Perception can be described as the process in which people interpret what they can see in order to give it a meaning. Perception can be influenced by many factors such as attitudes, behaviours and serious life events.
I have come across situations where I have believed someone to be different than what they really are, the perception I had of these people were wrong to what they were actually like. It is said that when first meeting someone new you make a perception of them within seven seconds and more often than not this will not change. When I was sixteen and started my first job at a stationary store in Watford, I met two other part-timers who were both my age but very different to me. A girl called Lucie was working there at the time and my first meeting with her I made up my mind very quickly about what I thought she was like. She is a tall, slim blonde girl who is very eccentric and talkative; I labelled her as a ditsy girl who was not very intelligent and self-centred. Upon getting to know her better I found out that she was very intelligent, straight ‘A’ student. Also I realised that she was incredible caring about others and was always interesting to talk to and would always help a friend in trouble. Now Lucie and I have become very close friends and I have known her for four years and my first perception of what she was like has never crossed my mind since. This experience taught me the old saying of ‘never judge a book by its cover’, as people can be very different to what you perceived them to be.
Communication can be described as a way of conveying meaningful information between individuals. In recent years universities have been trying to communicate better with their students and try to improve their experiences and help advance their learning. There has been more communication between students and lecturers to improve the way lectures are run and benefit students. It is essential that both the students and people working within the university have shared goal to aim for, this allows for an engaged workforce that will increase the chances of a successful change. There is a lot more ease of communication for students as there are so many ways for them to communicate to the lecturers. There is so much electronic communication such as; email which is the most common form, texting, networking sites, blogs, video conferencing and also one on one talking. Creating communication channels that are two-way and not top-down is essential; this allows easy communication between the students and lecturers that is back and forth, rather than top-down. Top-down is not very effective as there is not good communication and it can be misinterpreted or lost, that is why two-way is a lot more successful. Also they must have a communication network that is all-channels or comcon, where everyone can talk to each other without it having to go throw a chain of people to get to its intended target. To make sure progress is being made they must measure the success of their actions, this way they can see which ideas are working and which are not. A good way to measure this is by carrying out student surveys and obtaining their opinions on the matter, as students are the ones who can give the best feedback as it is affecting their studies.
To conclude people can be perceived as something there not by the way the dress, act or even speak. All individuals are unique but all should not be judged before you get to know them, as they can be very different to how you perceived them. Communication is essential because information can be delayed or misinterpreted if there is bad communication. People should always try to use two way communication as this will allow the correct information to be passed on without delay.
References
Mullins, L. (2010) Management and organisational behaviour.9th ed. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
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