{"id":3493,"date":"2025-03-31T20:23:25","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T20:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=3493"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:11:30","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:11:30","slug":"three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Ways to Fit in at Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher<\/a><\/p>\n

Targeting, brokering, and blending are three strategies that lead to success in the workplace for people who have come from humble beginnings and moved up from one social class to another.<\/p>\n

Academy of Management Scholar Sean Martin of the University of Virginia<\/a> explained that targeting<\/strong> is when someone has been on an upwardly mobile career trajectory, they can choose to punt or conceal their social-class background as much as possible to fit in with their new higher-class setting.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoing so might afford some privileges, as there are class advantages and disadvantages in terms of pay and promotion, and being seen as elite has benefits in those areas,\u201d Martin said. \u201cOther research has shown that folks who have more lower-social-class signals are viewed as less competent or have lower self-efficacy and competence in themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo there could be a real benefit for people to try to hide their social-class background, unfortunately, and, to be clear, my recommendation is not that people should actually do so\u2014we need to fight the biases that makes those stereotypes prevalent. But people might choose that because of potential benefits that offering no signals of their background and fitting in with an elite space could bring,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Brokering<\/strong> is when people use their social-class experience across different positions to connect people from different social-class groups at work, Martin said. Picture a manufacturing setting where white-collar executives go to work dressed professionally, whereas blue-collar workers in the organization who do manual labor wear uniforms that indicate that they might be in a lower social class.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone\u2019s brokering, they might be able to understand the norms of both of those types of groups and be able to relay information back and forth and essentially be a go-between linking groups that have often had a tough time connecting or understanding one another,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n

Blending<\/strong> requires the most effort. It involves upwardly mobile people with a varied social-class background and a rich toolkit of experiences choosing to not only shuttle information back and forth between different class-based groups, but also try to break down barriers. A key aspect of this is helping colleagues form deeper relationships with people from a different social class.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe folks that try to do that blending work often are just exhausted; it\u2019s very tiring to have to try to do an additional job on top of your job of making sure everybody understands each other and bridging these cultural gaps so that they don\u2019t exist anymore,\u201d Martin said. \u201cAnd oftentimes, it can be very lonely, because the person who\u2019s doing the work feels like they might not be fully a member of any particular group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leaders can diagnose whether the organization fosters a workplace where expressing lower-social-class backgrounds is stigmatized or whether there\u2019s intent to reduce status differences among employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s another reason to hire folks who\u2019ve been upwardly mobile and experienced a lot of different social-class positions, because they\u2019re the kind of folks who can help you translate between groups and understand why people are thinking and feeling and acting the way that they are,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut don\u2019t just hire one, hire a lot, because it\u2019s exhausting, lonely work for an individual, so you want people to share the load and also have a community of other people like them who understand what is going on and what this work entails and how hard it is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher Targeting, brokering, and blending are three strategies that lead to success in the workplace for people who have come from humble beginnings and moved up from one social class to another. Academy of Management Scholar Sean Martin of the University of Virginia explained that targeting is when someone has been on an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,20,60,79],"tags":[],"sp_smart_badges":[],"ppma_author":[70],"class_list":["post-3493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-behavior","category-careers","category-diversity","category-teams"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThree Ways to Fit in at Work - Academy of Management Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daniel Butcher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daniel Butcher\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\"},\"headline\":\"Three Ways to Fit in at Work\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-31T20:23:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-09T15:11:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":588,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/diverse-office.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"BEHAVIOR\",\"CAREERS\",\"DIVERSITY\",\"TEAMS\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\\\/\",\"name\":\"Three Ways to Fit in at Work - Academy of Management Today\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/diverse-office.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-31T20:23:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-09T15:11:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/diverse-office.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/diverse-office.webp\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Source: Shutterstock\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Three Ways to Fit in at Work\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/\",\"name\":\"Academy of Management Today\",\"description\":\"Smarter, faster business news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\",\"name\":\"Daniel Butcher\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g559188980b254e0e0624aacb72ebc733\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Daniel Butcher\"},\"description\":\"Daniel Butcher is a writer and the Managing Editor of AOM Today at the Academy of Management (AOM). Previously, he was a writer and the Finance Editor for Strategic Finance magazine and Management Accounting Quarterly, a scholarly journal, at the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). Prior to that, he worked as a writer\\\/editor at The Financial Times, including daily FT sister publications Ignites and FundFire, as well as Crain Communications\u2019s InvestmentNews and Crain\u2019s Wealth, eFinancialCareers, and Arizent\u2019s Financial Planning, Re:Invent|Wealth, On Wall Street, Bank Investment Consultant, and Money Management Executive. He earned his bachelor\u2019s degree, Cum Laude, from the University of Colorado Boulder and his master\u2019s degree from New York University. You can reach him at dbutcher@aom.org or via LinkedIn.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/danielbutcher\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/author\\\/daniel-butcher\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Three Ways to Fit in at Work - Academy of Management Today","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Daniel Butcher","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\/"},"author":{"name":"Daniel Butcher","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c"},"headline":"Three Ways to Fit in at Work","datePublished":"2025-03-31T20:23:25+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-09T15:11:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\/"},"wordCount":588,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/diverse-office.webp","articleSection":["BEHAVIOR","CAREERS","DIVERSITY","TEAMS"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\/","name":"Three Ways to Fit in at Work - Academy of Management Today","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/diverse-office.webp","datePublished":"2025-03-31T20:23:25+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-09T15:11:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/diverse-office.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/diverse-office.webp","width":1080,"height":720,"caption":"Source: Shutterstock"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/three-ways-to-fit-in-at-work\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Three Ways to Fit in at Work"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/","name":"Academy of Management Today","description":"Smarter, faster business news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/#\/schema\/person\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c","name":"Daniel Butcher","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g559188980b254e0e0624aacb72ebc733","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/085e55dd8b6bc186c84fe76ed72735ec1ce8396dff19755de507fb86659a8d08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Daniel Butcher"},"description":"Daniel Butcher is a writer and the Managing Editor of AOM Today at the Academy of Management (AOM). Previously, he was a writer and the Finance Editor for Strategic Finance magazine and Management Accounting Quarterly, a scholarly journal, at the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). Prior to that, he worked as a writer\/editor at The Financial Times, including daily FT sister publications Ignites and FundFire, as well as Crain Communications\u2019s InvestmentNews and Crain\u2019s Wealth, eFinancialCareers, and Arizent\u2019s Financial Planning, Re:Invent|Wealth, On Wall Street, Bank Investment Consultant, and Money Management Executive. He earned his bachelor\u2019s degree, Cum Laude, from the University of Colorado Boulder and his master\u2019s degree from New York University. You can reach him at dbutcher@aom.org or via LinkedIn.","sameAs":["https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/danielbutcher\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/author\/daniel-butcher\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":70,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"daniel-butcher","display_name":"Daniel Butcher","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DanButcher_Academy-of-Management.webp","url2x":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DanButcher_Academy-of-Management.webp"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/diverse-office.webp",1080,720,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/diverse-office.webp",1080,720,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/diverse-office.webp",1080,720,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/diverse-office-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/diverse-office-300x200.webp",300,200,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/diverse-office-1024x683.webp",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/diverse-office.webp",1080,720,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/diverse-office.webp",1080,720,false],"owl_elementor_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/diverse-office-600x400.webp",600,400,true],"owl_elementor_team":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/diverse-office-350x450.webp",350,450,true],"owl_elementor_testimonial":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/diverse-office-100x100.webp",100,100,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Daniel Butcher","author_link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/author\/daniel-butcher\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/behavior\/\" rel=\"category tag\">BEHAVIOR<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/careers\/\" rel=\"category tag\">CAREERS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/diversity\/\" rel=\"category tag\">DIVERSITY<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/teams\/\" rel=\"category tag\">TEAMS<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"By Daniel Butcher Targeting, brokering, and blending are three strategies that lead to success in the workplace for people who have come from humble beginnings and moved up from one social class to another. Academy of Management Scholar Sean Martin of the University of Virginia explained that targeting is when someone has been on an…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3493"},{"taxonomy":"sp_smart_badges","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sp_smart_badges?post=3493"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}