The case ‘Personality Based Hiring - Bridgewater’s Success Mantra’ focuses on the unique personality based hiring process followed at the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates (Bridgewater). The case describes the rationale given by Ray Dalio (Ray), the founder of Bridgewater for adopting such a rigorous hiring process that lays emphasis on the values of an aspiring candidate and his/her abilities over traditional finance background. He sought brilliant people who graduated from world-class universities, had outstanding track records and shared Bridgewater’s values of excelling through thoughtful disagreements. The case also gives readers a glimpse of the extraordinary work culture at Bridgewater that is based on a set of principles propounded by Ray facing near bankruptcy in 1982 due to a wrong prediction of the debt crisis. These principles, which were diligently followed by Ray, became the foundation for the company’s work culture, especially its decision making that was based on the principle of ‘believability weighing’ decision making. The case describes few critical instances when the hedge fund successfully navigated tricky economic and financial situations by the virtue of its prevailing culture. Ray was well aware that not everyone could adjust and work in an environment driven by his principles such as radical truth and transparency that expected all employees to speak frankly and where everyone knows the strengths and weaknesses of each other at the workplace. So he devised a distinct hiring process that that largely focused on a series of personality tests. A life/culture interview and a group discussion followed the personality surveys. The aim of this arduous process was to hire people with a fine balance of high intelligence quotient, sharp common sense, ability to synthesize large amounts of data and open-mindedness. Since founding the hedge fund in 1975 in New York City, the company registered phenomenal success to become the world’s largest hedge fund, managing around US$160 billion in assets for nearly 350 institutional investors around the world including central banks, sovereign wealth funds and university endowments amongst others.

Human Resource and Organization Behavior Case Studies | Case Study in Management, Operations, Strategies, Business Environment, Case Studies

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Issues

The case is structured to achieve the following teaching objectives:

	Learn the importance of personality tests in the hiring process.
	Understand the significance of the theories “person-organization fit” and “person-job fit”.
	Know the benefits of having an open-minded culture at workplaces.
	Gain awareness of the benefits of validating ideas and opinions for healthy decision-making.
	The significance of decision making through believability weighted idea meritocracy rather than emotions or gut feeling.

Contents

INTRODUCTION

THE GENESIS OF RAY'S PRINCIPLES

PERSONALITY CENTRIC HIRING PROCESS

WORK CULTURE AT BRIDGEWATER

BENEFITS ACCRUED

ROAD AHEAD

EXHIBITS

Keywords

Recruitment & Selection; Person-job fit; Person-organization fit; Personality tests; Bridgewater; Ray Dalio; Myers-Briggs Type Indicator; Idea meritocracy; Decision making; Organizational values; Organizational learning; Company culture; Personality Assessments; Hiring"

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