Joe Salatino, President of Great Northern American Case Study
Dr. Elizabeth Delone
Business 520 – Leadership and Organizational Behavior
July 26, 2012
Strayer University

This case study involves the importance of perceptions and how it effect attributions in the business world. We will use Joe Salatino, President of Great Northern American, as an example of how businesses can be successful when their customers are their top priority and employees learn how to understand their customer needs to improve sales. There are three learning theories operational conditioning, social learning and learning. We will discuss how one of these theories would be appropriate for Mr. Salatino’s business and how that theory could improve his employee’s performance. The last item is how self-efficacy is used to ensure the best candidate is hired for the company who can be successful. Mr. Salatino has a successful 35 year business. The reason is based on paying his employees bonuses and commissions in relation to their sales. The one thing Mr. Salatino’s employees need to understand is the importance of how people form perceptions and make attributions. So, what is perception? Perception is “the process, by which the individual selects, organizes, interprets, and responds to information” (Organization Behavior, p. 104). However, one perceives something to be is true to them even though their perception could be completely wrong. Our perceptions remain the same unless something in our internal or external environment illustrates we could be wrong. People perceive things differently due to the perceptual process of noticing objects in their environment, observing, perceptual selection and organization, interpretation and finally our response. (Organization Behavior, p 104). The external factors which affect the way we perceive includes size, intensity, contrast, motion, repetition and familiarity. The larger the item the more likely we will perceive it versus the small object. The more intense we will perceive first. Things which stand-out from their background or are unexpected will be perceived before an object which blends into the background. Motion is perceived before stationary. A familiar environment is better perceived than a less familiar. Internal factors are personality, learning and motivation. An example discussed in class was going to a gas station and how everyone was looking for different things depending on circumstances. When gas prices are going up and down people tend to look at the signs first to determine if they want to fill up at that station; however, if it is late at night or dark one would probably be more interested in if the station was lit or not. People focus on those environmental objects which they are interested in at the time and it will depend on their needs. Many businesses are beginning to understand how perception plays a part in customer buying. Attributions explain how people act and determine how people will react to the actions of others. If you know how consumers are influenced by their environment, their information-processing abilities and their perception of the product it will help companies to be successful in the marketplace. Customer’s buy certain products or services based on the company’s image. Mr. Salatino employees would get the local paper of their customers. It allowed the salesperson to keep up to date on news happening at their customers locations showing an interest in their customers’ lives. Treating your customers as real people and showing an interest in their life’s increase sales because it reflects a positive image for your company. It shows you are willing to go the extra mile. When all products are equal, customers will select the company they have had the best experience with for all their purchases. No one will continue to go to a company if they are not treated well. They will even pay more for the product to feel good about going to the company. Mr. Salatino understood this and that is why he spent money on commissions and bonuses and used those as a gage to how good his business was doing. He believed you have to sometimes spend money to make money especially when you are in the sales industry and competition is tough. Successful businesses need to understand the importance of how people form perceptions and make attributions within their own organizations as well. “People’s perceptions and attributions influence how they behave in their organization” (Organizational Behavior Perceptions and Attributes). If you accurately perceive your customers you will have the correct interpretation and be able to see and hear them to make sound decisions and to perform and act in an ethical manner. To be an effective leader, you must be actively recognizing employee’s perceptions and attributions; it will build justifications for their approach and will get their support. Diversity training can help employers to prevent a hostile work environment when employees are from different backgrounds or cultures. Understanding ones differences in an organization helps employees feel comfortable about bringing their ideals up without them being discouraged. The organization will definitely run more smoothly with fewer conflicts if everyone takes the time to work in teams and understand their differences. Things mean different things to different people and many times it is not personal it is just the way another sees things through their environment and experiences. If you have an inaccurate perception it leads to stereotyping and people making incorrect assumptions Stereotyping “is the belief that all members of a specific group should share similar traits and behaviors” (Organization Behavior, p 115). An example would be that females make better nurses than men. The other is the Halo Effect, which “occurs when one positive or negative characteristic dominates the way that person is viewed by others” (Organization Behavior, p. 116). An example is heavy employees are lazy where thin employees are more energetic. Minimizing these perceptional errors can promote team work. Stereotyping does not allow managers to view employees for their overall potential. Employees generally do what they believe everyone believes they can do. Employees will perform at the level you expect them to no more no less. Positive feedback and encouragement go a long way in promoting and setting the stage for employees to think well about themselves and the organization. There are three learning theories operant conditioning, social learning and learning. Operant conditioning “refers to a process by which individuals learn voluntary behavior” (Organization Behavior, p 134). This theory does not rely on attitudes, beliefs, intentions, and motivation for influencing behavior. This theory relies on your environment to achieve your result. An example is when you were told if you work at a task you will get better. It is believed that employees are highly motivated because that quality is reinforced with pay raises and promotions which employees find desirable. Employees learn various kinds of behavior before and after joining a company, and they encounter stimuli in a company setting that can cause them to behave in certain ways with certain consequences. These kinds of behaviors are rewarded and punished depending on their value to a company. The stimuli in the workplace include schedules, corporate structures, company policies, telephone calls and managers. The consequences of work-place behavior include approval or disapproval from managers and coworkers, promotions, demotions and pay increases. Operant conditioning deals with reinforcements both positive and negative and how it must be scheduled. Scheduling can be continuous meaning every time you do the behavior you will receive the same outcome. Intermittent reinforcement is behavior is done for a period of time with the same result. Social learning is learning through observation and learning theory (also referred to as cognitive theory) is where a constant continues to happen when an event occurs. This theory has five dimensions to explain why employees perform differently when they encounter the same situations. The dimensions are symbolizing, forethought, vicarious learning and self-control. Symbolizing is a mental image in an individual’s mind such as watching someone perform a task and you create it in your mind to complete the task the same way. Forethought is planning how hard you will try based on the reward you wish to achieve. Vicarious learning is observing others to see what they will receive for their actions. Self-Control employees are responsible for their own goals and ways to reach those goals by learning a new behavior. The theory which Mr. Salatino applied in his situation is the social learning theory. Mr. Salatino’s salespeople received incentives of more earnings in commissions and bonues to keep them motivated. This would be the Social Learning Theory which has been successful for Mr. Salatino. The Social learning is “people learn by observing other people and attempting to copy their behaviors. Social learning is influenced by self-efficacy, which is an individual’s belief that they can successfully learn knowledge and skills.” (Organizational Behavior, p. 149 - 152). Self-efficacy is “the learner may not be able to adopt the behaviors they see if she doesn’t accept that she will get the same result someone else did” (Organizational Behavior, p. 152). Due to Mr. Salatino basing his company’s success by the amount of money he pays to his employees it would be more than likely that all employees would receive the same rewards. There are many motivational devices used to keep employees engaged and on track and competitive. The more sales you bring into the company the more you make. Once employees see what is in it for them they jump on board and the company becomes a success. The one thing is that money may not always work in a company as a motivator. The employee must see money as their motivator if money does not matter to the employee at this time it will not have the same affect. Every employer must know their employees to determine what motivates them to be successful in their organization it is different for everyone. Self-efficacy is Mr. Salatino’s success in hiring additional salespersons for his company. He would only consider those individuals who have high self-efficacy because they can actually see themselves doing the job and being successful. Individuals with low self-efficacy tend to be dissatisfied if they do not feel they can become an asset to the company and perform at the level the other employees do. Individuals generally will leave the company within a short period of time once they feel like they cannot keep up. Individuals which would be good for a company is those individuals who want to do a good job because they are motivated and have the ability to succeed at the tasks. So much has changed from simply getting your job done. Employees are more in the position to make or break a company. Your employees must understand customers come first, but in a different sense. Customers need to feel like they are making the right choice in purchasing your product. There is more competition than ever before with the introduction of the internet. Organizations must be savvy in getting their image right for customers to buy their products. In conclusion, we identified the importance of perceptions and how people make attributions and how it can affect an organization internally and externally. One’s perception is the truth and nothing else seems to matter. A company to be success must ensure their image and how they perceive internal and external factors are always consider ethical. Not everyone fights the same mold and we must make adjustments to our customers’ needs and treat each one with respect for their differences. We described three learning theories and determined social learning theory best applied to Mr. Salatino organization. He improved his employee’s performance with commissions and bonuses. Mr. Salatino could fall into any of the three theories depending on how he would like to motivate his employees. Rewards will also work better than punishment, but every employee is different and as managers you must find out what makes them tick. Lastly, the value of self-efficacy and the affects it has on an organizations success in hiring employees. If employees believe they can be successful in their work environment and has the expertise they generally will be as long as management believes it as well.
References
Hellriegel, D., & Slocum, J.W. Jr. (2011). Organizational Behavior (13th ed.). United States of America: Strayer University.
Donner, Debbie. “Role of Perception in Consumer Behaviour.” eHow Contributor 5 March 2012. http://www.ehow.com/about_6794129_role-perception-consumer-behavior.html.
Duggan, Tara. “Organizational Behavior Perceptions and Attributes”. Demand Media. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/organizational-behavior-preceptions-attributes-10835.html. Encyclopedia of Management, (2006). Operant Conditioning (5th ed.). Farmington Hills,
MI: Gale Cengage. http://www.enotes.com/operant-conditioning-reference/operant-conditioning