Growing at Work: Employees' Interpretations of Progressive Self-Change in Organizations

Scott Sonenshein (), Jane E. Dutton (), Adam M. Grant (), Gretchen M. Spreitzer () and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe ()
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Scott Sonenshein: Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005
Jane E. Dutton: Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Adam M. Grant: The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
Gretchen M. Spreitzer: Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Kathleen M. Sutcliffe: Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109

Organization Science, 2013, vol. 24, issue 2, 552-570

Abstract: We develop theory about how growing at work is an interpretive accomplishment in which individuals sense that they are making progressive self-change. Through a study of how employees interpret themselves as growing at three organizations, we develop a theoretical account of how employees draw from contextual and personal resources to interpret their growing in ways that embed their idiosyncratic experiences within an organization. The data suggest that employees develop three different types of growing self-construals: achieving, learning, and helping. We use our data to ground theory that explains the development of growing self-construals as deeply embedded in organizations. At the same time, we suggest that growing self-construals reflect individual agency through how individuals work with available resources to weave interpretations of themselves into their growing self-construals. We further suggest that growing self-construals influence the actions employees take to support a sense of progressive self-change.

Keywords: qualitative research; interpretation and sensemaking; cultural construction of organizational life; psychological processes; human resource management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:24:y:2013:i:2:p:552-570

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