{"id":8686,"date":"2026-07-20T11:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T11:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/?p=8686"},"modified":"2026-07-16T20:59:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T20:59:59","slug":"avoiding-the-best-practice-trap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/avoiding-the-best-practice-trap\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoiding the Best Practice Trap"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Paul Friedman<\/a><\/p>\n

Under growing pressure to operate as meritocracies, organizations\u2019 leaders often fall into what Academy of Management Scholar Emilio Castilla<\/a> of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology calls the \u201cbest-practice trap\u201d\u2014the tendency to adopt widely accepted solutions that sound effective but may actually be poorly suited to their own organizational context and challenges. According to Castilla, this is a common mistake executives make when trying to ensure merit-based hiring and promotion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always ask, \u2018best practices for whom?\u2019\u201d Castilla explains. \u201cWhat works for one organization might not necessarily work for another, yet many leaders, looking at what other companies are doing around talent management, equal opportunity, or fairness, simply copy those practices without first studying whether they fit their own specific circumstances.<\/p>\n

\u201cOrganizations differ in fundamental ways\u2014in the kinds of jobs they offer, how performance is evaluated and rewarded, and the outcomes they seek to attain,\u201d he says. \u201cAs a result, practices that appear successful elsewhere may have little impact\u2014or even unintended consequences\u2014when applied without careful adaptation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Castilla argues that many popular initiatives can become little more than window dressing if they are not custom-made to address an organization\u2019s unique challenges. These include mandating broad diversity training programs for managers, offering workshops to raise awareness of implicit bias, using blind screening in recruitment and hiring, removing gendered language from job postings and other recruitment messages, and relying on AI tools for candidate screening and selection. While each of these approaches may be effective in certain organizational settings, none is universally beneficial.<\/p>\n

Instead, Castilla emphasizes the importance of starting with a careful diagnosis so that organizations can identify where and how to intervene most effectively in addressing their specific challenges related to meritocracy and fairness.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s critical to begin by collecting and analyzing data on recruitment, hiring, and promotion decisions,\u201d Castilla says. \u201cWho applies? Who gets hired? Who gets promoted?<\/p>\n

\u201cI also recommend examining the processes behind advancement and rewards,\u201d he says. \u201cThat allows you to identify your talent management blind spots, where problems may actually be occurring, and therefore to design and implement solutions that are better matched to the specific issues your organization faces.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than copying practices, you adopt relevant solutions that fit the specific issue you have.\u201d<\/p>\n

From there, organizations should implement practices that promote fairness and equal opportunity, grounded in criteria clearly linked to job performance\u2014specific, relevant work experience, skills, and capabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we decide how to best intervene, we need to be rigorous in evaluating whether those interventions are actually working,\u201d Castilla adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis requires a much more analytical and data-driven approach, along with transparency and accountability from senior leaders and managers,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not easy work, but it is essential if organizations are serious about building true meritocracies.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Paul Friedman Under growing pressure to operate as meritocracies, organizations\u2019 leaders often fall into what Academy of Management Scholar Emilio Castilla of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology calls the \u201cbest-practice trap\u201d\u2014the tendency to adopt widely accepted solutions that sound effective but may actually be poorly suited to their own organizational context and challenges. According […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":8665,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,19,76,78,342],"tags":[],"sp_smart_badges":[],"ppma_author":[842],"class_list":["post-8686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hr","category-leadership","category-performance","category-policy","category-technology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAvoiding the Best Practice Trap - Academy of Management Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Under growing pressure to operate as meritocracies, organizations\u2019 leaders often fall into the \u201cbest-practice trap\u201d\u2014the tendency to adopt widely accepted solutions that sound effective but may actually be poorly suited to their own organizational context and challenges. 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