Recommendations for further development containing a set of external existing resources in the area of unconscious bias
In Germany small-talk is not really common in work situations. Of course, it may happen especially between colleagues who know each other quite well, but is less usual in more formal settings.
This is why in the video case study the enquiries by the recruiting Head of HR related to the home town, which is also the candidate’s one, and the following conversation, show to be meant as earnest exchange of ideas and opinions which go further than mere small talk would do.
The deepness of the conversation is an important factor in judging the occurrence of affinity bias in the situation. As the Head of HR is deeply involved in the conversation, it can be assumed that the Head of HR’s sense of feeling drawn to one candidate rather than the other is sincere. The resulting decision about who to choose for the vacancy happens unaware, based on the unreflected personal preference and is thus biased.
Recommendation: To prevent biased decisions the Head of HR could work on being more aware about the own strategies of establishing and building up relationships.
National stereotypes are generalisations about inhabitants of certain countries. They exist as positive or negative characteristics of specific attributed qualities. As positive pictures of national “types” they may influence situations in a positive way. For example, as from the video case study presented on this platform, the life-style in Italy, which is often perceived as “Dolce vita”, is positively valued.
However, especially the negative stereotypes may have an undue importance in working situations, as the characteristics represented by the stereotypes may be transferred to other qualities needed at work. As shown in the video case study you may have watched, some cultures supposed to enjoy life more than others. In a certain situation a person from that country could experience a negative stereotype and be judged as not efficient and less productive than others.
Recommendation: Probably it won’t be possible to fully eliminate stereotypic thinking as it is a “natural” mental shortcut the brain does. However people could try to work consciously on them and be made aware of in trainings at work or other learning channels.
Language barrier:
Taking into consideration the fact that English is one of the most widely spoken language, we should be aware, that not all foreigners necessarily speak the native language of particular country, as shown in the video case study you may have seen. It may be challenging for foreigners to learn the native language of the country they currently inhabit, but it should not prevent them developing professionally. Moreover, taking into consideration, all the encounters that entrepreneurs could face nowadays on their way of establishing a company and running their own business, we should consider how difficult it must be for people who are not originally from a specific country, to create their own company and to learn the native language. Therefore, we should respect how ambitious they are and the extra effort that may be required to maintain professional behavior and relationships. Nowadays, speaking English can be crucial and in business as it can ‘open many doors’.
Recommendation: When seeing someone who is speaking in English instead of your native language, as professional it might be helpful not to increase the barriers for them, but to do the best to establish business relations. Providing some business tips and recommendations to foreigners can be essential for their professional progress.
Face to face communication:
Telephone calls/ ommunication are largely neglected in the qualitative research literature and, when discussed, they are often depicted as a less attractive alternative to face-to-face communication. The absence of visual cues via telephone is thought to result in loss of contextual and nonverbal data and to compromise rapport, probing, and interpretation of responses. This is probably also what happened between the young entrepreneur from the middle East and the local manager in the video case study you may have watched. Yet, telephones may allow respondents to feel relaxed and able to disclose sensitive information, and evidence is lacking that they produce lower quality data.
Recommendation: When you receive a request for providing business service or collaboration via phone call, it may be a better opportunity to arrange a face to face meeting with the person, because it would give you the chance to know the person better and to avoid quick taken decisions.
Halo horns bias recommendation
Say an interviewee turns up and they have a tattoo and the interviewer doesn’t like tattoos. That could tip them into the horns effect, without the interviewer even realising it’s happening. Or the interviewee trips up on an early question and that colours how the interviewer views the rest of the conversation, even if the interviewee actually acquitted themselves very well for the rest of the interview.
Recommendations: With regards to recruitment, there is a lot that can be done to try to minimise the halo horns lens. Those conducting the interviews need to be aware of their own biases, for example, so that they can guard against snap judgements. HR needs to work with line managers, those in charge of junior employees right up to very senior level managers, to look at cognitive biases – where they come from, what they represent and how they can cloud judgement.
He speaks the language.
A manager has a high-profile urban project that needs a qualified project manager to get the job done and uses “common sense” to select an African American project manager. When asked about the decision, the manager states that his choice “is a great fit” and “speaks the language.” It’s not overtly racist; it’s simply an assumption that because this person is African American, he must be more familiar with the urban environment and the issues the community faces. The reality may be that this African American project manager grew up in the suburbs, went to private school, played polo and has had no experience living in an urban community. He may or may not be the best project manager for the job, but the choice could have easily been based on an invalid assumption completely unrelated to the requirements of the project.
Recommendation: These simple examples demonstrate how easily unconscious bias can creep into your business, shape daily decisions, and impact your company. Recognizing its influence is the key to making objective decisions and avoiding these common mistakes.
https://www.eliinc.com/five-real-world-examples-of-unconscious-bias
The described situation, you may have watched in the video case study, is based on the Affinity bias and Dominant bias. Both of them refer to internal feelings of the manager that the best employee is the one who is „the most similar to her”. The manager wants to hire a person who she can trust, who has good skills and habits and will be easy to contact with. In the simple ideation process the manager of the warehouse comes to conclusion that it must be someone similar to her or someone that in general is the most predictable in the way he/she works. The manager feels that the only candidate who meets the condition is the Polish one. The manager’s lack of knowledge of other country cultures, combined with stereotypes which the manager posesses emanating from the belief that it may be difficult to have a good work-related contact with an employee of a different cultural background, also had an influence on her choice.
Recommendation: She should try to overcome her fear and go out from safety zone to try working also with people from different countries. Her decision of choosing the candidate to work with should be fair and made in professional way. She should not favor any of the candidates during the job interview but treat them equally.
The desribed situation you may have watched in the video case study, presents also that our previous experience can influence our point of view very much. This experience can be related to working with people, meeting new people, trying new things in life, etc. It is called confirmation bias. The manager’s bad experience of hiring a person from Belarus pushed her to not treat the Ukrainian candidate seriously during job interview. She connected the facts from the past with the current situation and was afraid that she might experience the same againe if she hires a person from Eastern Europe. The same happens very often in our lifes. We avoid certain people and potential opportunities e.g. to change a job, to go abroad, etc. because our mind tries to „protect us” by reminding the bad experiences which we already had. This is not alaways a bad thing because it stops us from repeating certain mistakes but sometimes the fear is so strong that we don’t even consider trying to give a chance to something that can actually be of benefit.
Recommendation: To avoid sticking to old habits and mindsets too much we should think about each new opportunity using „a cold mindset” and not to give up on an idea which can relate to something that happened to us in the past. We must look for all pros and cons and make a decision based on those thoughts.
1st recommendation:
The video case study you may have watched describes a situation based on attribution bias. It shows a case study where a Bulgarian applicant is rejected from a job because of her informal clothes in the interview.
Although the idea is that the recruiter values the skills and experience of the applicant and not the clothes that the candidate is wearing, formalities are important too. Making a good impression in a job interview has a big impact on a candidate’s employability; clothes should make a good impression, but not be the focus of attention. Historically, wearing elegant clothes to a job interview was perceived as a sign of professionalism and respect for the company. However, nowadays, there is some flexibility and variety in the clothes people wear to work, widening the concept of elegant clothes. The Bulgarian applicant from this video case study could have prepared this aspect before the interview.
Recommendation: A good option is to research the dress code of the company in question. Visiting the company’s social media or website can help with this research.
2nd recommendation:
The presented video case study you may have watched shows the example of cultural judging and interpreting phenomena.
In the video, it is explained that the Bulgarian applicant has been living in Spain for a short time and the interviewer subconsciously, probably due to little cultural knowledge about Bulgaria, wasn´t able to evaluate the candidate objectively. Due to the origin of the candidate the HR employee responsible does seem rather reluctant, pausing for thought and being rather silent with a thoughtful expression on her face when the applicant answers the questions. Because of these cultural assumptions of the interviewer, the Bulgarian applicant had less chance to follow the interview in a natural way.
Recommendation: As shown in the video case study, in this situation the HR expert should have behave more professionally and it would be recommended to reconsider cultural differences in candidate’s assessment. It is important to use fair measurement instrument adapted to avoid these cultural differences. If the candidate meets the requirements of a role and matches the values of the company, their origin shouldn’t be an obstacle.
The described example concerns a situation where a manager organizes a conversation with two best employees to identify who will represent the company at international fairs. The manager is influenced by gender bias and does it unconsciously, which means that he is not able to objectively select the person who can actually best perform the task, and thus act in the best interests of the company. First of all, he has a bias regarding gender, because he assumes in advance a specific scenario of the course of events that will take place during the fair. He assumes that during a sumptuous dinner with clients the representative will have to drink a lot of alcohol and look very formal because this attitude is closest to his own perspective. He believes that his colleague as a man is the best in this role. However, people differ from one another. It may turn out that customers met at the fair will turn out to be abstainers who do not pay any attention to their clothes – markedly different profile than the one he prepares for.
Recommendation: To avoid this type of trap, the manager should ask more opinions when making decisions. He should talk to other managers and employees. This will provide a broader view of the situation.
The second example of a bias shown in the video case study you may have watched is an ageism. In this case, the manager notices only the disadvantages of young age and ignores its advantages. He subconsciously assumes that advanced age equals greater experience. It may or may not be. Young employees can also often show a very rich portfolio and the company that is to develop should enable them to enrich it.
Recommendation: The task of the manager is to be guided by the interests of the company, not his own. So, it is clear that part of the company’s policy should be to bet on young people and allow them to prove themselves, but also to make mistakes. Nobody is infallible, and only doing so will ensure that you have a truly qualified team in the future.
In the described situation shown in the video case study you may have watched, the most prominent example is visible in the confirmation bias that can be explained as the tendency to interpret new information as proof of existing beliefs and assumptions. In the case of the social worker, he demonstrates superior attitude and sees the attempt of the young migrant trying to speak for himself as something that is not professional. This bias is highlighted in the fact that the social worker tends to assume that the behaviour of every single migrant is going to be the same. In reality though, the social worker should have given due attention to similar situations in a more transparent way. He should have expected that the migrant might not know the rules of etiquette in similar situations.
Recommendation: be careful not to generalize behaviour or character traits and be open to new perspectives.
Another type of bias demonstrated in the video case study you may have watched is called attribution bias which can be observed in the case of a young migrant. During the meeting, the young migrant perceived the behaviour of the Italians as arrogant. However, he did not take into account the fact that small and medium-sized enterprises in Italy (and especially those from the rural contexts) still demonstrate quite hierarchical structures. Because of those hierarchies, the social worker expected the young migrant to behave in a more humble way.
Recommendation: In a professional setting, the recommended way for the actors involved could be that the candidate is briefed by the social worker on the recruiting procedures. On the other hand, the Italians could have kept in mind that their behaviour might be misunderstood by the young migrant.
Recommendation
In the case study you may have reviewed we see the impact of a discussion amongst colleagues regarding a cultural situation and we see that the situation is very much affected by a cultural influenced unconscious bias. As an “outsider” to Irish society one may need to acknowledge what very important role sport events play in Irish culture. This does not mean that all Irish people are sports fanatics; simply that it has a particular prominence. There is a close link between cultural background and how one defines one’s identity. Supporting a specific sport team, which is often linked to the geographical place of the home and a specific county, can be part of one’s definition of identity. “Irishness” often includes that an interest in sport and the local team is taken for granted. As described in this case study the connection with people who are like-minded is easier than someone who might have a different attitude due to another cultural background. The danger is that the skills of a person are unconsciously not acknowledged as the connection with that person is missing by the one who evaluates their abilities.
Recommendation: It is recommended that the dominant cultural perspective – as it may relate to sport, music etc – does not unnecessarily act as a means of exclusion.
Recommendation
In the case study video you may have watched, you will notice that it appears that the company has been open to hiring for cultural diversity. For example, the new recruits are Polish, Irish and Vietnamese. This can be regarded positively as it indicates at least an acceptance of the value of diversity in the workplace. However, it may happen – as it has in this case – that commitment to cultural diversity can be superficial. A culturally diverse workplace is one where, not only are various backgrounds and nationalities represented, but where there is also a genuine effort at understanding and incorporating the culture of others to the working environment.
Recommendation: Genuine diversity requires organisations to be curious and interested in the perspective that other people offer by virtue of their cultural identity.