Christiane Khoury
Nov 26, 2012
MGT301
Personality and Perception Case Study 1. People are born different, with distinctive personalities and attitudes. Some are optimistic or pessimistic, active or passive, calm or agitated and so on. Such diversity in personalities, in addition to the culture that individuals are attached and raised by, affects their attitudes and thus their perception. Therefore, personality plays a role in defining people’s reactions and behaviors to events around them.
In the case, “Differing Perceptions at Clarkston Industries”, the manager Susan contemplates the problem of Jack, a new employee she hired. Jack was hired directly after he left prison, given a chance by Susan who in turn passed through a similar situation in the past. Later then, Jack was accused and suspected of stealing money by his fellow coworkers who perceived such an incident on previous records that is he staying in prison. On the other hand, Susan had ambivalent thoughts and was disturbed. She perceived the problem considering Jack and avoiding muddling up with perception shortcuts such as stereotyping and Halo effect along with reflecting on the reaction of other employees to her decision. 2. In my opinion, Susan should not fire Jack for two reasons. The first reason is that Jack, as mentioned in the case, is a hard working and capable worker who appreciated the chance he was given. Second, disregarding if it is true or not, Jack is accused of stealing money and his colleagues are demanding he being fired immediately but other employees although they may not be stealing money, they may, or we can say, have stolen time, truth, or miscellaneous objects belonging to the company and thus should be fired if that’s how it is solved. For example, the new personnel clerk