New Economy Faro- WEBER , l 'nmgg g. . m. (me-nu...\" sen: ms -..... REUTERS/A lamy Bats: Right. Throws: Right. AB: 515. H: 139. HR: 18. RBI: 52. AVG: .269. What is all that? Even if you're not a sports fan, you might guess that it's the contents ofa baseball card. An encapsulation of a given player's characteristics and tendencies a quick look at what they're like if your team winds up trading for them. What's that got to do with organizational behavior? Well, at least one company does a similar thing for its employees. That company is Bridgewater Associates, the Westport. Connecticutbased hedge fund whose clients include pension funds, endowments, and foundations. Founded by Ray Dalio, Bridgewater is the largest hedge fund in the worldand the most profitable. Bridgewater's baseball cards are initially informed by personality assessments that are completed by new hires. Dalio is a big believer in such assessments. He argues, \"lfl had to choose betweenjust the assessments orjust traditional job interviews to get at what people are like, I would choose the assessments. Fortunately, we don't have to make that choice.\" The assessments fOCus on traits like persistence, concern for others, stress tolerance. independence, and assertiveness. Over time, the baseball cards are supplemented and extended by observations of people on the jobthe same way baseball cards change between the draft and subsequent seasons. If someone who seems independent during hiring winds up acting less so on the job, their baseball card begins to reflect that. From an organizational perspective, personality matters for two broad reasons. First, it speaks to a fit with a job. An investment analyst needs to have the attention to detail and the work ethic to really understand the market conditions. But that same analyst needs the creativity and courage to \"zag\" when other investors are \"zigging.\" Second. personality speaks to a fit with an organization's culture. One of Bridgewater's core values is radical transparency. Dalio expects Bridgewater employees to place the ultimate importance on truthand to speak up in a candid way every time they disagree with something that's said or done. Thus, those same analysts need to be outgoing and confident enough to voice disagreement. And the person being debated needs to be patient and evenkeeled enough that they're not bothered when called out. In this way, the optimal personality profile for a Bridgewater employee may differ from the optimal profile at other hedge funds