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Factors affecting interpersonal communication
Importance of attribution theory
Evaluation of attribution theories
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As humans we feel the need to explain everything to ourselves and to others, we attribute cause to the events around us which gives us a sense of control. This 'need to explain' is helped through attribution theory argued by Robbins, Millet and Boyle which try to explain the ways in which we judge people differently, depending on the meaning we attribute to a given behavior . There are three different type of observations that we make when we attribute behavior to either external or internal sources being consensus, consistency and distinctiveness. Considering a case of job selection process, Sam arrives at an interview and sits down without greeting his employees. Now given due to research that humans pass judgment on to others in a matter of seconds it was obvious that Sam was to be judged on his first impressions. The employers base their judgment first considering Consensus, which being if other people put in Sam's shoes behave the same way or not. Secondly Distinctiveness considering if Sam behaves the same way in other circumstances or not. Lastly Consistency questioning if the behavior of Sam is of a long term one. High consistency, low distinctiveness and low consensus are results of behavior due to internal sources also known as 'dispositional attribution'. On the other hand high consistency, high consensus and high distinctiveness are sufficient explanation of external causes also known as 'situational attribution' Q2) "In an interview situation, attributional processes are especially relevant in that a recruiters interpretation of information can determine the relative weight and importance of that information and subsequent decisions to hire" . In case of Rowan and his first interviewee Hagan the bias that w... ... middle of paper ... ...gs, consensus, consistency and distinctiveness. Now being more aware of the way attribution theory works I will be more inclined to judge someone thoroughly and also think about the internal or external factors that influence the behavior than jumping straight into immediate perception. Instead of assuming that the teacher is really connected with me in a social level and basing my decision on that I could have referred to this as an external factor such as maybe she's like this with everyone else on a consistent manner. Therefore attribution theory has caused me to learn that before passing judgments on someone or something it is highly necessary to do a thorough perception of the internal and external factors in play and to place my judgments based on that thorough information rather than limited available information leading to a clouded judgment in some cases.
...evidence, the committee should have adhered to the Cumberland plant HR Director’s correspondence that clearly stated that interviewers should not award points to candidates for being a “diversity candidate” and “it is really important up front before your interviews start to have a definition of what ‘Outstanding,’ ‘Well-Qualified,’ and ‘Qualified’ is. This needs to be documented and dated before the interview process starts” (Walsh, 2010). The district court found the interviewers placed candidates in these categories after the interviews and ranking had been completed. In turn, this ensured the number of “Outstanding” applicants equaled the ‘exact’ number of job openings and their candidates of choice were in the top 10 group. As a result, TVA should ensure a legitimate matrix is developed for scoring purposes and not be manipulated for preferred results.
More specifically, his argument revolves around two main claims: that old hiring practices are ineffective in identifying good candidates and are rife with conscious and unconscious biases, and that the use of people analytics greatly eliminates the shortcomings of the old methods as well as improves worker productivity. The article begins by providing some historical context to the discussion of the hiring process. Peck says that although companies have shifted towards a more subjective, “ad-hoc” style process, they can now return to the more objective methods prevalent in the 1950s as modern technology has improved upon its inefficiencies and ineffectiveness. He starts off with discussing Knack, “a start up based in Silicon Valley”. These games have “been designed by a team of neuroscientists, psychologists, and data scientists”. He shows the results of this method in use. “Without meeting or interviewing the people who’d propose them, without knowing the title … or academic pedigree, Knack’s algorithm had identified the people whose ideas panned out. The top ten percent of the ideas generators as predicted by Knack were in fact those who’d gone furthest in the process”. With this startling result, Peck impresses on the reader that people analytics can be a valid tool. Afterwards, Peck discredits and describes the shortcomings of the old hiring practices. He uses
The concept of construal helps us understand what motivates human behaviors, and it shows us the variation in comprehension of the social world. It also brings to light the importance of situational influence and subjective properties, which, in turn, helps us understand the fundamental attribution error, or the tendency to explain behaviors in terms of personality traits instead of situational.
As a manager/business leader, being aware of the Fundamental Attribution Error is applicable in a number of ways - are some of my employees struggling or succeeding because of who they are and what they're willing to do, or am I missing something about the context, the structure of their lives, the support that shapes their days and
Attributions – Attribution is a theory or concept that explains how a person causes their own actions or even effects others behaviors in the social world (Aronson, 2013, 84).
The employment interview has been the key element used for determining a candidates’ worthiness in filling an open position. Organizations rely on employment interviews as a way to predict the future job performance and work-related personality traits of interviewees. Over the years validity of the employment interview has been under scrutiny, so it is no wonder that is has been the topic of many research papers. The definition of the employment interview is “a personally interactive process of one or more people asking questions orally to another person and evaluating the answers for the purpose of determining the qualifications of that person in order to make employment decisions” (Levashina, Hartwell, Morgeson, and Campion 2013, p. 243).
Personal bias constantly influences one’s rational judgement. People use their personal experience to convince themselves that what type of person one should be, which is not a fair judgement about individual guilty.
Psychometric Selection Tests can be defined as the process of measuring a candidate’s relevant strengths and weaknesses (Psych Press, 2014). These tests generally fall into two categories: Personality Tests and Aptitude/Ability tests. Companies pick and choose different topics to test potential candidates before the interview stage, this increases their efficiency as it aids them in reducing the time it takes to interview all applicants as the tests eliminate a large proportion of them that are deemed unfit for the job. The tests generally measure people’s problem solving abilities and their motivation, values, priorities and opinions in regard to different situations and tasks (Michael Page, 2014). In terms of personality, the tests can give the employer an indication of the candidate’s preferred learning style and character traits, which help the company place the candidate in job that is ideal for them. Using personality tests, employers can predict patterns of behaviour. For example, a person who is an extrovert is commonly social, confident and gregarious. As a result of these characteristics, they would probably be best suited to work as a salesman, receptionist or in customer services. Choosing the right candidate for a job is a critical decision. When placed in the wrong position, employees can be frustrated and it can lead to poor performance that puts the company in jeopardy (Buchanan & Huczynski, 2003). The tests themselves are taken under a strict time limit and most tests are completed at the candidates’ homes at their leisure. It has been argued that these tests are not a precise way of testing candidates since a lot of errors can occur. ...
Impression management (IM) refers to the behaviors or actions an individual engages in to influence another’s impression of individuals. Impression management is commonly used in the workplace and has been proven to impact important outcomes within that setting. IM is commonly used to obtain promotions, employment, and positive appraisal. Given that IM plays a major role in a business’ success, Scientist have been working to develop a greater understanding of IM, including looking into situations and circumstances when it is used, the people who use it, and how its use can be
However, other times we may perceive oursleves based on our actions. This is known as self perception theory. Self perception theory argues that people learn about themselves by examining their own behaviour. People look at their own behaviour and infer aspects about themselves. For example if you eat a salad for lunch you may feel that you’re a healthy person. Hence, our actions determined how we perceived ourselves. However, we cant use self perception all of the time because most of the time we know what we are feeling without the need to examine our behaviour. For example if one chooses not to donate money to a charity, it doesn’t necesserily mean that they are selfish. We use self perception theory in situations when we are unsure about how we feel. For example when you meet someone you may be unsure about whether you like them or not. If you help them out with something then you can conclude that you in fact do like them. In addition, a study was conducted by Tiffany Ito et al in 2006 where they made participants hold pencils in their mouth, change their facial expressions and view photograph of white and black individuals. Results showed that those who smiled while looking at the photos of the black individuals showed less prejudice towards the black participants. On that note, it may be hard to trust our feelings based on our behaviour if the behaviour is forced. If someone forces you to give money to the homeless man outside your school, you cannot necessarily conclude that you are a generous person. The self perception theory offers a perspective that explains how our actions affect the way we think rather than the way in which we view ourselves may influence our day to day
The attribution theory suggests that people try to determine if others’ behaviour is internally or externally caused, largely depending on distinctiveness, consensus, and consistency (Robbins, Millet & Water-Marsh, 2011). This theory helps to explain the behaviour of interviewers and interviewees in a job selection process.
The downfall that may occur with the interview process is not only can it be costly but it creates the inability of an anonymous response, which can affect a subject’s reply and make it a less honest and thought out response. Interviews tend to be time consuming which can result in a smaller sample size. If not prepared properly, bias may become...
Through perception, individuals will often impose their own behavioural explanations for the actions of others which Heider discussed, is directly influenced by either the personal traits of that character or his social environment (Heider, The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations 1958). The term given to this social phenomena is the Attribution theory and although later developed by Harold Kelley (1967) and Bernard Weiner (1974), it was initially investigated by Fritz Heider during the 20th century. Heider explored the subcategory of common sense psychology as a means to introduce two categories to the attribution theory; internal and external attribution. During the internal attribution, one will infer a person’s behaviour is due to individualistic factors like attitude, personality traits or character, while the external classification is fixated on the environment’s impact on the behaviour (insert researcher here 1943). In addition to defining external attribution Harold Kelley (1967) provided further insight. Keller (1967) theorized that the environment can have direct causation for the person’s behaviour and was not simply a factor in their actions (Social Cognition: Understanding Self and Others, Gordon B. Moskowitz 1972). However, as attribution occurs various biases are present and can significantly affect a person’s reasoning in appraising another’s behaviour. Differing cultural backgrounds can also be a key factor in whether this appraisal is negative or positive.
Thus, out of respect for my passion, field, and possible future students, I will remain subjective by being aware of all the possible forms of bias, and back up my research and result with professional studies and qualitative and quantitative data. Further, even when there is no personal experience, unconscious bias can still be present in research. Therefore, my experience makes me confident in my knowledge of the subject. Hence, I will use my experience only as a guide to planning, asking the right questions, to set limitations, and to be fair to all the candidates that I will interview. More importantly, first establishing research protocols for assessing the benefits and risks during the investigation process can minimize the potential for inflicting personal biases in my research, and for ensuring the quality of my
...n process is very important for an organization to hire new members, as employees need to select the right person to do the right job. Therefore, employees need to read through applicant’s document and qualifications, hence organize an interview to be more close with the applicant, to know more about the applicants, see if they are suitable for the job position. Selection process can help the employees not to make wrong decisions, this is a good opportunities to assess skills, aptitude and abilities. (John, 2007)