Biases in Organizational Change and Board Room Dynamics

Human thinking is not purely rational: it is characterized by numerous mental shortcuts and irrational thinking patterns. The systematic, non-random and predictable deviations from economic reality are called biases. Organizations are governed by humans that are all embodied with biased thinking. This makes organizations eminently prone to biased behavior - organizations, board room dynamics and change processes are therefore all impacted by biases. Contrary to the popular belief, we argue that biases do not necessarily have to be negative. It is useful to understand what types of biases appear in organizations and board rooms, and what these mean for organizational change and board room dynamics. To enrich and structure the existing knowledge concerning biases we analyzed and assessed thousands of peer reviewed journal articles and subsequently structured the most prominent biases using a practical and comprehensible framework1. To further expand our knowledge with practical insights from the perspective of board rooms, we interviewed 15 board members of varying Dutch Companies. This article comprises an overview of the pragmatic conclusions – from the assessment of scientific evidence, as well as, the interviews with board members – relevant to organizations, their board room dynamics and change.