Warren Harding Error Case Study

Register to read the introduction… Gladwell uses Warren Harding's rise to presidential office to explain what he calls "the Warren Harding error." Gladwell's explanation of "the Warren Harding error" is very similar to the halo effect. The halo effect refers to our need to have consistent impressions of people. In order to do this, sometimes we have to overlook one or two characteristics of a person that are inconsistent with the impression that we have of them. In the case of Warren Harding, he had the look of someone who inspired confidence. Harding had a charm about him that won the adoration of all those with whom he came in contact, and when people looked at him they thought "You know, he would make a great president." They were completely willing to overlook the fact that Harding lacked many of the qualifications necessary to be an effective president, because their impression of him was that he would make a great president. Gladwell makes the claim that thin slicing tends to create biases in our subconscious in favor of and against certain types of people. If true, this is especially disturbing because it means that we may discriminate against people or lump them into a certain stereotype without even realizing it. In one example, Gladwell polled half of the companies on the Fortune 500 list and found that the average height of their CEO was nearly six feet tall, whereas the average height of the American male is 5'9". To put these numbers into perspective, Gladwell goes on to state that only 14.5 percent of American males are six feet or taller. However, 58 percent of the CEO's in his study were six feet or taller. Now, most members of a board of directors would never admit to having a bias toward tall males. However, this research states otherwise. Most rational people would agree that short people and tall people are equally capable of making sound business decisions. However, if this is the …show more content…
Van Riper believed empowered decision making was not only necessary to allow people to act instinctively, but also essential to run an effective platoon. For example, Van Riper ran his men through extensive physical training on the days between missions. However, once fighting started out in the field, Van Riper did not want introspection. He wanted his men to resolve their own problems. As a result, he refused to radio his men when he heard gunfire unless they initiated contact first. He wanted them to think for themselves. In the words of Van Riper "The danger in calling is that they'll tell you anything to get you off their backs, and if you act on it and take it at face value, you could make a mistake. Plus, now they are looking upward instead of downward. You're preventing them from resolving the situation." We saw this type of behavior from the young marketing director when we read "The Micromanager". Her boss disabled her ability to act instinctively by constantly correcting her work. As a result, she lost confidence in her abilities and became more concerned with whether her boss would approve of her work than the quality of the work itself. This case demonstrated that people who are micromanaged lose the ability to think for themselves. This is precisely what Van Riper was trying to