Mary Brown had been working at Wealth Blueprint Enterprises for fifteen (15) years, as a model employee who received several accolades within the company and industry, based on her stellar work performance and impressive list of profitable corporate client accounts.

Mary's mother is critically ill and undergoing expensive medical treatments, of which her colleagues were aware. Mary was accused of stealing funds from one of her top client's accounts, which led to Mary being ostracized by the majority of her co-workers and subsequently dismissed by her company because of the negative publicity the organization received. She had never been accused of any such incidents in the past and was always seen as trustworthy. On the other hand, there was a small group of Mary's colleagues who defended her and refused to believe she was capable of doing what she had been accused of, based on her pleasant personality, dedication to her job and trouble free work history up to that point.

The actions taken by the majority of Mary's colleagues and company's management team, were based on the changes in their perception of her, prior to the conclusion of investigations by the police and the organization's internal auditors.

1. Define perception and identify three (3) factors that influence perception.
2. Examine the attribution theory in relation to Mary's case, and discuss its implications for explaining organizational behaviour.