Unconscious biases are a fact of life. Research has shown that human judgment
and decision-making are distorted by biases inherent to cognitive,
motivational, and perceptual processes. This, in all likelihood, has some
impact on the management of safety, and more broadly, it affects the resulting
outcomes of construction companies. Biases can be both positive or negative,
and everyone has them to some extent.
Biases fall into two general categories: our biases and the biases of
others. Biases in our actions or perception tend to occur unconsciously. It is
interesting to note that people tend to believe that their own perceptions
reflect reality, and if others tend to see things differently (disagree with
our position or thinking), then they must be biased. This results in the
tendency of people to deny their own biases while recognizing biases in others,
which leads to a serious deficiency in self-awareness and, to some degree,
impacts our interaction with others.
Conscious versus Automatic Mental Processes
We have one brain but two minds. One mind makes conscious choices based on
careful consideration, self-reflection, insight, and observation—the mind of
self-control. The other mind makes automatic choices based on past experience,
habit, and/or instinct—the mind of impulse and habit. Neuroscientists propose
that these two "minds" are supported by different neural circuits
that activate thoughts, behaviors, and emotions. Stress or pressure plays a
role in activating the automatic neural circuitry while suppressing the
conscious circuitry, thus making biases unconscious.
Every time a decision is made, the situations, circumstances, choices, and
results are filed away for future reference. This information becomes
voluminous. To expedite recovery of the information, it is stored in various
"bins," and these bins are "labeled." The number of bins
becomes large, and to improve efficiency, similar bins are put into one common
bin. When a worker is faced with a decision (choice) and must do it quickly,
the automatic system looks for information in these common bins. Over time, the
content of these bins will have some information that is somewhat different
from each other.
More times than not, exact information is not available, so similar
information is considered, and if the one close to the situation worked before
with no adverse effect, the action is initiated based on what is available.
More times than not, there is no resulting adverse effect. That is why, when an
accident does occur, the worker's natural reaction is, "I have done it
100 times before and did not have an accident," or "I don't
understand, this should not have happened." This generally leads to
statements such as, "That was a freak accident."
The Utility of Bias
In their daily lives, humans venture into the world and have to make choices
or decisions about what is safe and what is not, what is desirable and what is
not, what is appropriate and what is not, what is prudent and what is not, etc.
This process can become overwhelming if everything is carefully studied and
evaluated before action is taken. We also learn from experience that, in many
cases, we must quickly make decisions or adverse outcome will occur while we
are taking the time for contemplation and evaluation of the situation before
making a decision or taking action.
The mind stores the results of all the past experiences involving situations
or problems encountered and their resulting outcomes. So, when faced with
having to make a choice, the brain first conducts a search of the stored
information looking for one that is similar to the situation or problem at hand
and selects the "best" one and acts or responds accordingly. This
process is virtually automatic and takes almost no time at all. If nothing
similar or even close is found, then the brain engages in the second cognitive
process, which involves thinking about the situation or issue and weighing the
pros and cons of the risk involved and the possible responses before deciding
and taking action. This process takes more time.
The brain may be presented with hundreds or even thousands of bits of
information at any given time. It has to decide what is critical and what is
not. It also must be able to respond quickly, as well as efficiently. The mind
of self-control (conscious choices) takes more time than the one that makes
automatic choices. The automatic process frees up the brain to deal with more
situations or solve more problems. It also takes less mental energy when making
automatic choices. So, to avoid becoming overwhelmed as well as to be as
efficient as possible, the automatic process becomes the method of choice.
Unconscious Bias in Construction
As construction work progresses, the physical environment or conditions
change from day to day, hour by hour, and sometimes even minute by minute. As a
result, the "risk picture" is in continual flux. This creates a
situation where risk assessment must be made quickly to perform the work
efficiently and maintain a reasonable level of production. This creates a level
of pressure that promotes the automatic choosing mind process by necessity. As
a result, this facilitates the utilization of unconscious biases that may lead
to emotional decisions that color our interactions with other people. Some
common workplace biases that may be applicable to construction are as
follows.
- Affinity bias. This is a tendency to feel another person
has attributes like the ones we have, and therefore, we feel a connection
with them. This becomes critical in recruitment and hiring practices. A
foreman or superintendent may be more likely to hire a worker who he or she
finds compatible, such as lives in the same area, went to the same high
school, likes the same sports teams, etc. But none of this makes them the
best fit for the position they are being interviewed for. In relationship to
managing safety, the approach to one worker will, in all likelihood, be
different than to another based on the affinity bias. Other workers may
notice this and think the safety practitioner is playing favorites, which
will decrease his or her overall effectiveness.
- Perception bias. This is a tendency to harbor
predetermined assumptions about certain types or groups of people. To some
extent, this may hamper the ability to make impartial or objective
assessments of the capability or competence of a worker. In the case of the
safety practitioner, it may possibly hamper getting the safety message
effectively across to everyone in the crew.
-
Confirmation bias. This is a tendency to seek information
that confirms one's beliefs or expectations. In hiring, the person
conducting the interview may ask leading questions to elicit responses that
confirm their belief about the person being interviewed. This could also
affect the results of an accident investigation. It may also hamper proper
communication in conveying the appropriate safety message. For greater
detail, see my article titled "Safety
Myths and Wrongheaded Beliefs Prevalent in the Construction
Industry," published in May 2013.
- Halo effect. This involves the tendency to consider one
mistake a person makes as rendering them totally incompetent or that some
risk-taking improves efficiency. A foreman under pressure to get the work
completed by a certain time may observe workers performing the work unsafely
but may say nothing if they perceive that the task will be completed on time
with possibly no adverse outcome. The halo effect may color the foreman's
perception of the worker as inventive or an "outside-the-box
thinker" rather than a risk-taker. In the case of the safety
practitioner, it may interfere with the assessment of the seriousness of an
observed safety infraction.
- Groupthink. This is a situation where people wanting to
be accepted by a group mimic the beliefs and positions taken by that group as
a whole. In safety, if the crew performs its work in an unsafe manner, a
person wanting to be accepted by that group may perform the work in the
"unsafe" manner even if that person knows it is not the way the
organization expects them to perform. For the safety practitioner to be able
to deal with this situation effectively, they must be able to determine that
this phenomenon is the driver of the behavior in order to be able to
effectively deal with the problem rather than assuming the worker is not
paying attention, needs safety training, etc.
- Framing effect. This is the tendency to draw a different
conclusion from the same information depending on how it is presented. The
boss may believe one person over another just because they tell the
"story" in a way that the boss expects to hear it. In the case of
the safety practitioner, it may color their approach to interacting with the
different members of a crew given similar situations or actions.
-
Bystander effect. This is a condition where individuals
are less likely to aid someone when there are others present. In safety,
the organization expects workers to intervene when they see another worker
doing something that may get them injured by offering advice or input. The
bystander effect may keep them from doing so because they may assume that
one of the others in the area has probably already done so. Or they may
think that since all the others did not intervene that maybe the observer
is wrong in assuming that the act is unsafe and so he or she says or does
nothing. For greater detail, see my article titled "Stop
Work Authority and the Bystander Effect," published in July 2015.
Conclusion
Understanding and managing unconscious bias requires understanding,
persistence, and practicing mindful thinking. Treating each individual with
consideration and respect, one can evolve beyond their biases and engage with
all people in a positive manner in any environment or situation. Knowledge of
cognitive bias can enable leaders and managers to question their own reasoning
so as to identify biases that increase risk or impact safety outcomes. They can
improve their decision-making by putting this knowledge to use when planning,
organizing, staffing, or directing, as well as controlling operations. Also,
any employee may utilize this process or thinking when dealing with people
mindfully or working more safely.
Leaders who are aware of their own biases and encourage others to do the
same stand a good chance of improving the quality of safety outcomes on the
job. While understanding that this may not revolutionize project processes,
practices, or procedures, it will greatly improve outcomes. Cognitive bias
won't change every decision a leader makes, but knowledge of its effects
can inform, and more importantly, this effort will set the stage for a
fundamental change in identifying, evaluating, and modifying risks in the
project operational systems, resulting in improved safety outcomes.
Unconscious biases can have minimal or profound impacts on any organization
and/or its people. The occurrence of unconscious biases can be an issue in any
organization immaterial of its size or the industry it is in. Managers and
leaders can make a positive contribution to their workplaces by rooting out
and/or minimizing the unconscious biases that can undermine the outcomes of the
day-to-day activities of the organization. By providing proper training and
putting processes and structures in place that identify unconscious biases,
organizations take positive steps to minimize harmful biases that can possibly
impact every aspect of an organization.