Overview
Secondary Post Length: minimum of 200 words per post Use APA 7th edition format for in-text citations and list of references Must include at minimum 2 scholarly references in addition to the textbook.
Drew
Hi all,
As we begin to talk about hiring for fit it was interesting to hear the different perspectives on how companies can hire employee that build on the culture. Adam Grant talked about understanding your culture and gaps you may have in that culture in order to hire people that will fill those gaps. In other words, knowing what is missing from the culture and hiring employees that will fill that void will create longevity in culture for the benefit of the organization. Scott Erker spoke about hiring employees around the current culture of the organization and finding people that will fit into a certain mold set by the firm. In each it is important to know how your culture works first and foremost. “Researching call this perceptual congruence. This is the degree to which employees and employers are able to accurately perceive an organizations culture and adjust their hiring and behaviors to fit in” (Gilbert, 2023).
There are many pros and cons to each strategy. In terms of Adam Grants perspective, firms can be more flexible in their hiring and allow for continuous development of culture allowing for change as the organization goes public or continues to grow. On the other hand, since the firms will be hiring employees with different attitudes and personality the risk of a bad fit increases and can cause higher turnover rates. When looking at the perspective of Scott Erker positives include ensuring that all employees will most likely get along. As all employees fit a general culture mold the effort of employees will increase as they have a positive image of the organization. In addition, lower turnover rates are expected as employees are less likely to have clashing perspectives and different values. Personally, Adam Grants perspective is most intriguing as it is a unique way to set an organization up for long term success and keep from engaging in group think or becoming stagnant in creativity. In addition, when working with customer groups and other businesses from all over the world requires diversity and different cultural employees that may not be found if a company follows a specific cultural fit for each hire. Louis Montgomery Jr raises this question, “If employees don’t represent the melting-pot aspect of society, how will your organization be able to serve customers of different background and personalities?” (Montgomery Jr, 2024).
As you move within different companies and job types, it is fair to say cultural fit will be different. Certain position and companies require skills that cannot be overlooked for the benefit of the organizational culture. In certain roles that revolve around customer interaction, cultural fit could be important but interpersonal skills may take precedent. Certain roles in finance or analytics, for example, may require skills that are not easily found, and these roles cannot be filled by only certain culture fit as certain skills are not easily learned.
Louis Montgomery Jr. (2024, August 12). Council Post: Culture Fit Versus Culture Add: Hiring For Growth. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbeshumanresourc...
Gilbert, K. (2023, March 27). Culture fit may not be what most hiring managers think it is, study finds. Haas News | Berkeley Haas. https://newsroom.haas.berkeley.edu/research/cultur...
Ben
Each video had different approaches to Cultural fit, when looking for an employee to fit into your culture your looking for them to have the same values and beliefs as the company. On the pro side it can make the employees feel they are valued and respected by the company which will help motivate them with putting forth their best work. "When everyone thinks alike and approaches problems from similar perspectives, creativity suffers. We all know from experience that diverse viewpoints lead to better problem-solving and breakthrough ideas" (Niles, 2025). On the flip side there can be some bias that occur with having to many people with the same thought process and not have enough diveriseid on your team.
Cultural contribution is the other side of this topic where a company focus on adding employees to there team who add unique skills to the company. This is a positive because looking for people who are different than other employees who are already in the company is important to have. "The philosophy of hiring for culture fit doesn’t acknowledge how a different point of view can raise the performance of an entire team. A study from Columbia business School reports that diverse teams make better decisions, deliver greater financial returns and change how individuals think" (Castillo, 2023). Having employees who do not necessarily fit in can help add different perspectives and skills to a company. A con would be that employees who are different than who is already on staff may not have the same core values of the company.
Yes, the requirements do change depending on the type of organizations. Startups would lean towards hiring employees who are a cultural contributions because they would want diverse ideas that can help the company grow. While a company that has direct interactions with clients might lean towards cultural fit to make sure that the company values are always at the forefront and everything stays consistent with the services.
A real world example would be a company from Australia called Atlassian who is a software company. They hire for cultural contribution because they see the limitations hiring for cultural fit has. "Facebook, Pandora, Atlassian et al. found that when interviewers were presented with a candidate who differed enough from themselves to trigger this unconscious bias, labelling the interviewee as a bad culture fit was a simple and effective way to ensure that their resume was placed in the ‘no’ tray" (Martec). This ended up hurting the company because the interviewers ended up looking for a employee who was similar to them. "The removal of unconscious bias from the hiring process resulted in Atlassian becoming a far more diverse organisation. While 26.8% of Atlassian leadership is currently female, the hiring rate for female leaders in the last 12 months has jumped to 36%"(Martec). Have change take place ended up helping lead to a more diverse and innovative work environment.
Castillo, C. D. (2023, September 26). The problem with hiring for “culture fit.” Recruiting Resources: How to Recruit and Hire Better. https://resources.workable.com/stories-and-insights/company-culture-fit?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Niles, F. (2025, February 16). Stop hiring for culture fit and start hiring for culture contribution. Life on the Leading Edge. https://frankniles.com/stop-hiring-for-culture-fit-and-start-hiring-for-culture-contribution-2/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Is this the end of hiring for culture fit?. Is This the End of Hiring for Culture Fit? (n.d.). https://www.themartec.com/insidelook/end-hiring-culture-fit?utm_source=chatgpt.com