When assessing individuals, much of the data derived from application forms, interviews, psychometrics, and assessment centre exercises addresses two key questions – what the candidate can do, and what he/she will do. But they offer little direct evidence of whether the candidate will fit with the culture of the organisation.

Our experience with clients has taught us that although a candidate can be technically gifted, with a well-adapted personality and an exceptional track record, they can still fail in the role. The cause of this is often lack of fit – they fundamentally do not get the culture of the business, and therefore do not thrive in the organisation. Establishing cultural fit, however, is not easy.

Professor Fincham and I have argued elsewhere* that: “Organisations are seen not as ‘like’ cultures or as ‘having’ a culture, but as being cultures. Culture is not an attribute; culture is what an organisation is”.

Organisational culture exists in a number of layers, from the most outward manifestations – the signs and symbols the organisation is recognised by (for example, its documentation, buildings, codes of dress) through to the deepest layer of its culture – the basic assumptions which may even operate at a subconscious level. For example, a culture might be about being looked after as an employee, which has its roots in childlike dependency upon a father or mother figure early in the organisation’s evolution.

When determining how we measure culture, it helps to think of culture as being defined by its values, the system of shared beliefs which drive behaviour and create the organisational way of life. Interestingly, the large scale studies of organisational culture we reviewed indicate that organisations tend to import values more than they create them. This finding is particularly important for businesses who do not want to dilute a culture which currently underpins high performance. In developing a productive workforce, identifying individuals who have values which fit the organisation’s culture is easier managerially than trying to change an individual’s values in order to fit the culture, once in post. (Values can be highly resistant to change).

The largest study of organisational culture, a global project (known as Globe) statistically identified nine dimensions, including for example the extent to which the culture legitimises status differentials and avoids uncertainty through reliance on policy and process. Another very large- scale study across many European businesses (Echelles de Culture Organizationalle), using powerful data reduction techniques to identify commonalities, identified five very broad underlying values which can be used to describe and meaningfully differentiate organisational cultures. These are support, commitment, productivity, rule orientation and the extent to which continuous learning is emphasised.

Whilst these models provide useful broad brush descriptions of the way culture varies at an aggregate level, we have found in practice that they fail to capture the key factors and granularity of particular organisational cultures. A better solution is to undertake a study to identify the specific characteristics of your organisational culture.

In a recent project we worked with a high performing business. The organisation was proud of its heritage of success, and this was clearly underpinned by a very particular organisational culture. This meant that gifted individuals who applied to work there could pass the can do/will do elements of the assessment process but still not thrive after joining.

Working closely with the business we constructed an on-line culture inventory which when completed, assesses a candidate against several statistically identified factors capturing the key elements of this organisation’s culture. This now provides the basis for the initial discussion of the ‘fit’ element of the assessment and helps identify those who, despite positive evidence on the can do/will do elements, may not actually work out well in practice.

This kind of cultural understanding and re-enforcement has helped preserve the core element of this business’s corporate DNA, even during the rapid growth that has followed its global success.

For more information on cultural fit please call Peter Rhodes on +44 (0)1903 214455

*Principles of Organizational Behaviour, Oxford University Press

Following the Baby Peter scandal the government issued three improvement notices. A government improvement team was assembled. Occupational Testing provided the only psychologist for the team. His role was to lead the review of the competence of staff. So a development centre was designed to assist the Council to identify the strengths and weaknesses of staff and highlight development needs. A separate assessment centre was also required to assess potential senior managers. Two years on from the inspection and following a great deal of hard work and staff commitment, the Council was rewarded by having the improvement notice lifted as “significant improvements” had been made.

The Development Centre included a technical interview which was conducted by technical experts, an in-depth psychologist interview using data from the 16PF personality test, high level numerical/ critical reasoning tests, case studies and role play exercises.

Participants received a detailed written report, which included development points. These reports provided vital information on development aspects for individuals and the Directorate’s managers as a cohort. 

The assessment of Team Managers followed. The feedback helped the Council focus on managers who had future potential and those who required some further training or development activities, particularly on performance management. The results were visible from the quality of service delivery and improved performance management culture within the Directorate. Furthermore, the assessment process gave a clear message to managers on performance standards and how to achieve them. Consequently some under-performing managers decided to change career, whilst others seized the opportunity to develop themselves.

The success of the programme meant that Occupational Testing psychologists were involved in the design and delivery of assessment centres for the more senior manager posts, which were created as part of the restructure of the Directorate.

Managers responded well to the assessment process and many took the opportunity to learn more about themselves and consequently how they could develop. The Council reported that managers are now better equipped to manage the service and Ofsted were content to lift the improvement notice from the department. Indeed Ofsted commented that whatever happened in the Authority ‘should be bottled’.

Specific elements of project:

• Discussions with key managers

• Development Centre design

• Assessment Centre design (for senior manager appointments)

• Design of assessment materials for development and assessment centres

• Preparation of marking rubrics and assessor packs

• Preparation of candidate and assessor timetables

• Assessor briefing

• Management and delivery of centres

• Management of organisational and participant feedback

The Local Authority had in place a very costly development centre to identify leadership potential across the Council. However, there were concerns about the number of activities, its duration and cost. Feedback from a number of participants was negative. Indeed in an independently conducted review, the development report produced by Occupational Testing based on a personality test was rated as the most useful part of the process. This accounted for less than ten per cent of the overall cost per delegate.

Occupational Testing psychologists were asked to review the materials and data from previous centres to establish whether some fine tuning would be possible. On this basis the Centre was redesigned and delivered to managers across the Council by another supplier. Occupational Testing psychologists were used to monitor quality and explore relationships and trends in the data. 

This analysis revealed a considerable amount of duplication – the same competencies being measured again and again by using very similar tests and exercises. Some of the exercises appeared not to measure participants’ competence in some areas and some were not face valid. Occupational Testing psychologists recommended focussing on those elements of the centre which generated the most valuable and reliable information. 

Materials were reworked and where they did not add value, they were discarded. Information packs were prepared for senior managers, as their involvement pre and post centre was crucial. Their “buy in” was critical to the success of the process and to influence this, senior managers needed to have a comprehensive understanding of it and how participants, the Local Authority and the community would benefit from identifying strong future leaders, and what role they would be expected to take in order to support the development programme. Senior managers would be responsible for identifying participants for selection on to the centre (a questionnaire was developed to facilitate a discussion between the participant and his/her line manager, as part of the selection process for the centre), encouraging their development and monitoring their progress. Poor feedback from previous centres suggested lack of support from line managers had been an issue. It was thus essential that this was addressed and participants were persuaded that this would be a very different experience.

Information packs were prepared and briefing sessions were organised where potential participants had the opportunity to ask questions and be reassured that their personal development plans would be integrated into the appraisal process in order to monitor progress and make any necessary adjustments.

Throughout the process the Council was provided with norm referencing, which enabled participants and their line managers to compare individual performance on the centre with that of other managers within the Council. It is reported that this has helped the Council to identify the standards it expects its managers to reach and to have a valid and reliable assessment of manager performance. The Council report an overall improvement in managers’ leadership competence as well as individual performance in the workplace.

Specific elements of project:

• Detailed discussions with the Learning and Development team

• Review of materials

• Centre redesign 

• Preparation of information pack and questionnaire for line managers

• Re-working of assessment materials, marking rubrics for assessors 

• Preparing individual participant timetables and information packs

• Preparation of assessor timetables 

• Pre centre briefing of assessors and role players

• Manage development centres

• Manage organisational and participant feedback

Occupational Testing had supplied assessment for key appointments from Board Members through to graduates and team engineers to a rapidly expanding Formula One Racing company.

We had come to understand the culture and what it takes to survive and flourish in a demanding business which was immensely proud of its heritage of success. It was also clear that some very able people who also had excellent engineering skills and a resilient and hard- working nature did not thrive in the business. The ‘Will Fit’ element was missing. Some very able candidates simply did not identify with the culture.

Occupational Testing was commissioned to develop a tool to identify cultural fit. This meant identifying what captured the culture and identifying ways that fit was and was not manifested. These insights led to the creation of a psychometric tool with good technical qualities enabling an accurate assessment of what had been the ‘missing piece of the jigsaw’.

This was put on-line and has gained considerable traction in the business, deepening the conversation with candidates and identifying their likely identification with the unique culture of the business.

Having decided to close its foundry and concentrate on its assembly line operation, the organisation needed to redeploy as many of its foundry workers as possible. This involved a thorough assessment process where skills, abilities and attributes were assessed. Those with the requisite skills were offered jobs on the assembly line. Redundancies were kept to a minimum through natural wastage and by increasing the assembly line headcount.

A heavily unionized workforce meant that before embarking on any assessment shop stewards had to be reassured that the process would be robust and relevant and not disadvantage any individual. A number of meetings were held with union representatives and HR to discuss and agree the design of the assessment process and the benefits to the organisation and workforce. It was also agreed that the same assessment process would be used in any future recruitment for assembly line workers.

Job analysis was used to ensure the process was legally defensible, reflecting the job demands as closely as possible. To give the union representatives more reassurance they were invited to participate in the first assessment centre. Their feedback was very positive and they were satisfied that the assessment would introduce some objectivity into the selection process.

We assessed approximately 200 men (there was no females in the pool) over a period of weeks. The data from the assessments was combined with information from interview performance, attendance, sickness record, job performance, work history etc, and those most suited to the role were appointed.

Assessment data also beyond the immediate remit of the project revealed skills that had previously not be identified and the company’s objective was met – a skilled and expanded assembly line, redeployment of staff and a relatively low level of compulsory redundancy.

For future recruitment the company wanted a process that could be used in house. Valerie trained HR staff to administer the same tests and an automated scoring and interpreting system was created for them. This meant that the process was standardized and significantly reduced the potential for human error.

Specific elements of project:

• Present proposed assessment plan to a team of shop stewards, staff and managers

• Job Analysis exercise to determine the most appropriate assessment methods

• Agree assessment design with HR Director and shop stewards

• Design and validate assessment process

• Deliver assessments to shop stewards

• Deliver assessment centres over a period of weeks to correspond with shift patterns (including night shift) to all those individuals being considered for new roles on the assembly line

•Preparing feedback to the organisation and individuals

•Training HR staff to administer tests for future recruitment

•Designing scoring and interpreting system for HR team

In fifteen years this organisation developed its business, increased its headcount and became one of the fastest growing food companies in the UK. The vision was to create an organizationorganisation that would become a market leader and this has been realized. Almost fifteen years later its continued growth has won it prestigious awards, including being named as one of Britain’s Top Employers for its excellence in HR management.

In considering whether the organisation would benefit from assessment, the Managing Director decided to have all Board Members assessed, (including himself) to highlight their strengths and weaknesses. He used the results to reconfigure the Board and decided to integrate assessment into future recruitment to ensure that he had a very strong senior management team in place to manage a fast expanding workforce.

Acknowledging that strong leadership, effective management and a competent workforce was key to growing the business; the Managing Director embarked on a recruitment campaign and introduced psychometric assessment into the process.

Over a ten year period we were involved in the assessment of technical, supervisory and managerial staff as well as the appointment of Directors, using a range of paper based and online tests.

Grenfell Tower caught fire in June 2017 with a loss of 72 lives. A terrible tragedy, and one which in the aftermath has led to a profound analysis of the circumstances leading up to the tragedy and the nature and effectiveness of the relationship between a Borough and its stakeholders. This has gone from technical scrutiny of the cladding and its legality, through to an examination of the effectiveness of the management of the building.  

As a result, the management organization was closed and control of the Lancaster West estate was bought back ‘in-house’, under the control of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The new Chief Executive contacted OTL and we began a collaboration with the Borough which has lasted ever since. This has involved hundreds of appointments. 

What was clearly required to improve the way the Borough engaged with residents was a change of culture, not just within Housing management and delivery but more generally across the broader organization.  

OTL assisted by helping to ensure appointments were made in line with the goals of the new culture, the vision of the new Chief Executive, i.e. exploring the way candidates would engage with residents and more generally relate to the diverse stakeholder environment, one which had been traumatized. OTL also examined how candidates would cope with the other demands of the role.  

We achieved this through practical simulations, as well as more standard psychometric tools. We were conscious throughout that what was happening at RBKC, post Grenfell was under intense political and public scrutiny. This meant ensuring that whatever assessments we delivered had to be legally defensible and reflect the complex stakeholder environment in the Borough. tem description