The (Good and) Bad of Bias

Bias has been and continues to be a factor in organizations where individuals or groups deliberately or unintentionally exclude certain people or ideas from consideration based on specific characteristics or attributes. As many of us are aware, bias can occur in various organizational contexts including personnel decisions, company culture and day-to-day operations.

When unattended to, bias frequently leads to the marginalization of certain people groups based on race, gender, socio-economic status, nationality, or other traits, and it can perpetuate systemic inequalities.

While many of us are well-versed on the dangers of bias, it is also worth considering what (if any) benefits bias can add to our lives. For example, have you ever gone with a gut feeling (aka as bias) and it kept you from harm’s way or led to something positive?

If we understand that at its core, bias is simply a cognitive function, which by itself is not good or bad… then it must be something else (like the impact a bias is having in a situation) that determines whether a bias is dangerous or beneficial within a particular circumstance.

That’s a very different outlook on bias then simply assuming that every bias is always bad all the time in every situation without exception.