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 to come in for a second interview and question her skills and abilities. Most likely after the second interview we would know if she is truly qualified or if my co-worker let his heuristics and biases overcome him once again.

How would you convince him that this person is right for the job and should be hired?

Again, I would highlight her education, her being bilingual, and the fact that she has work for our competitor for 20 years. After all, there must have been something about her abilities to have kept her for as long as they did. I would asked him to again analyze all this qualities and if after he does so, he still feel uncomfortable, we would ask her to come in for a second interview. Doing so would give him the opportunity to question her on the subject he feels uncomfortable with.