Unconscious Bias in an Organizational Context
Hardly anyone wants to consciously discriminate. And yet, women are more rarely found in management positions and people with a different skin color have more trouble finding a job. The root of this problem is often found in “unconscious biases”. Our unconscious assumptions result from falling back to prior experience when evaluating people or situations. We thus label people with certain characteristics rather quickly before we actually perceive them as individuals. This leads to a hasty decision with which we unintentionally discriminate someone or overlook the most promising solution.
In this training, you’ll learn how unconscious assumptions are created in the brain and you will become aware of your own biases. You will gain insights into the range of consequences that unconscious biases can have on the organizational success. Gather strategies to even more consciously avoid unconscious mistakes in your decision making process!
Because these processes take place unconsciously, we usually don’t notice treating people unequally or not seeing certain possible solutions. Becoming aware that our decisions are always also influenced by distortions of perception is an important step in dealing with them more consciously in the future.
However, studies show that it needs more in order to avoid this kind of unconscious preference or discrimination: To at least increase evading unconscious biases, it needs process interventions, also known as Inclusion Nudges. In this training you’ll learn about the most frequent biases in the work environment and get to know strategies against correlated mistakes in the decision-making process.
Content
- What are unconscious biases? Backgrounds and examples
- How are unconscious biases and distorted perceptions created?
- Where is a conscious handling of unconscious bias in the organizational context required?
- Recommendations for process interventions
