Perception management is a term originated by the US military.

[citation needed] The US Department of

Defense (DOD) gives this definition:
Actions to convey and/or deny selected information and indicators to foreign audiences
to influence their emotions, motives, and objective reasoning as well as to intelligence systems and
leaders at all levels to influence official estimates, ultimately resulting in foreign behaviors and official
actions favorable to the originator's objectives. In various ways, perception management
combines truth projection,[1] operations security, cover and deception, and psychological
operations.[2][not in citation given]
"Perception" is defined as the "process by which individuals select, organize, and interpret the input
from their senses to give meaning and order to the world around them".[3]Components of perception
include the perceiver, target of perception, and the situation. Factors that influence the perceiver:

 Schema: organization and interpretation of information based on past experiences and

knowledge
 Motivational state: needs, values, and desires of a perceiver at the time of perception
 Mood: emotions of the perceiver at the time of perception
Factors that influence the target:

 Ambiguity: a lack of clarity. If ambiguity increases, the perceiver may find it harder to form an
accurate perception
 Social status: a person's real or perceived position in society or in an organization
 Impression management: an attempt to control the perceptions or impressions of others. Targets
are likely to use impression management tactics when interacting with perceivers who have
power over them. Several impression management tactics include behavioral matching between
the target of perception and the perceiver, self-promotion (presenting one's self in a positive
light), conforming to situational norms, appreciating others, or being consistent.[3]
The phrase "perception management" has often functioned as a euphemism for "an aspect
of information warfare." A scholar in the field notes a distinction between "perception management"
and public diplomacy, which "does not, as a rule, involve falsehood and deception, whereas these
are important ingredients of perception management; the purpose is to get the other side to believe
what one wishes it to believe, whatever the truth may be."[4] The phrase "perception management" is
filtering into common use as a synonym for "persuasion." Public relations firms now offer "perception
management" as one of their services. Similarly, public officials who are being accused of shading
the truth are now frequently charged with engaging in "perception management" when disseminating
information to media or to the general public.
Although perception management operations are typically carried out within the international arena
between governments, and between governments and citizens, use of perception management
techniques have become part of mainstream information management systems in many ways that
do not concern military campaigns or government relations with citizenry. Businesses may even
contract with other businesses to conduct perception management for them, or they may conduct it
in-house with their public relations staff.
As Stan Moore has written, "Just because truth has been omitted, does not mean that truth is not
true. Just because reality has not been perceived, does not mean that it is not real."[citation needed]

Strategies[edit]
There are nine strategies for perception management. According to Kegon Thomas, these include:
1. Preparation – Having clear goals and knowing the ideal position you want people to hold.
2. Credibility – Make sure all of your information is consistent, often using prejudices or
expectations to increase credibility.
3. Multichannel support – Have multiple arguments and fabricated facts to reinforce your
information.
4. Centralized control – Employing entities such as propaganda ministries or bureaus.
5. Security – The nature of the deception campaign is known by few.
6. Flexibility – The deception campaign adapts and changes over time as needs change.
7. Coordination – The organization or propaganda ministry is organized in a hierarchical pattern
in order to maintain consistent and synchronized distribution of information.
8. Concealment – Contradicting information is destroyed.
9. Untruthful statements – Fabricate the truth.[5]
I am a self-motivated personality with years of managing experience of pharma
reverse logistic company.

Perception management is a term originated by the US military.

The US Department of Defense (DOD) gives this definition:

Actions to convey and/or deny selected information and indicators to

foreign audiences to influence their emotions, motives, and objective
reasoning as well as to intelligence systems and leaders at all to
influence official estimates, ultimately resulting in foreign behaviors and
official actions favorable to the originator's objectives. In various ways,
perception management combines truth projection, operations security,
cover and deception, and psychological operations.

"Perception" is defined as the "process by which individuals select,

organize, and interpret the input from their senses to give meaning and
order to the world around them". Components of perception include the
perceiver, target of perception, and the situation. Factors that influence
the perceiver:

Perception management is the practice of ensuring the message you wish

to send is understood by the specific individuals or groups you want to
reach. It also means influencing how people interpret what others say
about you.

It also means influencing how people interpret what others say about
you. Writing for readers in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD),
Pascale Combelles Siegel calls perception management “the stepchild”
of military Information Operations (IO). That’s because technology has
taken over IO to the point that its former emphasis of perception
management has been relegated to a secondary role.

Business and other government agencies have gladly adopted this

stepchild as their own. How well they nurture this stepchild makes the
difference between success and failure. Joel Garfinkle’s brief four-step
outline of the perception management cycle is a good basis for a simple
primer on this crucial discipline.

STEP 1: How Do You Think You Are Perceived?

You first need to clearly define how you think others perceive you. This
step must come first because any number of factors can skew these
observations. Individuals commonly experience self-serving biases. This
means attributing success to internal achievement and failure to external
obstacles. “Individuals strategically employ the self-serving bias to
maintain and protect positive self-views.” (Krusemark, Campbell, &
Clementz, 2008, pg. 511) They also experience confirmation bias, which
simply means interpreting results in the most favorable manner for their
purposes.

When these combine among individuals in an organization, it can result

in groupthink – in simplest terms, a culture of “yes” men. When this
happens, strongly cohesive teams actually serve their organizations
detrimentally. Teams that encourage a productive level of informed
dissent and independence have greater immunity to groupthink
(Callaway & Esser, 1984). Organizations with particularly strong leaders
who promote their own agendas to the team, rather than assigning a
subordinate that task, are at particular risk of groupthink (Ahlfinger &
Esser, 2001).

STEP 2: How Are You Actually Perceived?

Next, check the accuracy of your organizational self-perception. Surveys

traditionally achieve this and extend into Web resources with modern
technology. Internet solicitation needs to be unobtrusive, yet eye-
catching. Consumers accustomed to websites tend to ignore ostentatious
banner ads, but will pay attention to ads that fit into a site’s theme.
(Moore, Stammerjohan, & Coulter, 2005).

However, animations on ads rouse site visitors more than distract them,
and may get their attention if they are consistent with the site’s theme
and, hence, the visitor’s presumed interest (Day, Shyi, & Wang, 2006).
In addition, monitor blogs, Facebook and Twitter for unsolicited praise
or criticism.

Whole books cover ways to assess public perception of yourself or your

organization. The most important thing to remember is by performing
this process, you already influence how the public perceives you. If
surveys are long and impose needless interruption, respondents will
receive more negative impressions of you. Political surveys commonly
load semantics to both achieve target results and influence opinions:
questions are already biased and seek biased results. Remember to keep
questions open-ended, semantics neutral and to allow plenty of room for
comments. Doing that already communicates you care what respondents
have to say and do not just pigeonhole and tally their responses. You
treat them as individuals.

STEP 3: How Do You Want to be Perceived?

This is simple math. What is the difference between your organizational

self-perception and the actual public perception of your organization? If
they match, that does not mean you need do nothing. It means you need
to reinforce that perception. If they do not match, that does not mean you
are in trouble, even if they differ tremendously. You have just learned
where you are and where you need to be.

Very clearly define how you want public perceptions to change and
express that in a story. If you have been perceived as being socially
irresponsible and you seek a reputation for social responsibility,
acknowledging past failures may be part of that story. That is called
framing and it is important because once the public accepts the frame of
your organization, they interpret other information to fit that frame.

STEP 4: How Do You Change the Perceptions?

Tell your story. You might have had misplaced priorities, suddenly seen
the light and now work better for the public good. That worked for tuna
companies in the 1990s. Do consumers see you as a proficient
underachiever for some past bad marketing choices? That quickly turns
into an underdog story, fighting against some market juggernaut. That
would be Apple Computers in the 1990s, just before launching the iMac.
Telling the story involves actions as well as exposition. That can be a
corporate sponsorship – depending on your desired demographic you
might sponsor a NASCAR crew, a sports team, or a particular charity. It
can be product placement in particular programs. It might be something
as simple as starting a popular blog and keeping a friendly and
responsive presence in social media.

If things have been bad enough, particularly if your concern is

individual, you may have to take the leap into full-fledged reputation
management. This means going beyond how you frame your own story
to distracting audiences from negativity. While this can be effectively
achieved, consider it a last resort. It goes beyond manipulating
perception to manipulating information. This is much more expensive
and much less effective than recovering a positive perception based on a
sympathetic acceptance of a story with acknowledged errors and nothing
to hide.

Organizational perception management

Organizations use perception management in daily internal and external
interactions as well as prior to major product/strategy introductions and
following events of crisis. Life cycle models of organizational
development suggest that the growth and ultimate survival of a firm is
dependent on how effectively business leaders navigate crisis, or crisis-
like, events through their life cycles. As suggested by studies,
organizational perception management involves actions that are
designed and carried out by organizational spokespersons to influence
audiences' perceptions of the organization. This definition is based on
the understanding of four unique components of organizational
perception management: perception of the organization; actions or
tactics; organizational spokespersons; and organizational audiences. The
organizational perceptions are further classified into three major forms
namely organizational images, organizational reputation,
and organizational identities.

Perception Management Events: Perception management is often

used by an organization in the following major events:

1. Dealing with perception-threatening events: Include such

events as scandals, accidents, product failures, controversial
identity changes, upcoming performance reviews, and
introduction of new identity or vision.
2. Dealing with perception-enhancing events: Include such
events as positive/negative ranking or rating by industry
groups, overcoming hardships, and achievement of desired
goals.
Perception Management is a term originated from the US Military which means to convey and to

interpret information.