HCM 433 MANGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR.pdf

5. Motion: The motion principle says that people will pay more attention to moving objects
in their field of vision than they will to stationary objects. Workers will notice materials
moving by them on a conveyor belt but they may fail to give proper attention to the
maintenance needs of the stationary machine next to them.
6. Novelty and Familiarity: The novelty and familiarity principles states that either a novel
or a familiar external situation can serve as an attention getter. Now objects or events in a
familiar setting or events in a new setting will draw the attention of the perceiver.
Switching from a typewriter to a word processor may not motivate the clerical staff but it
will increase their attention until they become accustomed to the new job.
THE MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS: This can be thought of as an internal form of attention
getting that is largely based on the individual’s complex psychological make up. People will select
our stimuli or situations from the environment that appeal to and such personal influences on
attention include motives, attitudes and past experience.
1. Motives: One personal factor that strongly affects our immediate surroundings is our
current motives. The impact of this internal state can be readily illustrated: Assuming you
are in a business meeting, what stimuli or events you notice will to a larges extent depend
on your current motivational state. If it is close to lunch time and your are hungry, you any
focus on the delicious smell of food entering the room from a nearby restaurant, or the
sound of the snack tray in the nearby dinning hall. In short, what you notice will be
strongly affected by your current or motives.
2. Attitudes: A second personal factor that often exerts a strong impact upon attention is our
attitudes or values. Typically, we notice stimuli about which we have clear positive or
negative feelings (strong attitudes) much more readily than ones toward which we are
neutral. Thus, an individual who is strongly opposed to some plane of action (e.g
actualization of 1993, June 12 election results) would be highly sensitive to even indirect
references to it during a meeting. Similarly a manger who really likes one of her
subordinates will probably be likely to notice his performance than that of other
subordinates toward whom she has weaker personal feelings.
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