Personality
Personality has an interesting influence on what and how individuals perceive things.
Any of the several personality dimensions that we discussed in Chapter 3, along with numerous other traits, may influence the perceptual process.7 Personality appears to affect strongly how an individual perceives other people. In Chapter 3, we intro- duced you to the Big Five personality factors. To illustrate how personality can influence perception, let’s examine one of the Big Five factors, conscientiousness.
A conscientious person tends to pay more attention to external environmental cues than does a less conscientious person. On the one hand, less conscientious people are impulsive, careless, and irresponsible. They see their environment as hectic and unstable, which affects the way in which they make perceptual selections. On the other hand, more conscientious people are likely to organize their perceptions into neat categories, allowing them to retrieve data quickly and in an organized manner.
In brief, this person is more careful, methodical, and disciplined in making percep- tual selections.
Learning
Another internal factor affecting perceptual selection is learning. Among other things, learning determines the development of perceptual sets. A perceptual set is
an expectation of a particular interpretation based on the person’s past experience with the same or a similar object. What do you see in Figure 4.2? If you see an attractive, elegantly dressed woman, your perception concurs with the majority of first- time viewers. However, you may agree with a sizable minority and see an ugly, old woman. The woman you first see depends, in large part, on your perceptual set.
Leaders’ and employees’ past experiences and learning strongly influence their perceptions. Leaders are influenced by their functional backgrounds (e.g., accounting, engineering, marketing, or production) when making decisions. Because perceptions influence how employees and managers behave toward one another, it is important to understand a leader’s perceptual set. What are the factors that influence Jim Sinegal’s perceptions of Costco?
Motivation
Motivation also plays an important role in determining what a person perceives.
A person’s most urgent needs and desires at any particular time can influence per- ception. For example, imagine that, while taking a shower, you faintly hear what sounds like the telephone ringing. Do you get out of the shower, dripping wet, to answer it? Or do you conclude that it is only your imagination? Your behavior in this situation may depend on factors other than the loudness of the ringing. If you are expecting an important call, you’re likely to leap from the shower. If you aren’t expecting a call, you’re more likely to attribute the ringing sound to shower noises.
Your decision is influenced by your expectations and motivations.
In general, the individual perceives things that promise to help satisfy their needs and that they have found rewarding in the past. The individual tends to ignore mildly disturbing events (a barking dog), but will react to dangerous events (the house being on fire). Summarizing an important aspect of the relationship between motivation and perception is the Pollyanna principle, which states that people process pleasant events more efficiently and accurately than they do unpleasant events. For example, an employee who receives both positive and negative feedback during a performance appraisal ses- sion may more easily and clearly remember the positive statements than the negative statements.8
Person Perception
The preceding discussion shows that perceiving others accurately can be challenging.
Because perceptions influence how people behave toward one another, there is a need to understand the factors that influence both the perceiver and the situation in general.
Person perception is the process by which the individual attributes characteristics or traits to other people. The person perception process relies on the same general process of perception shown in Figure 4.1. That is, the process follows the same sequence of observation, selection, organization, interpretation, and response. However, the object being perceived is another person. Perceptions of situations, events, and objects are important, but individual differences in perceptions of other people are crucial at work.
For example, suppose that you meet a new employee. To get acquainted and make him feel at ease, you invite him to lunch. During lunch, he begins to tell you his life history and focuses on his accomplishments. Because he talks only about himself (he asks you no questions about yourself), your first impression is that he is very self-centered.
In general, the factors influencing person perception are the same as those that influence perceptual selection: Both external and internal factors affect person per- ception. However, we may usefully categorize factors that influence how a person perceives another as:
characteristics of the perceived,
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characteristics of the perceiver, and
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the situation or context within which the perception takes place.
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The Perceived
When perceiving someone else, you need to be aware of various cues given by that person: facial expressions, general appearance, skin color, posture, age, gender, voice quality, personality traits, behaviors, and the like. Such cues usually provide important information about the person. Each individual seems to have implicit ideas about the relationships among physical characteristics, personality traits, and specific behaviors.9 Implicit personality theory is a person’s beliefs about the relationships between another’s physical characteristics and personality. Table 4.1 illustrates the implicit personality theory in action. A person may believe that some voice-quality characteristics indicate that
Learning Goal
3. Identify the factors that determine how one person perceives another.
FIGU RE 4 .2 Test of Perceptual Set
the speaker has certain personality traits. However, the relationships presented in Table 4.1 have no scientific basis. Similarly, think about your first contact with some- one you met on MySpace, Facebook, or an online dating service. It is not the person’s voice that you consider, but perhaps the person’s physical appearance. Later, on meet- ing, did that person look and act as you expected?
The Perceiver
Listening to an employee describe the personality of a coworker may tell you as much about the personality of the employee doing the describing as it does about that of the person being described. That shouldn’t surprise you if you recall that factors internal to the perceiver, including personality, learning, and motivation, influence perception.
A person’s own personality traits, values, attitudes, current mood, and past experience influence how that person perceives someone else.
Accurately perceiving an individual raised in another culture often is difficult. In China, for example, the communication style is generally indirect. Chinese may talk around the point and hedge their speech using words such as maybe or perhaps because they must protect their social face and respect social roles (e.g., manager, employee).
The Chinese will lose social face if they fail to understand what is being asked or cannot do what is requested. Therefore, by being vague, Chinese businesspeople save face and can continue to build and maintain relationships. Rick Linck, CEO of Asia Pacific for Heineken Brewing Company, learned that when communicating with beer distributors in China, distributors frequently say “Let me look into this further”
to avoid a direct no or to avoid admitting that they cannot do what he asked. Linck learned to communicate with distributors by saying “What do you think about this?”
instead of saying “Is this acceptable?”10
Cross-cultural negotiations are an important part of every global manager’s job, and the dynamics of negotiating reflect each culture’s values and beliefs. In Mexico, personal qualities and social connections influence the selection of a negotiator, whereas in the United States, many companies select negotiators on the basis of position and competence. In U.S.–Chinese negotiations, U.S. companies often prefer to send a small team or only a single person to represent them, whereas the Chinese prefer to send a large group. The large group allows them to have representatives from different areas of the organization present at the negotiations.
The Situation in Foreign Assignments
As more and more employees are asked to take assignments in foreign countries, oppor- tunities for living and working in different countries arise. Siemens, the German elec- tronics firm with headquarters in Munich, Germany, estimates that almost 25 percent
TABLE 4 .1 Personality Judgments on the Basis of Voice Quality
VOICE QUALITY:
HIGH IN MALE VOICE FEMALE VOICE
Breathiness Younger, artistic Feminine, pretty, petite, shallow
Flatness Similar results for both sexes: Masculine, cold, withdrawn Nasality Similar results for both sexes: Having many socially undesirable
characteristics
Tenseness Cantankerous (old, unyielding) Young, emotional, high-strung, not highly intelligent
Source: Adapted from Hinton, P. R. The Psychology of Interpersonal Perception, London: Routledge, 1993, 16.
of its managers take expatriate assignments. Expatriates are employees who live and work outside of their home country.11 There are now more than 500,000 U.S. expatriate managers living around the globe. Because of the high cost of sending employees and their families to foreign countries for extended periods of time (usually three years), it is important for this experience to be successful. Unfortunately, some expatriates cannot adapt to the new situation (culture) and fail in their assignments. Why do people fail? According to Global Relation Services, the top reasons for expatriate failure are as follows:
Lowered security and safety,
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Lower quality of life,
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Job doesn’t meet expectations,
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Inability to adapt to new situation,
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Family concerns, and
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Spouse/partner dissatisfaction.
• 12
Running down the list, the reasons for failure are personal and not related to technical competence. China and India were the two countries that presented expatriates with the greatest challenge. Why do you think these two countries were singled out?
What are some characteristics that human resource managers are looking for in the person who takes a foreign assignment? Patience, flexibility, openness to new experiences, and tolerance for other beliefs are among the top characteristics.13 Tips for successfully handling a foreign assignment include making sure that the family supports the foreign assignment, developing foreign language competencies, getting strong support from your manager, and making sure that your accomplishments are widely visible.
Are women more likely to succeed or fail in expatriate assignments? A number of male leaders still think that women aren’t interested in overseas jobs or won’t be effective in them. These male managers typically perceive dual career issues, a presumed heightened risk of sexual harassment, and gender prejudices in many countries as reasons why their female employees often aren’t seriously considered for international assignments. In contrast, a recent survey of female expatriates and their managers revealed that women, on average, are just as interested as men in foreign assignments and every bit as effective once there.14 Indeed, some of the traits considered crucial for success overseas—such as knowing when to keep your mouth shut, being a strong team player, and soliciting a variety of opinions and perspectives when solving problems—are more often associated with women’s management styles than with men’s.
Misinterpretation of the situation occurs when an individual gives certain meaning to observations and their relationships. Interpretation organizes our expe- rience and guides our behavior. Read the following sentence and quickly count the number of Fs:
FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.
Most people who do not speak English see all six Fs. By contrast, many English speakers see only three Fs; they do not see the Fs in the word of. Why? Because English-speaking people have learned that the word of is not important for overall understanding of the sentence. We selectively see those words that are important according to our cultural upbringing.
A way to understand the norms and values of a culture is to pay attention to the behaviors that are rewarded in that society. The following Self Competency feature illustrates a sample of important behaviors that you should be aware of when conduct- ing business in Arab countries.15
Greeting women.
• When greeting a female
employee, never greet her with a kiss on the cheek. If the employee extends her hand to greet you, you may shake it; otherwise greet- ing with words is appropriate. Do not com- pliment your host on the beauty of his wife, sister, or daughter. Such statements will not be taken as compliments.
Gift giving.
• When Arab businesspeople receive a gift, it is not customary to open it in front of the giver. Never give alcohol or prod- ucts made out of pigs.
Face concept.
• Saving face involves withhold- ing one’s reactions to give the other party a way to exit the situation with minimal dis- comfort. It involves compromise, patience, and sometimes looking the other way to allow things time to get back to normal.
Pressure sales tactics should be avoided because the Arab managers will associate you with an unpleasant experience.
Dress.
• The majority of men wear a long- sleeved, one-piece dress called a thoub that covers the entire body. This garment allows air
to circulate in hot summer days. Women dress conservatively in a garment called an abayah.
This is a long black garment that covers a wom- an’s body from the shoulders down to her feet.
Social duties.
• Managers perform a variety of social duties, including greeting an employee who returns from a trip, visiting an employee who is ill, bringing a gift to a newly wed cou- ple, and visiting the husband and wife after the wife has delivered a new baby.
Privacy.
• Privacy is important in Arabian societ- ies. Therefore, houses and offices are built with walls that maintain privacy from others.
People are not permitted to enter until the manager or host extends his right hand with his palm up saying “Tafaddal,” which means
“Come in.”
Social gatherings.
• Men and women may meet
in separate rooms in some Arab countries.
Men gather in rooms that are outside the main entrance of a home, away from the rest of the house. Women guests meet in a room inside the house and go through an entrance specifically assigned to female visitors.