Christina Catenacci, BA, LLB, LLM, PhD
In a previous post, I discussed the definition of workplace organizational behaviour and how certain individual-level variables—including personality, ability and learning—affect productivity, absenteeism, turnover and job satisfaction. In this post, let’s examine how one’s perception influences productivity, absenteeism, turnover and job satisfaction.
Perception is the process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment. What one perceives can be substantially different from what another person perceives, and both can be very different than the actual objective reality. In fact, behaviour is based on one’s perception of what reality is, not reality itself.
Behaviour in the workplace is based on people’s perception of the workplace. There are many factors that influence how something is perceived. Factors pertaining to the perceiver can involve the person’s attitudes, motives, interests, experience and expectations. Contextual factors can involve time, work setting and social setting. Finally, factors related to the actual target can involve novelty, motion, sounds, size, background and proximity.
Well, there are various ways that a person can perceive a situation in the work environment that can lead to problems. For example, the following can occur among employees in the workplace on a daily basis:
In terms of perceptions, research has shown that what employees perceive from their work situation influences their productivity most. Therefore, to influence productivity, it is necessary for employers to assess how workers perceive their jobs.
Likewise, absenteeism, turnover and job satisfaction have more to do with an employee’s perception of the job. Those individuals who perceive their jobs as negative are likely to have increased absenteeism, more frequent turnover and less job satisfaction. The only way to influence these variables is to understand how an employee subjectively perceives the workplace.
Consequently, perception influences decision-making within an organization. Take the example of the interview. Within the first few minutes of the interview, the interviewer has learned some information about the interviewee and has formed an impression based on various perceptions. The interviewer then decides whether the candidate is a good fit with the company. The remaining time in the interview is typically spent asking select information that supports the initial decision.
Though we are all human and have a background and a particular perspective on which we rely when perceiving things in the work setting, it is important to be aware of the various factors that influence our perceptions, especially when making important decisions that affect the organization.
Sometimes it is a good idea to have a few decision makers provide an opinion when making big decisions to ensure that various perceptions are considered before taking the plunge. It’s also very helpful to have written workplace policies and procedures in place to ensure that reduce the likelihood help narrow the gap between perception and reality. Such policies help ensure management and employees act fairly and consistently, thus reducing the risk of discrimination and human rights violations, among other problems.
Christina Catenacci
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I just read an interesting report about women in the workplace. Essentially, the report suggests that women remain underrepresented relative to their male counterparts, even though they form a highly educated and skilled labour pool in the market. Given the skills shortage that is expected to occur in the near future due to mass retirements of senior baby boomer workers, this is an unsettling finding. But why is this happening?
Christina Catenacci, BA, LLB, LLM, PhD
Ontario’s Accessibility Standards for Customer Service requires organizations to train staff, volunteers and third parties who deal with the public on your behalf on how to provide customer service to people with disabilities. What are the legal requirements for training?
Suzanne Cohen Share
The gap between men and women is still very significant when it comes to employees in the top ranks of the financial sector. That is, there are still very few women in senior executive roles in Canada’s financial institutions. Worse yet, there are currently no women in line for a CEO position at a big bank.
Christina Catenacci, BA, LLB, LLM, PhD