I've never worked in a very small company, but I've been working in very small teams. While claiming a 'culture clash' seems pretty much of a copt-out from the

I've never worked in a very small company, but I've been working in very small teams. While claiming a 'culture clash' seems pretty much of a copt-out from the employer's part, it's true that one single person can make or break a small team. Sometimes the clash is purely of personality (an example I've witnessed: one very competitive and personal-win-orientated alpha male in a group of laid back, traditional geeks), sometimes it's procedural (i.e. a former start-up guy in a corporate environment) but I do see potential so-called culture problems as very real and potentially unsolvable, if not by the removal of the "offending" party. Having said that, the threat of an established monoculture is probably much worse for productivity, morale and sheer fairness that having to put up with one sour (or clashing) apple.