Biases in workplace

Abstract

Bias is nothing more than a mental state. It could be anyones’ opinion on something, a person, a group, or even a circumstance in comparison to others, which is frequently construed as negative or opposing. While implications of bias in personal life are also tremendous, it has even wider implications in professional life. Bias is described as an unjust bias directed at a person, a group of people, or even certain views and ideas. Many businesses take pleasure in being diverse, inclusive, and fair. Many people, however, posses unconscious prejudices, allowing it to impact their judgements and leading to a not so fair process. Many employees often think of themselves as taking a rational choice as most of them are oblivious of their own prejudices. This has an impact on the selected candidates which are eventually given the offer. Biases can exist in any form of decision-making activity, from deciding what to dress to deciding on a presidential candidate. Biases can have both bad and good consequences. For our project, we looked at various biases which could be present at the workplace, right from being present in the hiring process to performance rating process. For this, we talked to several IT professionals, and some of the other professionals such as Teachers and govt employess as well. We created a questionnaire that asked them about the numerous biases that arise during their professional career, whether they had experienced them in the past, and how they could be prevented. We also asked about what were some of the finest practices at their company or what practices might be abolished or modified to make the workplace ore egalitarian. We also looked to see whether there are any prejudices that are more prevalent in certain roles. we also studied secondary sources amounting to (but not limited to) articles and research papers by various think tanks, consultancy firms (like Mckinsey, PwC). Further, we also conducted primary interviews and leveraged our personal contacts for the same.