{"id":4976,"date":"2025-05-12T19:54:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T19:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=4976"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:45:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:45:14","slug":"should-i-stay-or-should-i-go-why-fitting-in-at-work-is-a-moving-target","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go-why-fitting-in-at-work-is-a-moving-target\/","title":{"rendered":"Should I Stay or Should I Go? Why Fitting in at Work Is a Moving Target"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Just like beauty is in the eye of the beholder, how well you fit in your current job is a personal feeling that can change quickly.<\/p>\r\n

Academy of Management Scholar Abbie Shipp<\/a> of Texas Christian University, who coauthored an Academy of Management Review article<\/a><\/em> on how people craft career narratives that affect how they fit in at work, with Karen Jansen<\/a> of North Carolina State University, said people tell stories to themselves and others that reinforce who they think they are and who they want to be.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIf you want to craft the story that keeps you at your organization, you will pick and choose the information that makes a past comparison or a future comparison that makes the present look better,\u201d Shipp said. \u201cIf you want to leave your organization, you\u2019re going to look for all the things that make it worse\u2014\u2018My last job was so much better\u2019 or \u2018I bet if I went to that company, this would be better.\u2019<\/p>\r\n

\u201cYou can craft whatever story you want, and that\u2019s where I think leaders have a great impact\u2014not just asking employees what their stories are over time and how well they fit, but also helping them to craft a compelling career narrative,\u201d she said.<\/p>\r\n

Shipp speaks from experience.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cI was a department chair\u2014I just finished my term about 18 months ago\u2014and one of the things I would tell people during the pandemic is, \u2018Let\u2019s look at what\u2019s working,\u2019\u201d Shipp said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot that got broken in the pandemic, so it can feel like \u2018What\u2019s happening?\u2019 to the university and policies and the world, and \u2018Should I go someplace else?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\r\n

\u201cInstead, I said, \u2018Let\u2019s focus our attention on what is working and why we\u2019re here at TCU, all the things that brought us here\u2019. That constancy is really important when a lot of things are changing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cFrom the organizational change literature, we know that focusing on what\u2019s constant and not changing is as important as what is changing, so leaders can help shape the story by drawing attention to the elements that make that present moment look better.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n

A sample of Shipp\u2019s AOM research findings:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n