The Culture Kit with Jenny & Sameer

When ‘Culture Fit’ Becomes a Recipe for Bias

Episode Summary

It’s essentially a law of human behavior: We feel most comfortable with people who are similar to us. But that similarity can lead to all kinds of dilemmas in the workplace, especially when it comes to hiring.  Award-winning sociologist Lauren Rivera is the Peter G. Peterson Chair in Corporate Ethics and a professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Her research explores how people define and evaluate status and merit, and how those definitions shape social inequalities. Her best-selling book Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs investigates on-campus recruitment and hiring for elite professional service firms.  On the season 6 premiere, organizational culture experts Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srivastava sit down with Lauren to discuss how the paths to elite opportunities start at an early age and can be heavily dependent on one’s socioeconomic status. They also unpack why the term “culture fit” can actually mean social similarity in a way that often advantages white, high-class men and can reinforce gender, race, class, and disability inequalities.  *The Culture Kit with Jenny & Sameer is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*

Episode Notes

It’s essentially a law of human behavior: We feel most comfortable with people who are similar to us. But that similarity can lead to all kinds of dilemmas in the workplace, especially when it comes to hiring. 

Award-winning sociologist Lauren Rivera is the Peter G. Peterson Chair in Corporate Ethics and a professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Her research explores how people define and evaluate status and merit, and how those definitions shape social inequalities. Her best-selling book Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs investigates on-campus recruitment and hiring for elite professional service firms. 

On the season 6 premiere, organizational culture experts Jenny Chatman and Sameer Srivastava sit down with Lauren to discuss how the paths to elite opportunities start at an early age and can be heavily dependent on one’s socioeconomic status. They also unpack why the term “culture fit” can actually mean social similarity in a way that often advantages white, high-class men and can reinforce gender, race, class, and disability inequalities. 

*The Culture Kit with Jenny & Sameer is a production of Haas School of Business and is produced by University FM.*

3 Main Takeaways:

  1. Don’t confuse chemistry for qualifications.  Just because you feel good talking to someone does not mean they're actually going to perform well on the job.
  2. Expand what you consider to be meaningful signs of ambition or drive.  Just because someone isn't running a marathon does not necessarily mean that they're not a motivated potential employee. 
  3.  Structure your interviews. Ensure that  interviews are not open-ended and filled with questions like, what do you like to do in your spare time? But instead, the questions tie directly to the qualities you’re seeking for that role.

Full transcript available at: https://haas.berkeley.edu/culture/culture-kit-podcast/posts/when-culture-fit-becomes-a-recipe-for-bias/

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