Organizational Behavior (Stephen Robbins)

Chapter 2Perception, Personality, and Emotions 67

OBAT WORK

BREAKOUT GROUPEXERCISES

Form small groups to discuss the following topics, as assigned by your instructor:

1 .Think back to your perception of this course and your instructor on the first day of class. What factors might have

affected your perceptions of what the rest of the term would be like?

2.Describe a situationi in which your perception turned out to be wrong. What perceptual errors did you make that

might have caused this to happen?

3.Compare your scores on the Learning About Yourself Exercisesat the end of the chapter. What conclusions could

you draw about your group based on these scores?

WORKINGWITH OTHERS EXERCISE

Evaluating Your Stereotypes

1 .Your instructor will choose 4 volunteers willing to reveal an interesting true-life background fact about themselves.

Examples of such background facts are as follows:

• I can perform various dances, such as polka, rumba, bossa nova, and salsa.


• I am the youngest of four children, and I attended a Catholic high school.


• Neither of my parents attended school beyond grade 8.


• My mother is a homemaker and my father is an author.
  2.The instructor will put the 4 facts on the board without revealing to which person each belongs, and the 4 students
  will remain in the front of the room for the first part of the group discussion below.
  3.Students in the class should silently decide which fact belongs to which person.
  4.Students should break into groups of about 5 or 6 and try to reach consensus about which fact belongs to which
  person. Meanwhile, the 4 students can serve as observers to group discussions, listening in on rationales for how
  students decide to link the facts with the individuals.
  5.After 15 minutes of group discussion, several groups will be asked to present their consensus to the class, with jus-
  tifications.
  6 .The classroom discussion will focus on perceptions, assumptions, and stereotyping that led to the decisions made.
  7.At the end of the discussion, the instructor will reveal which fact belongs to each student.