action are much more likely than the actor to make the fundamental attribution error • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: • Occurs when expectations or predictions play a causal role in bringing about the events we predict