Coercive persuasion at work

[Moksha]

We don't hear Peter's side of the story, but Paul's argument sounds strong regardless of what one thinks of Peter or Paul. It's a principled disagreement cogently argued, and not just a dismissal by authority.

Losing the argument against circumcision would have changed the history of Christianity.

[msnobody]

This person is female. What I've seen repeatedly with myself and other coworkers is this person will build up the worker, then tear them down in the presence of their coworkers. This is obvious to all of the subordinate staff.

For instance, and most recently, the manager says, "Thank you for taking the lead on this project. The process will flow like this (A, B, C)." The employee runs with the project within the parameters that were originally set by the manager (A, B, C) and does a great job. A few days later the employee notices A, B, C has changed to X, Y, Z, and asks during a MS Teams meeting if and why ABC changed to XYZ. The manager says, XYZ was always the process and ABC was never the process. The manager then asks, "Remind me, who is my lead on this project?" Then the manager states the lead on the project is a completely different employee.

I was at home thinking about this and pondering why a fellow believer would treat people like this and then it occurred to me that when the manager says in the face-to-face staff meetings, "We are Christians, ladies," that it seems to me to be a form of coercive persuasion. It occurred to me, "This is what cults do."

[Jersey Girl]

This person is female.

I'm not at all surprised and I say that based on experience with female administrators though certainly not all I've had and certainly not myself when holding that position. I've had the honor of serving under many a top notch female supervisor over the years that modeled sound management practices for me.

The best teams are created when collaboration and respect are at the helm. She's creating a situation of control and using religion to produce compliance. If she were to encourage collaboration, she would feel as if she's losing control...which she would be. She's afraid of losing control. Period. My guess is that she's also violating government regulations but there is no written record of it because she exercises control verbally, essentially behind closed doors, and staff members are probably afraid to report for fear of retribution and retaliation which would surely come like clockwork with this person.

I once took a supervisor in front of HER supervisor in a joint meeting and made her cry because I stood my ground, but in the end, she admitted to lying about something that took place where's that? Oh yeah, behind closed doors. I don't know who she thought she was dealing with but I digress.

Anyway...your workplace is supposed to be non-discriminatory and inclusive. When she says you are all Christians, she's automatically engaging in intimidation and coercive practices aimed at those who 1. Are not Christian and 2. Those who are Christian and know she's using religion to manipulate. Basically the staff is afraid of losing their jobs...and who wouldn't be, right?

You nailed her on both the coercion and what Christians are called to do and be in the world.

I need to sit with this for a while but answer me this. Do you know if any of your co-staffers are not Christian and if so, what is their affiliation or non-affiliation with religion?

[msnobody]

I need to sit with this for a while but answer me this. Do you know if any of your co-staffers are not Christian and if so, what is their affiliation or non-affiliation with religion?

This is a subset of the overall staff, so out of the subset, I think most would be professing Christians. One would be sort of a Baptist Muslim.

You may ask, “What is a Baptist Muslim?” She was a member of a baptist church and then after she married her husband who practices Islam, she started practicing Islam. She gave out cards with biblical scripture on them for nurses week this year, so I really don’t think she’d be offended by the manager’s comment.

A one-on-one discussion would be best, in my opinion. Another option would be to continue to observe and if the pattern continues, very succinctly spell out this behavior in the annual employee survey, where if problems are reported, managers have to develop an action plan.

I previously worked under this same manager and the workplace management wasn’t like this then, unless I was naïve to it.

[msnobody]

Say, "Respectfully. We are not all Christians. Thank you." An assertive response will get respect. Games and tangents will not get respect.

I think you’re absolutely right, Binger.

After reading a bit online, I think there is gaslighting going on in the workplace as well.

Thank you all for your helpful input.