Cultural Bias on Organizations
CULTURAL BIAS ON ORGANIZATIONS 2
Identify different types of cultural bias when collecting risk data
Compare and contrast representative, adjustment, and anchoring estimating bias
Understand the importance of the Trigen Function
Purpose: As a project manager, you have been tasked with developing a risk analysis of the cultural
impacts of your organization.
Cultural Bias on Organizations
Cultural bias is the tendency for individual judging others through narrow views
which are based on their own culture. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate all risks associated
with cultural differences when collecting data. This is because cultural bias can lead to
misleading data that can cost an organization significantly. Besides, cultural bias should be
minimized at all costs in order to ensure that respondents provide accurate responses that will
provide accurate findings. The world has millions of people with diverse cultural backgrounds,
art forms, values, and food habits. Organizations carrying out data collection procedures should
factor in all cultural differences in order to minimize cultural bias by adopting various strategies.
Cultural bias is a significant hindrance in performing cross-cultural studies or research because it
can stereotype a culture. Respondents under cultural bias will provide socially acceptable
answers which may be false. This may twist the truth as well as provide half-truth answers
(Kalev & Roscigno, 2016).
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Cultural bias is a sensitive consideration that organizations must evaluate when
collecting data. Cultural bias increases data collection risks that may lead to false findings. This
is because most people will want to conform to their cultural groups. Cultural bias increases the
risks of insecurity, false representation, wrong responses or data, poor business strategies due to
wrong findings and recommendation as well as twisted truths. This is because respondents will
answer questions tactfully (Kalev & Roscigno, 2016). Organizations should design questions or
questionnaires that will use projective techniques or indirect questions that will tackle cultural or
socially sensitive subjects.
Representative, Adjustment, and Anchoring
Representative, adjustment, and anchoring in estimating bias are phenomena
whereby a respondent basis his or her initial responses and ideas on one information point and
makes critical changes driven by his or her commencing point (Batista & Umblijs, 2014).
Anchoring is a cognitive error where people fixate on a target value or number such as economic
forecast or a reasonable price. Anchoring happens when respondents make new opinions or
decisions basing on the old one. An organization searching for new information or data should
give thorough consideration in order to determine its impact on the initial opinion or forecast for
mitigating the impacts of adjustment and anchoring (Kalev & Roscigno, 2016). The adjustment
and anchoring in estimating bias describe the situation when a respondent uses a particular target
value or number as an initial point, usually known as an anchor, and makes subsequent
adjustments to that information until acceptable values are arrived at over time. Thus, these
changes are insufficient and stay too close to the initial anchor.
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One issue with the adjustment is that it may be influenced by inappropriate data
that respondent may be referring and deriving unsupported connections to the actual target
values. Besides, anchor values may be self-generated and be proposed by outside individuals.
Adjustment and anchoring is a psychological heuristic that determines and influences the manner
in which individuals assess probabilities (Batista & Umblijs, 2014). A representative is used to
showing the process of decision making and problem-solving. Representative refers to the group
or set of circumstances that exist in respondents’ minds as most similar to the decision or
problem at hand. This allows for the mental shorthand making of decisions that are typical of the
representativeness heuristics. Therefore, the representative is the process of making a decision
using a rule of thumb strategy. This strategy seeks to categorize familiar objects or events that
are same as the present situations and apply similar methods the current issue satisfaction
(Batista & Umblijs, 2014).
Organizations and Culture
Organizations should strategically align their policies, vision, and objectives with
the people’s culture. This ensures that employees are motivated and enhance loyalty. Therefore,
organizations which effectively align their objectives with culture to improve their performance
and create competitive advantages (Batista & Umblijs, 2014). An organizational strategy should
align its strategy for business with its culture. This design is a strategy that allows managers to
adjust and align its objectives with culture. Thus, organizational strategic alignment ensures that
there is consistency between the activities that must be completed. Alignment develops a
supportive culture that clearly defines the competence of its resources. Employees must commit
to supporting an organization’s strategic alignment as well as management must ensure sufficient
support by the precise definition of objectives and providing incentives to assist the employees to
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accept new cultural strategies. Organizations should promote employee and team efforts as well
as align culture with management in order to modify the factors impacting strategic alignment
(Batista & Umblijs, 2014).
Trigen Function
Trigen Function provides essential analysis and procedure on how to effectively
use to in the process of project management and risk analysis. The trigen function is a
distribution like triangular, but with the corners cut off. The pessimistic and optimistic limits are
set at boundaries with specified probability rather than zero probability. Therefore, the trigen
limit is set in such a way that X% chance that the distribution limit can be exceeded. Thus, the
use of the trigen function is essential because the PRA automatically calculates the absolute
boundaries (zero probability) for the distribution. The trigen function is crucial because it
represents all known scope that influences critical information, the function represents the
current execution plan, and it is appropriately structured to meet the reporting requirement of the
client in both risk and cost analysis. Besides, it has identified milestones for reporting targets and
enhances validity (Jones, Lookatch & Moore, 2015).
The risks associated with bias affect the level of accuracy of data collected. The
risks include acquiescence risk, social desirability risk, sponsor risk, and habituation risk.
Acquiescence risk occurs when respondents demonstrate a tendency to agree with and be
positive in all responses. Social desirability risk involves respondents answering queries in a
manner that they think will lead to being liked and accepted. Habituation risk provides the same
answers to questions that are worded in the same way.
Minimizing Risks and Maximizing Performance
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There are different ways to minimize risks and maximize performance. Risk bias
is associated with selection, performance, attrition, and reporting and detection bias.
Organizations should develop strategies to reduce risk bias in order to maximize their
performance. Organizations should minimize risk bias by using processes, starting with clean
slates, challenging the status quo, seeking multiple perspectives, searching for more data and
information, advocating and reflecting their views and values (Lo, 2015). Organizations should
manage bias by uncloaking bias and having open conservation. Also, companies should reduce
the subjectivity by using qualitative methods to determine risks quickly. Therefore, organizations
should maximize performance by using ante on risky projects as well as exploring innovative
ideas to increase potential returns. It is also important to consider both downside and upside to
understand potential value and their sources of risks. Besides, it is important to evaluate
performance based on portfolios of outcomes and not single projects (Lo, 2015).
Conducting Risk Interviews
Organizations should take steps to conduct risk interviews. Organizations should
promote cultural competency in order to minimize risks. Organizations should build awareness
about the attitudes, a belief and thought the pattern of persons of other cultures. Besides, it is
essential to conduct training on cross-cultural communication for the workforce as well as
inviting opinions of cultural experts before taking judicial decisions (Jones, Lookatch & Moore,
2015). Therefore, the following steps should be carried out when conducting risk interview. (1)
gathering all potential issues and system vulnerabilities through brainstorming, (2) identifying
duplicate vulnerabilities, (3) determines sources of risks, (4) prioritizing risk bias based on
organizational goals or concerns, (5) developing a means of solving or addressing risk bias and
(6) monitoring risk bias and making necessary changes.
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References
Batista, C., & Umblijs, J. (2014). Migration, risk attitudes, and entrepreneurship: evidence from
a representative immigrant survey. IZA Journal of Migration, 3(1), 17.
Jones, T., Lookatch, S., & Moore, T. (2015). Validation of a new risk assessment tool: the Brief
Risk Questionnaire. Journal of opioid management, 11(2), 171-183.
Kalev, A., & Roscigno, V. J. (2016). Interview: Bureaucracy, Bias, and Diversity–Structural
Constraints and Opportunities in Organizations. In Re-thinking Diversity (pp. 111-120).
Springer VS, Wiesbaden.
Lo, B. (2015). Sharing clinical trial data: maximizing benefits, minimizing risk. Jama, 313(8),
793-794.
