8/6/2019 f1342perception Case Analysis

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PERCEPTION CASE ANALYSIS -

To begin with this is the common problem of Workplace Favoritism. It's a major topic in

HR circles. But regardless of how little formal attention it gets, this is an important issuethat exists in nearly every workplace, large and small. While it's not something that gets

addressed in management meetings, it can have as much effect on a company as most

"high profile" management topics.Favoritism is part of human nature. No two people interact similar to any other two, so

it's impossible for all workplace relationships to be "equal". It's only natural to gravitate

two people that you share common interests with, and with whom you have an easyrapport. And of course, there's nothing wrong with any of this, on the surface. The

 problems surface when one of three distinct things occurs:

1. When a good rapport and shared interests lead to a PERCEPTION that an employee is

getting favored treatment from a manager.2. When a manager ACTUALLY PROVIDES unfair preferential treatment for one

employee at the expense of others.

3. Nepotism.

To begin with, Mr. Rajiv, though there isn’t any logical fault on his side; he commits

some silly errors that you would probably expect with a computer engineer who hasn’texactly probed into the human side of the business.

• Even though Neha is in fact a very bright employee and to be frank a front runner 

among her colleagues still Rajiv committed the silly error in being too close to her andapparently not giving enough consideration of its impact on the psyche of the other 

employees.

•He was also a bit too rude to deal with Adebayor, an employee who was quite popular in

the circles as one of the hardest working employees. Even though Rajiv was quite right inassessing the personality of Adebayor that he wasn’t a very daring employee and that

there was still time for him to develop fully into the leadership mode that is required in thehighly competitive IT sector. Instead Rajiv should have commented on the positives and presented the whole thing in an amicable manner.

• He also ignored the issue in the beginning allowing the rift to develop. Clearly there has

 been a serious perception problem on the part of the employees in that they had started towrongly deduce that Neha is getting promoted due to favoritism. This is a big problem

 but not that big also if the management decides to follow some simple steps and

understand some basic things about this wrong perception thing.

• There are many people in the workplace who are extremely sensitive, and are lookingaround every corner for perceived slights and injustices.

• There are also many under-performers who look at other's relationships, in an attempt to

convince themselves that it's something other than their own shortcomings that is preventing them from getting ahead. Like in this example the clique of Nitin, Venkat, and

Karan shows a lot of characteristics of this behavior.

People who perform well should be rewarded. And a single management style doesn'twork equally well with all employees. Some people need more attention to fulfill their 

  potential, while others excel with less attention and more autonomy. Also it is the

PERCEPTION of favoritism that does the damage. If there is actual favoritism, you canargue that management is just getting what they deserve.

8/6/2019 f1342perception Case Analysis

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Here are some steps to avoid the problem to tackle the Problem initially.

An open door policy is the right beginning. Further, communication channels have to be

well-established and two-way flow of information is to be encouraged and maintained.•A further step in the right direction would be to convey the reasoning of various

managerial decisions through formal and more informal communication systems for 

 persons at the ground level to appreciate the managerial constraints and thinking process.That would help employees strive for right perception even when decisions are

unexplained.

•By experience, everyone is aware of the perception people have when a male bossfrequently appreciates a particular female staff. One is keen in such cases to modify

 behavior and language suitably to avoid wrong perceptions.

After that the management must take the following measures to ensure that no such

 perception problems arise in the future.1. The management should do everything within their power to insure that advancement,

 perks, and compensation are based strictly upon objective performance measures.

2. They must Strive to treat everyone fairly, if not necessarily the same.

3. They must Create an environment where any employee feels comfortable discussing a perceived injustice with management—this enables managers to nip misconceptions in

the bud.4. They should Practice an open door policy—this also contributes to a culture of trust,

which can sooth ruffled feathers before hurt feelings can fester and turn a situation far 

sourer.

5. The top management should also learn to Manage potential perceptions of favoritism proactively—it's much easier to prevent the perception up front, than it is to "put out the

fire" once it's raging.

While an HR manager need not get bogged down with all possible and imaginative

 perceptions of people, his focus should be to establish an open work environment and

exercise control over the information system mechanics. A well-established and trustedsystem would induce people to ask for reasons behind an action or a decision, than to

 jump to wrong perceptions.