Organizational Behavior: Foundations of Group Behavior

Perception is a process by which people organize and come up with the interpretation of their sensory impressions so as to provide meaning to the environment upon which they live. Nonetheless, what individuals perceive is substantially different when it comes to objective reality. The behavior of people is based on the perceptions of such persons of what reality is, and not the reality itself.

The foundations of group behavior provide that any interaction of two or more individuals must have impacts on their behavior. That is, when these people interact, albeit independent, they come together with the aim of achieving a common goal or sets of objectives. This concept attempts to address the fact that group behavior can also play a colossal role in the decision-making process, noting the fact that nobody lays claim to the decision made in the process. Though it could be vouched for as one of the best approaches, it has its share of disadvantages.

Since the behavior of people is shaped by their perception of what constitutes reality, there is a significant possibility that two individuals can see one thing and end up interpreting them differently. Based on the above argument, it is justified to qualify the fact that perception is sometimes more important than reality. That is; it doesnt matter what a person deems the reality to be as long as their views are of the different thought. The behavior of an individual is the reflection of the way they see things. The explanation behind such occurrences is based on the worlds state that has highly regarded behavior as something critical.

Perception is very critical in organizational behavior. It affects management decisions, and this could range from the hiring of new staff, making major corporate decisions, review of organizational performance and changing the directions to be taken by the organization. Additionally, perception also helps in determining the job satisfaction as well as the performance of satisfaction. The factors are threefold. For instance, the halo effect will make a person have a generalized perception of a person based on an individual characteristic, and this may lead to their decisions being negatively affected. Selective perception is also a factor that leads to a selective interpretation of facts by personal interests, attitudes, experience, and background. This is trend can make one speed-read the other party leading to impaired decision making. For example, the young techie in the case study is depicted as a charismatic and a humble young lad and seen as one of the finest regarding creativity, a fact that has him tipped for bigger organizations.

The other way in which perception affects the decision-making process is through rationality. People often get content to find a reasonable or acceptable solution to the problems they face rather than the optimal one. It, therefore, becomes important to note that decision-making process that takes the angle of rationality as opposed to using an elaborate prescriptive model is in no way close to an effective approach to reaching a good decision. When push comes to shove, there are cases when intuitive decision-making process sets in, and this is only recommended in instances where there are high levels of uncertainties. It is only recommended for adoption when there are very little options and when the only choices left are ambiguous.