Question

Duane is reviewing two candidates for a potential promotion to sales manager. The first is Kate. Kate has a stellar sales record and has earned high marks from her teammates. However, she has been tardy to work on two occasions the past month. Duane marks her down for this, even though she was never tardy for the entire three-years she has worked at the company, prior to this month. The second candidate is Miguel. Miguel has an average sales record but graduated from the University of Lorton. Duane remembers another employee who graduated from the University of Lorton, and he was a great leader. So Duane provides high marks to Miguel.

Analyze this scenario to ascertain which decision-making heuristic/bias Duane is exhibiting toward each candidate. Why is he exhibiting this heuristic/bias? Make sure to explain your choices by applying facts from the scenario.

Answer 1

In this scenario, Duanne is exhibiting affinity bias wherein Miguel who has an average sales record is accorded greater priority based on the fact that some one from the same college displayed great leadership skills and where Miguel has not shown any such skills in reality. Also the downgrade in priority of Kate for being tardy in two occasions even when she has a great sales record is an example of recency bias where the evaluator is giving greater weightage to recent events than her stellar performance record over an extended period of time.