Learn more about Cultural fit
WHAT IS THE CULTURAL FIT INDEX?
The Cultural Fit Index is a way of comparing business schools by organizational culture. It provides a scientific insight into the character of each school’s community and what it is like to study there.
The Cultural Fit Index compares schools along six cultural dimensions. Culture is not better or worse, only different. The value of this comparison is finding the school culture that best fits you. Use the MBA Cultural Fit tool to find out.
How did we compare schools by culture?
Unimy started researching culture at 130 top-ranking business schools in 2019. The research has so far included in-depth survey responses from 5,100+ alumni, students, and faculty from within accredited schools and universities across the world.
Four of the Cultural Fit Index’s six dimensions derive from the leading social science GLOBE Project (House et al 1996, 2004), and are used with permission from the GLOBE Foundation. The other two dimensions were developed with expert researchers specifically for Unimy and have been tested with a robust sample of nearly 700 respondents.
How can I use the Cultural Fit Index?
You can find which three schools best fit your personal orientation using the MBA Cultural Fit. It will find your ideal school community using information about your preferred ways of learning, communicating, and organising your time, as well as your values and beliefs.
You can use the Cultural Fit Index to explore how all the schools and universities in our study compare by culture within different regions and globally. Read below to explore the six dimensions and discover the full index for each dimension for top business schools worldwide.
Structured vs. Flexible Organisation
This dimension measures to what extent students, staff, and faculty feel it is appropriate to establish and follow rules and procedures.
Establishing rules and procedures is one way to deal with potentially unknown situations. How comfortable is the community with the unknown or unpredictable? In organizational theory, this concept is referred to as Uncertainty Avoidance.
Structured Organisation
A structured environment emphasizes order. Do you like things to be predictable? For example, a structured environment might require all professors to summarise key information for all students in the same way.
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Flexible Organisation
A flexible environment encourages adaptability and individuality. People have fewer generalized guidelines and embrace spontaneity. For example, a flexible organisation might leave it up to professors to decide how and when to provide summaries to students.
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Explicit vs. Intuitive Communication
This dimension measures the extent to which communication is precise and detailed vs. open to interpretation and conveyed through means other than words.
It reveals some characteristics of the communication style in a particular business school community. In organizational theory terms, this scale evaluates Low vs. High Context.
Explicit Communication
Do you prefer it when class assignments are explained in detail? Environments that adopt explicit communication prefer to pin things down and make sure of understanding.
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Intuitive Communication
Do you tend to focus on the bigger picture and like room to make your own interpretation? Environments that adopt intuitive communication convey meanings more broadly, allowing ambiguity and subtlety.
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Long term vs. Ad-hoc Orientation
This dimension measures to what extent the business school community values long-term planning.
This might be reflected in the skills students are taught within the program and therefore how they go on to lead businesses in the future. This concept in organizational theory is referred to as Future Orientation. It offers insight into the extent to which individuals are encouraged to engage in future-oriented behaviors such as planning and investing in the future. How does the business school community expect its members to relate to the future in order to achieve the desired results?
Long term Orientation
In a long-term-oriented organization, it would be normal to think that one plans ahead to succeed. One might expect to plan projects in detail and seek sustainable results.
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Ad-hoc Orientation
In an ad-hoc-oriented organization, more value is placed on quick results, quick feedback, and responding to the immediate situation. One might expect a focus on pitching, on-the-spot problem-solving, and responsiveness.
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Personal Contribution vs. Collective Accomplishment
This dimension measures how collectivist or how individualist a business school community is.
It characterizes the extent to which the business school enables members of its community to position themselves and achieve success, and it reveals how much the organization encourages individual achievements vs. collaboration. Are students more often rewarded for their individual work or as part of a team?
Personal Contribution
Do you prefer to work independently or perhaps want to develop your independent skills? These organizations have an emphasis on recognising individuals.
Collective Accomplishment
Do you thrive in a team dynamic or perhaps believe that team skills are the key to delivering the best results? Collectivist organizations tend to foster team ethos.
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Liberal vs. Classical style
This dimension measures the extent to which the business school is open to variety as an organization.
It unveils the degree to which members of the business school community follow role-defined etiquette, established traditions on behavior and conduct, and a common style.
Liberal Style
Liberal-style schools are more comfortable with a variety of conduct and behavior and tend to allow for more change. They are less conventional.
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Classical Style
Classical-style schools follow role-defined etiquette, established traditions, and value sharing a common style. They preserve their heritage.
Formal vs. Informal Relationship
This dimension measures the way power works in an organization.
Is there a stronger sense of hierarchy and authority or are students and professors closer to being peers? What is the acceptable degree of formality between roles? How does the community expect relationships between members to be initiated and conducted? In organizational theory, this dimension measures the Power Distance in a culture.
Formal Relationship
In formal environments, relationships are based on respect. There may be more distance between students and faculty; and clearer guidelines as to how they should interact with one another (for example, a system for booking an hour in order to talk to a professor).
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Informal Relationship
In informal environments, students may view professors more like "peers". This may mean they normally communicate with them in a more relaxed manner and expect to be able to question their authority to a greater degree.
