Cultural Fit

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cultural Fit (German: cultural agreement) is a term from personal psychology . It describes the correspondence between applicants and employers (companies) in terms of behavior and values.

Status

In addition to curriculum vitae and professional qualifications, companies are increasingly making sure that future employees also fit into the corporate culture in terms of their values ​​and working methods . This attention does not originally come from the company, but from the applicant side.

An ever-increasing proportion of applicants, above all the “young professionals” of generations Y and Z , want the potential employer to match their own values ​​and wishes. The term New Work, coined by the social philosopher Frithjof Bergmann , should be mentioned here.

In the competition for the best talent, companies react to the new self-image of the younger generations and adapt to it. Many employers therefore present their corporate culture more aggressively in the so-called "War for Talents" and search specifically for employees who match their values. You know that a good cultural fit also has a positive effect on sick leave, productivity and fluctuation.

In summary, it can be stated that Cultural Fit deals with the question of the company: Does the candidate fit our corporate culture? Conversely, the applicant's question on Cultural Fit is: Does the company fit my personal values?

effect

Edgar H. Schein , co-founder of organizational psychology, defines corporate culture as “a pattern of common basic premises that the group has learned in dealing with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration [...] and that [...] for new members as a rational and emotionally correct approach for dealing with problems is passed on. "(Schein 1985, p. 25)

However, every person has a different value system , which can mean that the common basic premises of a company do not meet with everyone's approval. This often leads to conflicts between new and old employees. If two or more value systems of employees collide that show very little or no congruence, the working atmosphere is disrupted, whereupon productivity decreases. Michael Houseman and Dylan Minor (2015) from Harvard Business School speak of a “toxic worker”.

Various studies show that a harmonious team is more productive and more satisfied than teams with toxic employees - i.e. with employees whose values ​​do not fit into the corporate culture. A study published in 2016 by the BSP Business School Berlin, the German Institute for Supervisory Boards and the HRtech start-up JobUnicorn clearly shows the connections between satisfaction in the company and motivation and productivity of employees. 82% of those surveyed also consider it important to have a corporate culture that matches their own values ​​and attitudes.

Cultural fit with algorithms

There are different approaches to determining the cultural fit of an applicant. Most of them are based on job matching based on personal psychology . While some companies rely on their own personality tests, there are also algorithmic matching tools from HRtech start-ups. On these platforms, applicants can compare their values ​​with potential employers in addition to their hard skills - and vice versa.

literature

  • Edgar H. Schein: The Ed Schein Corporate Culture Survival Guide . EHP, Bergisch Gladbach 2003, ISBN 978-3-89797-014-4 .
  • Edgar H. Schein: Organizational Culture and Leadership . Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco 1985, ISBN 978-0-470-19060-9 (English).
  • Mats Alvesson, Per O. Berg: Corporate culture and organizational symbolism . De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1992, ISBN 978-3-11-087431-0 (English).
  • Edgar H. Schein: Organizational Culture and Leadership . Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco 1985, ISBN 978-0-470-19060-9 (English).
  • Susann Juch, Stefanie Rathje: Cultural fit or fit for culture? - Approaches for an efficient and effective set of instruments for the cultural organization of cooperation in international business cooperation . In: Arbeit - magazine for work research, work design and work policy . No. 2 , 2007, ISSN  0941-5025 .
  • Michael Housman, Dylan Minor: Toxic Workers . Harvard Business School, Boston 2015 ( hbs.edu [PDF; accessed July 18, 2017]).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kerstin Bund: Generation Y. February 27, 2014, accessed on July 17, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Happiness in the workplace. Happify, October 31, 2014, accessed July 17, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Karin Janker: 84 percent work according to regulations at most. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. March 31, 2014, accessed July 17, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Michael Houseman, Dylan Minor: Toxic Workers. In: Working Paper 16-057. Harvard Business School, November 2015, accessed July 17, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Elizabeth Holloway, Mitchell Kusy: Toxicity in the workplace. Retrieved July 17, 2017 (English).
  6. ↑ Marco Nink: Engagement Index. Gallup, April 2014, accessed July 17, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Happy employees - successful companies? (pdf) StepStone study on happiness at work 2012/2013 - results and recommendations. In: www.stepstone.de. StepStone, accessed July 17, 2017 (undated).
  8. ↑ Berlin happiness survey. In: jobunicorn.com. JobUnicorn, 2016, accessed July 17, 2017 .
  9. ^ Matthias Oberstebrink: The Cultural Fit Principle. Springer Fachmedien, March 20, 2017, accessed on July 17, 2017 .