The reality of perception in employee relations: "If it looks like a duck ..."

In employee relations, perception is as important as reality. What the employee perceives is generally what the employee believes and acts on. Employee perceptions are shaped by many factors, prominent among them organizational roles, supervisory styles, and communication styles. Employee perceptions cannot be ignored, even when they are known to be incorrect, because they are factual to the employees. Further, perceptions can be controlled to a considerable extent through effective supervision. The supervisor needs to become aware of the power of perception, learn what circumstances are likely to cause incorrect perceptions, learn how to manage employee perceptions to the extent possible, and always approach perception as the perceiver's reality.