Perception and Communication

For this blog, I have to describe a situation from my own experience where my initial perception of someone was incorrect, I will explain what led me to make that initial judgement and what did I discover later which indicated that this perception was incorrect, and what would I do differently to avoid making this judgement again, then having read an article on 'how to improve staff communication' in the university explain how they can improve communication in the university and finish with a summary of this topic. 

What is perception?

Perception is defined as an individual’s initial feeling or view about someone or something, their first impressions or thoughts which may not be initially right.  According to Robbins (2004) perception is defined as a process by which individuals organise and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment’. Perception is not necessarily based on reality, but is merely a perspective from a particular individual’s view of a situation. In dealing with the concept of organisational behaviour, perception becomes important because ‘people’s behaviour is based on their perception of what reality is. (Robbins et al, 2004). 


                                                 Source: Google Images; Perception

Example of perception?

A time where I had perception of someone was when I started university, I saw an individual in my class and imagined what I thought they were like, judging from my initial thoughts and feelings I was not going to get along with her I judged her on my first impressions by looking at her appearance and her dress sense and the way she talked, and thought to myself she was rude, loud and arrogant. I thought she disliked me when all the time all she wanted to get to know me she wanted to talk to me she was a friendly individual once I started talking to her and getting to know her, so therefore I think judging an individual on perception before you know them is not good as you do not know much information about the individual what they are like until you get to know them better, having a perception often is not initially right and leads to wrong thoughts. Therefore my initial perception of someone was incorrect. I would make sure that I do not do this again in the future by avoiding to make the same mistake, as it does not give the right impression as perception is not always right.

Article on how to improve staff communication in the university

I read an article on ‘how to improve staff communication’. The three ways that I believe and suggest the university could improve its communication with students is by firstly engaging with the students and trying to understand their goals, this means that both tutors/lecturers should collaborate with students in order to get a better understanding of what is expected and how to achieve the desired goals and outcomes.  Also by providing precise feedback to student to help them understand where they are going wrong and how to improve. By the lecturer focusing on their job which is to teach the students and alternatively student listening and taking notes and having better communication skills by being able to interact with one and other effectively. Finally by measuring students results for each academic year  to see if they have improved or worsen over time so by lecturer keeping details of students results and grades for the modules and working with them to help them succeed. Therefore having good communication is the key to success so by improving the communication both lecturer and students could work efficiently and effectively. 

Conclusion:

Overall perception does not initially determine that an individual perception is going to be precise or correct, as their initial instincts tend to lead them to make the precise judgments. Also to improve staff communication in the university is by having good communication as this tends to be the key to success as both the student and lecturer have a better understanding of what is expected.

References:

[1]   Mullins, L.J. (2010) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 8th ed. Harlow: Pearson.

[2] Person Perception [Online] Available from: http://psychology.about.com/od/socialpsychology/a/person-perception.htm  [Accessed 28^th November 2011] 

[3] How To Improve Staff Communication  [Online] Available from:  http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2010/07/how-to-improve-staff-communication.htm [Accessed 27th November 2011] 

 [4] What is Perception? [Online] Available from: http://journal.crossfit.com/2011/06/romanov7perception.tpl [Accessed 27th November 2011]

 [5] Simpson, M. (2011) PowerPoint.