Our personality affects how we perceive things, as well as our attitudes and behavior. Perception refers to a person’s interpretation of reality. It is important to realize that perceptions, right or wrong, affect behavior and performance, because behavior is the product of or is based on perception. Perception is the process of organizing and interpreting information from the environment.

No two people ever perceive—and thus ever experience—anything exactly the same way. Or your thoughts reveal the perception you have of yourself, which in turn affects your behavior. A second factor that influences the perception process is the information available from the external environment. Organizational practices influence employee perceptions of management and the firm.

We make attributions when we infer causes about particular outcomes, which affects behavior. Recall that the OB foundations, especially perception, can’t be observed. We can only see the behavior and make an attribution of the actions. Attribution is the process of determining the reason for someone’s behavior.