I found this post at the Entrepreneurial Mind (indirect via Christian Mayaud here), which focuses on the topic of firing employees because of a lack of culture fit. The general tone of the article, in my mind, supports the case for small employers and ventures to let go of employees that do not fit into the culture fostered by the business.
In general, I can support such a notion, but there are some pre-conditions that should be met (some more than others):
- the manager should be very conscious that while discrimination is allowed, it is illegal for some classes/criteria explicitly protected by employment laws (e.g., gender, veterans)
- the manager should work with the subordinate as much as possible to make sure the subordinate is aware of areas where they could improve – can be a delicate subject, but things should be well-intended by the manager in any case
- the manager should clearly understand the terms of the contractual agreement with the employee (e.g., at-will employment, termination clauses)
- the manager should be cognizant of balancing culture fit, diversity, creative tension, and disharmony prior to making a termination decision.
I guess to frame things in a bit of a different light, as compared to larger companies, some ventures will only succeed if the chemistry is right up-front. As opposed to thinking about things as discriminating against those that don’t fit the culture, one can think about things as actively selecting those that fit with and/or complement the vision, culture, and needs of the company and shedding the rest. Shedding people is tough. In some cases, even if the manager doesn’t want to shed people, the whole company may be in a bind (or dead) if it doesn’t.
As a sanity check, I think that a manager also needs to reflect on when people are fired and feel at least a little bad. That sort of sensitivity keeps an organization in check and helps to ensure that firing someone for a lack of culture fit (for lack of better words) is not just rationalization for unjustified discrimination.