Theories of Motivation, OB, Perception, Attitude

1. Unit 2
Perception, Attitude,
Values and Motivation

4. Perception
Slephen P. Robbins — “A process by which
individuals organize and interpret their sensory
impressions in order to give meaning to their
environment.”
Perception means the ability to perceive i.e.
understanding or knowledge, mental grasp of
qualities by means of senses or awareness.

5. Nature of Perception
Perception refers to the interpretation of sensory data. In other
words, sensation involves detecting the presence of a stimulus
whereas perception involves understanding what the stimulus
means. Perception is determined by both physiological and
psychological characteristics of the human being whereas
sensation is conceived with only the physiological features. Thus,
perception is not just what one sees with the eyes it is a much
more complex process by which an individual selectively absorbs
or assimilates the stimuli in the environment, cognitively
organizes the perceived information in a specific fashion and
then interprets the information to make an assessment about
what is going on in one’s environment.

6. Imp. of Perception
• Perception is very important in understanding the human
behaviour, because every person perceives the world and
approaches the life problems differently- Whatever we see or
feel is not necessarily the same as it really is. It is because
what we hear is not what is really said, but what we perceive
as being said. When we buy something, it is not because it is
the best, but because we take it to be the best. Thus, it is
because of perception, we can find out why one individual
finds a job satisfying while another one may not be satisfied
with it.

7. • If people behave on the basis of their perception, we
can predict their behaviour in the changed
circumstances by understanding their present
perception of the environment. One person may be
viewing the facts in one way which may be different
from the facts as seen by another viewer.
• With the help of perception, the needs of various
people can be determined, because people’s
perception is influenced by their needs. Like the
mirrors at an amusement park, they distort the world
in relation to their tensions.

8. • Perception is very important for the manager
who wants to avoid making errors when
dealing with people and events in the work
setting. This problem is made more
complicated by the fact that different people
perceive the same situation differently. In
order to deal with the subordinates
effectively, the managers must understand
their perceptions properly.

9. Perception Process

10. Selecting is the first part of the perception process, in
which we focus our attention on certain incoming
sensory information. Think about how, out of many
other possible stimuli to pay attention to, you may hear
a familiar voice in the hallway, see a pair of shoes you
want to buy from across the mall, or smell something
cooking for dinner when you get home from work. We
quickly cut through and push to the background all
kinds of sights, smells, sounds, and other stimuli, but
how do we decide what to select and what to leave
out?

11. • Organizing is the second part of the perception
process, in which we sort and categorize information
that we perceive based on innate and learned
cognitive patterns. Three ways we sort things into
patterns are by using proximity, similarity, and
difference. For example, have you ever been waiting
to be helped in a business and the clerk assumes that
you and the person standing beside you are
together? The slightly awkward moment usually ends
when you and the other person in line look at each
other, then back at the clerk, and one of you explains
that you are not together. Even though you may have

12. We also group things together based on similarity. We tend
to think similar-looking or similar-acting things belong
together. For Ex- two friends that someone occasionally go
out with, are all males, around the same age, of the same
race, with short hair and glasses. Aside from that, they
don’t really look alike, but on more than one occasion a
server at a restaurant has assumed that they are brothers.
Despite the fact that many of our other features are
different, the salient features are organized based on
similarity and the three of us are suddenly related.

13. • We also organize information that we take in based on
difference. In this case, we assume that the item that looks or
acts different from the rest doesn’t belong with the group.
Perceptual errors involving people and assumptions of
difference can be especially awkward, if not offensive. For Eg
a friend’s mother, who is Vietnamese American, was
attending a conference at which another attendee assumed
she was a hotel worker and asked her to throw something
away for her. In this case, my friend’s mother was a person of
color at a convention with mostly white attendees, so an
impression was formed based on the other person’s
perception of this difference

14. • Although selecting and organizing incoming stimuli happens
very quickly, and sometimes without much conscious thought,
interpretation can be a much more deliberate and conscious
step in the perception process. Interpretation is the third part
of the perception process, in which we assign meaning to our
experiences using mental structures known as
schemata. Schemata are like databases of stored, related
information that we use to interpret new experiences. We all
have fairly complicated schemata that have developed over
time as small units of information combine to make more
meaningful complexes of information.

15. • It’s important to be aware of schemata because our
interpretations affect our behavior. For example, if you
are doing a group project for class and you perceive a
group member to be shy based on your schema of how
shy people communicate, you may avoid giving him
presentation responsibilities in your group project
because you do not think shy people make good public
speakers. Schemata also guide our interactions, providing
a script for our behaviors.

16. Application of Perception in Organisational Behaviour
• Employment Interview: A major input into who is hired and
who is rejected in any organization is the employment
interview. Evidence indicated that interviewers often make
inaccurate perceptual judgements. Interviews generally draw
early impressions that become very quickly entrenched. If
negative information is exposed early in the interview, it tends
to be more heavily weighted than if that same information
comes out later. As a result, information elicited early in the
interview carries greater weight than does information
elicited later. A "good applicant" is probably characterised
more by the absence of unfavourable characteristics than by
the presence of favourable characteristics.
• The employment interview is an important input into the
hiring decision and a manager must recognize that perceptual

17. • Performance Evaluation: An employee's performance
appraisal very much depends on the perceptual process. The
performance appraisal represents an assessment of an
employee's work. While this can be objective, many jobs are
evaluated in subjective terms. Subjective measures are, by
definition, judgemental.
• The evaluator forms a general impression of an employee's
work. What the evaluator perceives to be "good" or "bad"
employee characteristics will, significantly influences the
appraisal outcome. An employee's future is closely tied to his
or her appraisal -promotions, pay raises and continuation of
employment are among the most obvious outcomes.

18. • Performance Expectations: A manager's
expectations of an individual affect both the
manager's behaviour towards the individual
and the individual's response. An impressive
amount of evidence demonstrates that people
will attempt to validate their perceptions of
reality, even when these perceptions are
faulty. This is particularly relevant when we
consider performance expectations on the
job.

19. • Employee Loyalty: Another important
judgement that managers make about
employees is whether they are loyal to the
organization. Few organizations appreciate
employees, especially those in the managerial
ranks openly disparaging the firm. What is
perceived as loyalty by one may be seen as
excessive by another. An employee who
questions a top management decision may be
seen as disloyal.

20. Attitude
• An attitude is a positive; negative or mixed
evaluation of an object that is expressed at
some level of intensity.
• It is an expression of a favorable or
unfavorable evaluation of a person, place,
thing or event. These are fundamental
determinants of our perceptions of, and
actions toward all aspects of our social
environment.

21. Attitude is manner, disposition, feeling and
position with regard to a person or thing,
tendency or orientation especially in the mind.
According to Gordon Allport, “An attitude is a
mental and neural state of readiness, organized
through experience, exerting a directive or
dynamic influence upon the individual’s
response to all objects and situations with which
it is related.”

22. Characteristics of Attitude
• Attitudes are the complex combination of things we
tend to call personality, beliefs, values, behaviors,
and motivations.
• It can fall anywhere along a continuum from very
favorable to very unfavorable.
• All people, irrespective of their status or intelligence,
hold attitudes.
• An attitude exists in every person’s mind. It helps to
define our identity, guide our actions, and influence
how we judge people.
• Although the feeling and belief components of

23. • Attitude helps us define how we see situations, as
well as define how we behave toward the situation
or object.
• It provides us with internal cognitions or beliefs and
thoughts about people and objects.
• It can also be explicit and implicit. Explicit attitude is
those that we are consciously aware of an implicit
attitude is unconscious, but still, have an effect on
our behaviors.
• Attitudes cause us to behave in a particular way
toward an object or person.

24. Components of Attitude

25. • Cognitive Component-The cognitive component of
attitudes refers to the beliefs, thoughts, and
attributes that we would associate with an object. It
is the opinion or belief segment of an attitude. It
refers to that part of attitude which is related in
general knowledge of a person.
• Typically these come to light in generalities or
stereotypes, such as ‘all babies are cute’, ‘smoking is
harmful to health’ etc.

26. • Affective Component-Affective component is the
emotional or feeling segment of an attitude.It is
related to the statement which affects another
person.
• It deals with feelings or emotions that are brought to
the surface about something, such as fear or hate.
Using the above example, someone might have the
attitude that they love all babies because they are
cute or that they hate smoking because it is harmful
to health.

27. • Behavioral Component-Behavior component
of an attitude consists of a person’s
tendencies to behave’ in a particular way
toward an object. It refers to that part of
attitude which reflects the intention of a
person in the short-run or long run.

28. 3 Types of Attitudes
• Job Satisfaction
• Job Involvement
• Organizational Commitment.

29. • Job satisfaction is the level of contentment a person
feels regarding his or her job. This feeling is mainly
based on an individual’s perception of satisfaction.
• A person with a high level of job satisfaction holds
positive attitudes about the job, while a person who
is dissatisfied with his or her job holds a negative
attitude about the job.A person having a negative
attitude shows a personality disposition that is
inclined to experience nervousness, tension, upset,
distress, etc. whereas those with a positive attitude
will feel happy themselves, others and their work.

30. • Job Involvement-Job involvement refers to
the degree with which an individual identifies
psychologically with his or her job and
perceives his or her perceived performance
level important to self-worth.High levels of job
involvement are related to fewer absences
and lower resignation rates.However, it seems
to more consistently predict turnover than
absenteeism, according to as much as 16
percent of the variance in the former.

31. • Organizational Commitment-The last job-attitude refers to
organizational commitment. It is understood as one’s
identification with his or her organization and feels proud of
being its employee.It is defined as a state in which an
employee identifies with a particular organization and, its
goals, and wishes to maintain membership in the
organization.Different studies demonstrate that an
individual’s level of organizational commitment is a better
indicator of turnover than the far more frequently used job
satisfaction predictor, explaining as much as 34 percent of the
variance.

32. Effects of employee attitudes
How Negative attitude Impacts a Workplace?
• Lackluster performance
• Unwillingness to work collaboratively
• Dismal outlook
• Unwillingness to try new things
• Reduced energy levels
• Depressive feelings
• Reduced quality of work product
• Poor customer engagement
• Difficulty overcoming obstacles

33. • How Positive attitude Impacts a Workplace?
When there are positive attitudes in a workplace, there’s a feeling
that anything can be accomplished. Colleagues support each other
and work in tandem, and a host of other positive outcomes
materialize, such
• Increased productivity
• Greater probability of collaboration and teamwork
• Improved morale
• Ability to overcome adversity
• Willingness to think creatively and try new things
• Willingness to share information and ideas
• Lower turnover

34. Job Satisfaction
• Job satisfaction is defined as the extent to
which an employee feels self-motivated,
content & satisfied with his/her job. Job
satisfaction happens when an employee feels
he or she is having job stability, career growth
and a comfortable work life balance.

35. Importance of Employee
Satisfaction
Employee satisfaction or job satisfaction is one of the key
goals of all HR personnel irrespective of what their
individual KRAs are. A satisfied employee is not just a
retained employee but an ambassador for the brand,
internally and externally. Happy employees are more loyal
to the company and its objectives, they go the extra mile to
achieve goals and take pride in their jobs, their teams and
their achievements. The majority of organizations view job
satisfaction as dependent on 2 things – salary and
‘recreational activities’. While employees do make an
impression based on these parameters, they cannot form
the basis of employee engagement

36. Why Employee Satisfaction
Matters
Employee satisfaction needs to be treated with both
short and long-term visions. In the short term, it is
directly linked to attrition and employee-organization
match. It is important that people perceive the
company in a positive light in their early days of
employment, else it would not take long for them to
look for a change. In the long term, it is more damaging
when an employee is not satisfied but continues to
work with an organization due to other reasons. The
employee starts to look for reasons to dislike the
company more.

37. For example, if a bad appraisal is the core reason
behind her disappointment, the employee might
then perceive that there is favouritism or that
the company does not treat her as a valuable
asset. Such impressions corrode the value an
employee places on the company and this gets
projected extrinsically, often among an audience
with whom the equity of the organization gets
affected.

38. A dissatisfied employee expresses her negative
perceptions more in external forums than internal
ones, for fear of repercussion. And when an existing
employee speaks ill of the company, it reduces the
prospects of the listener to join the company and
the reputation of the organization is impacted.
Hence it is also important that HR identify such
employees and work towards alleviating their
problems and converting negative impressions to
positive ones.

39. Motivation
Motivation refers to degree of readiness of an
organism to pursue some designated goal and
implies the determination of the nature and
locus of the forces, including the degree of
readiness. Motivation is the complex of forces
starting and keeping a person at work in an
organization

40. Nature of Motivation
• Motivation is an inner feeling which energizes a
person to work more.
• The emotions or desires of a person prompt him
for doing a particular work.
• There are unsatisfied needs of a person which
disturb his equilibrium.
• A person moves to fulfill his unsatisfied needs by
conditioning his energies.
• There are dormant energies in a person which
are activated by channelizing them into actions.

41. Types of Motivation
• Positive Motivation:Positive motivation or incentive
motivation is based on reward. The workers are offered
incentives for achieving the desired goals. The incentives
may be in the shape of more pay, promotion, recognition of
work, etc. The employees are offered the incentives and try
to improve their performance willingly.
• According to Peter Drucker, the real and positive motivators
are responsible for placement, high standard of
performance, information adequate for self- control and
the participation of the worker as a responsible citizen in
the plant community. Positive motivation is achieved by the
co-operation of employees and they have a feeling of
happiness.

42. • Negative Motivation:Negative or fear motivation is based
on force or fear. Fear causes employees to act in a certain
way. In case, they do not act accordingly then they may be
punished with demotions or lay-offs. The fear acts as a
push mechanism. The employees do not willingly co-
operate, rather they want to avoid the punishment. Though
employees work up-to a level where punishment is avoided
but this type of motivation causes anger and frustration.
This type of motivation generally becomes a cause of
industrial unrest. In spite of the drawbacks of negative
motivation, this method is commonly used to achieve
desired results. There may be hardly any management
which has not used negative motivation at one or the other

43. Features/Characteristics/Nature of Motivation
• Motivation is a Psychological Phenomenon- Motivation is
an internal feeling which means it cannot be forced on
employees. The internal feelings such as need, desire,
aspirations etc. influence human behaviour to behave in a
particular manner. For example, desire to have a new
house, respect and recognition, etc.
• Motivation Produces Goal Directed Behaviour- Motivation
induces people to behave in such a manner so that they
can achieve their goal. Motivated person need no
supervision or direction. He will always work in desired
manner. For example if a person has a motive to get
promotion so he will work efficiently to get promotion.

44. • Motivators can be Positive as well as Negative- To
motivate employees managers use various
motivators. Some motivators are positive and some
are negative few examples of positive motivators are:
promotion, increment, bonus, respect, recognition,
etc. If employee does not improve his performance
with positive motivators then manager uses negative
motivators such as warning, issue of memo,
demotion, stopping increments, etc. Sometimes fear
of negative motivators also induces person to behave
in a desired manner

45. • Motivation is a Complex Process- Motivation is a
complex and difficult task. In order to motivate
people a manager must understand various types of
human needs. Human needs are mental feelings
which can be measured accurately. If manager
measures them accurately then also every person
uses different approaches to satisfy his need. Some
get satisfied with monetary incentives, some with
non-monetary, some with positive and some with
negative motivators. So it is not possible to make
generalization in motivation.

46. • Motivation is a Dynamic and Continuous
Process- Human beings are ever-changing.
Human needs are unlimited and go on
changing continuously. Satisfaction of one
need gives rise to another so managers have
to continuously perform the function of
motivation.

47. Importance of Motivation
• Motivation helps change negative attitude to
positive attitude:Without motivation the
employees try to perform minimum activities
in the organisation. But the motivation fills in
the desire to perform to their maximum level.
All the resources of the organisation are of no
use unless and until the employees use these
resources. The motivated employees make
best use of the resources.

48. • Motivation improves performance level of
employees:The motivation improves the efficiency
level of employees which means the employees start
performing the job to the best of their ability with
minimum wastage of time and resources because
motivated employees always go for best utilisation of
resources. The motivation bridges the gap between
the ability to work and willingness to work and
willingness always improves efficiency.

49. • Helps in Achieving the Organisational
Goal:The motivated employees always try to
achieve the organisational goal and contribute
their best efforts for the realisation of
organisational goal as they know with the
achievement of organisational goal only they
can achieve their personal goal. All the
employees contribute their efforts in one
direction of accomplishment of goal.

50. • Motivation creates Supportive Work
Environment:In motivation the relations
between superior and subordinates are always
improved. When the employees get their
need satisfied or get the recognition and
respect in the organisation then they always
offer a supportive hand to superiors. There is
more cooperation and co-ordination in the
organisation and all the employees work with
the team spirit.

51. • Motivation helps the managers to introduce
changes:The motivated employees show less
resistance in accepting the changes according
to changes in the business environment
because they know if the changes are not
implemented in the organisation, not only the
organisation will lose by this but the
employees also will find it difficult to get their
needs fulfilled. Motivated employees are
always supportive and co-operative in

52. • Reduction in Employees’ Turnover:The
motivation creates confidence in the
employees to get their needs satisfied in the
organisation itself. They always select the
alternative to remain in the organisation and
increase their earning rather than leaving the
organisation and increasing their earnings.
With motivation the turnovers are less
because the satisfied employees never leave
the job.

53. Maslow Need Hierarchy Theory

54. • Physiological Needs:These needs include
basic requirements for survival and
maintenance of human life. The common
physiological needs are food, shelter and
clothing. The employees develop these needs
for their survival that is why they are at the
top in the sequence. These needs can be
satisfied when the monetary incentives are
offered by the employers.

55. • Safety and Security Needs:Once the present day physiological
needs are fulfilled then the people start thinking about their
future as they want to secure their future by making sure that in
future also they continue to satisfy their physiological needs.
• Under safety and security there are two categories:
• Physical security. Which means safety from illness, accident, fire
etc.,
• Economic security. Which means having sufficient funds to meet
the future physiological needs and to come out of physical
security threat?
• The people who have more of safety and security need active
get motivated by monetary incentives.

56. • Social Needs Assiliation/Belonging need:It
means the need for love, affection,
companionship, friendship, etc. Once the
people satisfy their physiological and safety
needs then the social need becomes more
active and to fulfill the social needs the
managers prefer team-work, arrange formal
and informal get-together so that employees
can develop social relationships.

57. • Esteem Needs:These needs are related to the respect and
recognition. When the above three needs are satisfied then
people start demanding respect for themselves in a group.
This need is more common in higher level employees.
Esteem needs can be satisfied through non-monetary
incentives.
• Self-Actualisation Needs:This need refers to realising or
reaching to the aim of your life. Once the employee
becomes what he wants to become it means satisfaction of
his actualisation need.For example, when a soldier faces
bravely the bullet of enemy he seems to realise the self-
actualisation need.

58. Assumptions of Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory

59. Merits of Maslow

60. Demerits

61. McGregcrs’s Theory ‘X’ and Theory ‘Y’
In 1960, Douglas McGregor formulated Theory X
and Theory Y suggesting two aspects of human
behaviour at work, or in other words, two
different views of individuals (employees): one
of which is negative, called as Theory X and the
other is positive, so called as Theory Y. According
to McGregor, the perception of managers on the
nature of individuals is based on various
assumptions.

63. Assumptions of Theory X
• An average employee intrinsically does not like work and
tries to escape it whenever possible.
• Since the employee does not want to work, he must be
persuaded, compelled, or warned with punishment so as to
achieve organizational goals. A close supervision is required
on part of managers. The managers adopt a more
dictatorial style.
• Many employees rank job security on top, and they have
little or no aspiration/ ambition.
• Employees generally dislike responsibilities.
• Employees resist change.
• An average employee needs formal direction.

64. Assumptions of Theory Y
• Employees can perceive their job as relaxing and normal.
They exercise their physical and mental efforts in an
inherent manner in their jobs.
• Employees may not require only threat, external control
and coercion to work, but they can use self-direction and
self-control if they are dedicated and sincere to achieve the
organizational objectives.
• If the job is rewarding and satisfying, then it will result in
employees’ loyalty and commitment to organization.

65. • An average employee can learn to admit and
recognize the responsibility. In fact, he can
even learn to obtain responsibility.
• The employees have skills and capabilities.
Their logical capabilities should be fully
utilized. In other words, the creativity,
resourcefulness and innovative potentiality of
the employees can be utilized to solve
organizational problems.

66. • Thus, we can say that Theory X presents a pessimistic view
of employees’ nature and behaviour at work, while Theory
Y presents an optimistic view of the employees’ nature and
behaviour at work. If correlate it with Maslow’s theory, we
can say that Theory X is based on the assumption that the
employees emphasize on the physiological needs and the
safety needs; while Theory X is based on the assumption
that the social needs, esteem needs and the self-
actualization needs dominate the employees.
• McGregor views Theory Y to be more valid and reasonable
than Theory X. Thus, he encouraged cordial team relations,
responsible and stimulating jobs, and participation of all in
decision-making process.

67. Implications of Theory X and Theory Y
• Quite a few organizations use Theory X today. Theory X
encourages use of tight control and supervision. It implies
that employees are reluctant to organizational changes.
Thus, it does not encourage innovation.
• Many organizations are using Theory Y techniques. Theory
Y implies that the managers should create and encourage a
work environment which provides opportunities to
employees to take initiative and self-direction. Employees
should be given opportunities to contribute to
organizational well-being.

68. • Theory Y encourages decentralization of
authority, teamwork and participative decision
making in an organization. Theory Y searches
and discovers the ways in which an employee
can make significant contributions in an
organization. It harmonizes and matches
employees’ needs and aspirations with
organizational needs and aspirations.