Working Relationships: The Key to Person-Environment-Fit

Building positive working relationships in professional settings extends far beyond simple collegiality: it fundamentally influences our sense of belonging, job satisfaction, and career success through what organisational psychologists call “person-environment fit.” This concept suggests that our professional effectiveness and wellbeing depend not just on our technical capabilities, but on how well we align with our workplace’s social environment, values, and cultural norms. When we experience strong person-environment fit, we’re more likely to receive mentoring opportunities, be included in informal knowledge sharing, and gain access to the kind of tacit organisational knowledge that proves invaluable for career advancement.

For those who feel like cultural outsiders, whether due to linguistic differences, cultural background, or being new to a profession, developing this fit might initially seem daunting. However, research consistently shows that person-environment fit isn’t static, it’s something we can actively develop through intentional relationship building, cultural learning, and open communication. Understanding this dynamic nature of workplace fit helps us approach relationship building not as a fixed challenge to overcome, but as an ongoing process of professional growth where each interaction, even those that feel awkward or uncertain, contributes to our developing sense of workplace belonging and professional identity.

International students face unique challenges with person-environment fit as they enter university life, particularly because they must navigate multiple types of alignment simultaneously. Unlike domestic students who primarily focus on academic adjustment, international students must achieve fit across academic, cultural, social, and physical dimensions, all while operating in a new language and cultural context. Research shows this complex adjustment process significantly impacts their psychological wellbeing, especially when there are misalignments between their goals and expectations and the university environment.

These fit challenges materialise in various ways throughout their university experience. Academically, students might struggle to adapt to different teaching styles or assessment expectations, while culturally, they may find it difficult to understand unwritten social norms or classroom participation expectations. For example, a student might be academically capable but find themselves struggling to engage in tutorial discussions due to language barriers or cultural differences in classroom interaction styles. These challenges are further complicated when students cannot easily access or effectively utilise university support services, either because they don’t understand how to navigate these systems or because the services themselves don’t align with their cultural expectations of support. Understanding these multiple dimensions of fit helps explain why some highly capable international students still struggle to thrive in their new university environment, even when they possess strong academic abilities.

Person-environment fit forms the foundation of workplace satisfaction and success, with working relationships serving as the crucial bridge between individual characteristics and organisational culture. Even when someone’s skills and values align perfectly with their organisation’s mission and requirements, the quality of their daily interactions with colleagues, supervisors, and stakeholders ultimately determines whether they thrive in that environment. These relationships act as the practical manifestation of organisational culture, translating abstract concepts like “collaborative environment” or “innovation-focused culture” into tangible experiences through everyday interactions, shared problem-solving, and mutual support. When professionals develop positive working relationships, they create informal networks that help them navigate organisational complexities, access resources and opportunities, and receive the emotional and practical support needed to overcome workplace challenges. These relationships become particularly vital during periods of change or stress, as they provide the psychological safety necessary for individuals to take risks, share ideas, and maintain resilience in the face of setbacks.

Research by Rose et al. (2021) reveals fascinating insights about how workplace relationships influence intern-to-employee conversion through person-environment fit. The path analysis demonstrates that while both supervisor and coworker relationships matter, coworker relationships have a stronger influence on whether interns are ultimately offered permanent positions.

Let’s break down the key findings from their path analysis: The research showed that coworker relationships had a path coefficient of 0.48 to person-environment fit, whilst supervisor relationships had a lower coefficient of 0.29. This means that positive relationships with colleagues were almost twice as influential in determining how well interns felt they “fitted” within the organisation compared to relationships with supervisors.

This makes intuitive sense when considering the daily reality of internships. While supervisors provide important guidance and feedback, it’s often colleagues who give interns the most complete picture of organisational culture, unwritten norms, and what it’s truly like to work there. Coworkers tend to have more frequent, informal interactions with interns and often feel more approachable for questions about day-to-day work life. These regular interactions help interns determine whether they can envision themselves as permanent members of the organisation.

The research also revealed that person-environment fit strongly predicted conversion intentions, with a path coefficient of 0.52. This suggests that when interns develop positive relationships with colleagues and come to feel they belong in the organisational culture, they become much more likely to accept permanent positions if offered. The effect is compounded: strong coworker relationships enhance person-environment fit, which in turn increases the likelihood of conversion to ongoing employment.

For interns, these findings emphasise that while impressing their supervisor is important, investing time in building authentic connections with colleagues may be even more crucial for long-term career success. Simple actions like joining colleagues for lunch, participating in informal team discussions, and seeking advice from coworkers can significantly impact whether interns feel “at home” in an organisation and ultimately transition from intern to employee.

The research provides strong empirical support for treating internships not just as extended job interviews with supervisors, but as opportunities to become genuinely integrated into the organisational community through peer relationships. For organisations, it suggests that fostering strong intern-coworker bonds may be one of the most effective strategies for converting high-performing interns into valuable permanent employees.

Professional Duality: Creating a Work Persona

The concept of professional duality, how we develop and maintain distinct personal and professional identities, plays a crucial role in workplace success. Understanding how to navigate this duality helps interns develop authentic yet professionally appropriate workplace behaviours that align with organisational expectations whilst remaining true to their core values.

Having a slightly different personality at work, what we call a “work persona”, is a normal and helpful way to adapt to the professional environment. Research by Chung et al. (2023) looked at 300 employees and found that people naturally develop a work style that combines their organisation’s values with the informal social rules of their workplace. This helps them fit in while still being themselves.

The study shows that we tend to act somewhat differently depending on who we’re talking to at work. With managers and supervisors, we often show a more formal, professional side that matches what the organisation expects. But with our colleagues at the same level, we usually blend our professional and personal sides more naturally. This isn’t about being fake, it’s about knowing how to communicate effectively in different work situations. When people can adjust their style this way, they usually feel more connected to their organisation and more satisfied with their job.

It’s important to understand that having a work persona doesn’t mean you’re pretending to be someone else. Instead, think of it like choosing appropriate clothes for work, you’re still yourself, just dressed for the professional environment. The research found that people who develop a comfortable work style tend to build better relationships at work and do better in their careers. Just as we might act differently at a family dinner compared to a night out with friends, it’s natural and healthy to have a slightly different way of presenting ourselves at work.

The relationship between our work persona and person-environment fit helps us understand how we become part of an organisation’s culture. When we join a workplace, we naturally begin to absorb both the written and unwritten rules of how things work. These unwritten rules, like how people communicate, how they handle disagreements, or what behaviour gets rewarded, often matter more than the official values posted on office walls.

As we develop our work persona, we start to incorporate these organisational values into how we act at work. For example, if an organisation values open communication but expects people to challenge ideas privately rather than in meetings, we learn to adapt our communication style accordingly. This isn’t about changing who we are fundamentally, it’s about understanding and working effectively within the organisation’s culture. The research by Chung et al. (2023) shows that this adaptation helps us form stronger connections with both colleagues and supervisors.

These workplace relationships then reinforce our understanding of the organisation’s values and help us fit in better. Through daily interactions with colleagues and feedback from supervisors, we continuously refine our work persona to better align with the workplace culture. What makes this process particularly interesting is how it creates a cycle: our work persona helps us build relationships, and these relationships in turn help us better understand and adapt to the organisation’s culture. This cycle explains why people often feel more comfortable and natural in their work persona over time, as they develop a deeper understanding of their workplace’s unwritten rules and values.

Trust, Enjoyment and Unspoken Boundaries in Workplace Relationships

The relationship between duality and trust in professional settings represents one of the most nuanced aspects of workplace dynamics. While we naturally seek genuine connections with our colleagues, we must simultaneously maintain appropriate professional boundaries, a balance that directly impacts the development of trust. This duality manifests in how we share personal information while preserving privacy, how we build friendships while maintaining professional objectivity, and how we navigate the complex territory between being approachable and maintaining authority. Understanding this delicate balance proves crucial because trust emerges not from completely removing these boundaries, but from managing them thoughtfully and consistently. When we demonstrate both genuine care for our colleagues and respect for professional limitations, we create an environment where trust can flourish naturally. This careful navigation of personal and professional spaces allows us to build authentic workplace relationships while maintaining the structure and boundaries necessary for effective professional collaboration.

Trust in professional settings emerges from a complex interplay of individual, organisational, and cultural factors that shape how we perceive and evaluate trustworthiness. Research across multiple societies reveals that professional trust operates through two fundamental dimensions, warmth and competence, which manifest differently depending on organisational roles and cultural contexts (Kwantes & Kartolo, 2021; Wöhrle et al., 2015). When colleagues demonstrate both technical capability and genuine concern for others’ wellbeing, they create the foundations for trust to develop. However, this trust must be carefully cultivated within the established norms and expectations that govern professional relationships.

The development of professional trust requires a sophisticated understanding of how different workplace roles shape trust dynamics. Supervisors and colleagues face distinct expectations regarding how they should demonstrate trustworthiness, with most cultures placing greater emphasis on competence for those in leadership positions (Wöhrle et al., 2015). Yet this competence must be balanced with appropriate displays of warmth and concern for others, what researchers term “benevolence”, to build sustainable trust. The challenge lies in calibrating these demonstrations of capability and care to align with both organisational needs and cultural expectations about professional behaviour.

Modern workplace relationships have grown increasingly complex as organisations become more globally connected and culturally diverse. Trust must now be built and maintained across cultural boundaries, often in virtual or hybrid environments where traditional trust-building mechanisms may be limited. This evolution demands a more nuanced approach to professional trust, one that acknowledges how cultural values and practices influence perceptions of trustworthiness while remaining sensitive to the universal human need for both competence and warmth in professional relationships (Kwantes & Kartolo, 2021). Success in this environment requires developing what researchers call “swift trust”, the ability to quickly establish functional trust based on role expectations while remaining open to deeper trust development over time.

Trust and enjoyment in the workplace share a fascinating reciprocal relationship. When employees feel they can trust their colleagues and supervisors, they experience greater psychological safety, which allows them to relax and express themselves more authentically at work. This emotional security creates space for spontaneous moments of connection, shared laughter, and genuine camaraderie. Conversely, in environments where trust is lacking, people tend to maintain rigid professional personas, carefully monitoring their words and actions, which inhibits the natural development of enjoyable workplace relationships. Research consistently shows that teams with high levels of trust not only perform better but also report higher job satisfaction and engagement, largely because they feel comfortable enough to share jokes, celebrate successes together, and support each other through challenges. This comfortable atmosphere, built on a foundation of trust, transforms daily work interactions from mere professional obligations into opportunities for meaningful connection and enjoyment.

Research from Mak et al. (2012) shows that workplace relationships and psychological safety are deeply intertwined with the appropriate use of humour, particularly during internships and early career transitions. Just as social bonds often form through shared laughter and jokes, professional relationships tend to develop when colleagues can relax and engage in appropriate workplace banter. However, navigating humour as a new employee requires careful attention to workplace norms and power dynamics.

For interns and new employees, understanding the role of humour in workplace culture presents both opportunities and potential pitfalls. While established employees may engage in more casual or edgy humour based on their longstanding relationships, interns should maintain a more conservative approach until they better understand the specific workplace culture. The most successful interns typically focus first on demonstrating competence and reliability while carefully observing how humour is used by others in the organisation.

Rather than trying to match the joking style of longtime employees, you can build positive relationships by appreciating others’ appropriate humour and occasionally contributing light, professionally safe comments. This measured approach allows you to participate in workplace camaraderie while avoiding potential missteps that could damage their professional reputation. As relationships develop naturally over time, the boundaries of appropriate humour may expand, but this should happen gradually and organically rather than being forced.

 When Trust Is Broken

Despite our best efforts to build positive workplace relationships, sometimes interactions can sour or trust can be damaged. Even the most carefully navigated professional relationships may encounter difficulties, whether through misunderstandings, cultural differences, or genuine conflicts. The skills required to repair workplace relationships draw on many of the same fundamentals we’ve discussed, emotional intelligence, cultural awareness, and professional judgment, but require us to apply them in more challenging circumstances. What matters most isn’t that we never experience conflict, but rather how we handle these situations when they arise. The mark of a true professional isn’t avoiding all interpersonal challenges, but addressing them with maturity, self-awareness, and a commitment to positive resolution.

Workplace friendships, while potentially valuable for both job satisfaction and professional development, can be particularly fragile and subject to various forms of deterioration. Research by Sias et. al. (2004) identified several key triggers that commonly lead to the breakdown of workplace relationships, including betrayals of trust, violations of organisational values, and changes in professional status through promotion. These deterioration factors are especially impactful because they challenge the delicate balance between professional obligations and personal connections that workplace friendships must maintain.

The complexity of workplace friendship deterioration lies in its often unavoidable nature, particularly when organisational changes occur. For instance, when one friend is promoted to a supervisory position over another, the fundamental dynamics of their relationship must shift to accommodate new power structures and professional responsibilities. This transition can create tension between maintaining personal rapport and upholding professional boundaries. Similarly, extended absences from work, whether through leave, transfers, or other circumstances, can strain these relationships as the regular contact and shared experiences that help maintain workplace friendships are disrupted.

What makes workplace friendship deterioration particularly challenging is that traditional friendship repair strategies often prove ineffective in the professional context. Unlike personal friendships outside of work, workplace relationships must continue to function at some level even after deterioration occurs, as colleagues typically need to maintain professional interactions. Sias et. al’s (2004) research demonstrated that attempts to resolve these friendship breakdowns were largely unsuccessful, suggesting that once certain professional boundaries or trust levels are breached, the unique combination of personal and professional expectations that characterise workplace friendships becomes difficult to rebuild. This understanding highlights the importance of maintaining clear boundaries and managing expectations in workplace friendships from the outset.