Person-Environment Fit

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Person-environment fit theories describe how the relationship of individuals and their environments affect work performance or relevant work/life satisfactions. 

  • John Holland's (1985) Theory of Career Choice (RIASEC) classifies people into six personality types: realistic (R), investigative (I), artistic (A), social (S), enterprising (E), and conventional (C); and postulates that in choosing a career, people would like to work in an environment that are compatible to their personality type. 
  • The Theory of Work Adjustment (TWA, 1984), also referred as the Person-Environment Correspondence (P-E-C) Theory, proposes that workers will continue to adjust themselves (such as knowledge, skill, attitude, or behavior) and the work environment to achieve the workplace professional equilibrium (such as fulfillment or job satisfaction). TWA summarizes six key work values: achievement, comfort, status, altruism, safety and autonomy, which determine the satisfaction levels of a worker when doing the job; and lists four variables that affect a worker’s adjustment styles: flexibility (how willing they are), activeness (how much they try), reactiveness (how much they change) and perseverance (how long they retain). 
  • Thomas Gilbert’s (1974) Behavioral Engineering Model (BEM) articulates the effect of the environment support and personal behavior on human performance and provides a framework for promoting worthy performance.   

The evolution of person-environment fit theories implies the dynamic correlations of a person with his/her environment. The “fit” is not fixed, rather flexible and adaptable, upon exerting adjustment or engineering to achieve the optimal. The “fit” can also be multiple facets: supplementary fit is that individuals are like each other and therefore intend to be together, while complementary fit is that individuals are not alike but match well to compromise each other’s weakness and result in a stronger group. To make a “fit”, I see the determinant is about how each individual can provide to make the whole complete. As for an organization or a workplace, it should make the environment feasible to fit in.        


Resources    
Holland, J. L. (1985). Making vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work environments. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Dawes, R.V. & Lofquist, L.H. (1984) A Psychological Theory of Work Adjustment. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

 

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