Heuristic And/or Biases

Identify the possible heuristic and/or biases that may influenced your co-worker’s opinion.

The heuristic that could of influence my co-worker’s opinion was the representativeness heuristic. One of the reasons I chose it is simply because he is being judgmental toward the candidate. He is not making a good reasonable decision toward hiring her. It might be because she’s a woman, have a better education and feel intimidated by her or maybe because she has worked for their competitor for 20 years.

Are there ethical or legal implications from making a hiring decision based on his opinion?

Yes there is. For someone so qualified, my co-worker would have to give a great explanation to why she can’t get the position. He is more than qualify to do the job, education is above what’s expected, she’s bilingual which can help with non English speaking customers, and most important, she has 20 years experience in what the job description is requiring of her. It’s clearly that his opinion is unethical and can cause a great deal of legal implication if his reason is insufficient.

What would your response be to your co-worker?

I would ask him why she isn’t qualified for this position. If his answer is ethical and judgmental, I would ask him to put his bias and judgments on the side and concentrate on the best outcome for this company. I f he provide me with crucial evidence that she is truly unqualified in skill, than I would ask her