My purpose in writing this book is to present what we, as employees, should do in the workplace to meet the great commandment:
‘you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets. (Matt. 22: 37–40 NAS)
Scripture shows us how to worship God and to bring glory to him as well as how we should treat our neighbors. But, the vast amount of scholarly research into managing employees is about what managers should do to illicit, or increase, desirable behaviors and decrease undesirable behaviors from employees. While some literature on following and followership has emerged in the past years, little exists whereby employees write from an employee perspective about what behaviors and attitudes we should have in the workplace and how we go about improving our behaviors and attitudes.
In two prior companion books (Winston, 2018a, 2018b), I wrote about how organizations should select employees based on person-organization fit using the Beatitudes as virtues; person-job fit using the Romans 8 motivational gifts; employees’ calling (the Latin is vocare), competence, confidence, and character; as well as how to develop employees to increase the desired behaviors following Biblical concepts. The second book looked at how to lead and manage employees following the Biblical concepts from the Sermon on the Mount, the nine Spiritual Fruits of the Spirit, and the 1 Cor 13 descriptions of what love is and what it is not. It also looked at managers operating in the four faces of the winged creatures described in Ezekiel and Revelation, as well as explaining how the Prov 31 Woman managed her workplace.
In this current book, I present the concepts that scholars say managers want from employees, such as organizational citizenship behaviors, obedience to managers, commitment to the organization’s values and policies, and a commitment to stay with the organization. Also, scholarly research shows the importance and value of emotional intelligence, deep acting when engaging in emotional labor, and active listening and showing empathy when interacting with peers and superiors. Scholarly literature shows the importance of employees being courageous followers telling superiors what they need to hear and doing so in respectful and supportive ways. The scholarly literature presents the importance of employee engagement and supportive behaviors toward peers but ensuring that we meet our workplace objectives that Gal. 6 presents.
Scholarly research has addressed the importance of workplace ethics but more from the view of the manager than from the view of the employees. In this book, I present the notion of doing the right thing for the right reason from the employee’s perspective. In addition to defining both mentoring and discipling, I present the Biblical concept of akoloutheo as a foundation for a higher-order form of discipling and employee development, also from the perspective of the employee. Scholarly research has presented the value of, and need for, managers to demonstrate credibility, integrity, and accountability as a means of building trust. In this book, I present these concepts from the employees’ perspective to show how we, as employees, need to demonstrate these same concepts. I also present employee work-life balance and provide a chapter on Sabbath, Selah, and fallow ground rest. Finally, I present a concept of preparing for the future rather than planning for the future. I have read many books about planning your work-life future and working toward five-year and ten-year goals, but I see evidence in scripture that well-known Biblical leaders, such as Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Noah, Nehemiah, Peter, Paul, and others, did not plan their future. Instead, they prepared as they were led and were, thus, ready to serve as God called.
All scripture is from the New American Standard version.
References
Winston, B. (2018a). Biblical principles of hiring and developing employees. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. isbn:978-3-319-70526-2.
Winston, B. (2018b). Biblical principles of leading and managing employees. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. isbn:978-3-319-77136-6.
Introduction
Henry David Thoreau said about the aim of the laborer: “The aim of the laborer should not be to get his living, to get ‘a good job,’ but to perform well a certain work. Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it” (Henry David Thoreau, 1863, the essay “Life Without Principles,” Dover Thrift).
This chapter focuses on the two commands: (a) Col 3:23–24 (NAS)—“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve” and (b) Eph 6:7—“With goodwill render service, as to the Lord, and not to men.” Col 3:23 uses the Greek
poieo (Strong’s word 4160) for ‘do’ that translates as ‘make’ or ‘do’ implying both production and service. Liddell and Scott’s Online Lexicon defines
poieo as make, produce, create, or procure (
http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/lsj/#eid=86774&context=lsj&action=from-search). In Eph 6:7, service is the Greek
douleuo (Strong’s word 1398) that means to serve, to obey, or to submit. Liddell and Scott’s Online Lexicon defines
douleuo as ‘slave’ (
http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/lsj/#eid=29051&context=lsj&action=from-search). Carter (
2012) posits that Ephesians 6:5 “Servants, be
obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ” tells us to obey our managers as we obey God:
Christians are to have a great (sic) respect for God because He is God. Likewise, Christians are to have a great respect (sic) for their employers because they are employers, a position of authority that God has ordained in the social order. The desire of a Christian to be obedient to an employer is not unlike that of the desire to obey God. When a Christian approaches the workplace with this attitude, some very significant results are obtained. (http://biblicaltheology.com/eph/49_00_00.html)
Carter goes on to say:
First, for the Christian, the workplace is no longer an onerous place. It is a place where one can contribute their very best as they do so not just for the employer, but for God who has commanded it. Ultimately, all that a Christian does is done for God, and working for an employer is simply another expression of that effort. The quality of the work done by the employee improves, resulting in enhanced personal pride in that work as well as enhanced opportunities within the workplace for promotion, better pay, etc.
[The] second result of such an attitude is the witness to the employer that results from such an employee. As Christians who express their faith in their lifestyle, and employer (sic) sees an employee who is “different.” Instead of witnessing cursing and complaining, the employer sees (sic) an individual who is pleasant, respectful, and hard-working. In this setting, the Holy Spirit has an opportunity to point out that behavior to the employer and inspire questions like, “how do you maintain such a positive attitude in such a lousy place?” The door is then opened for the Christian to give an account of their faith, possibly pointing the employer towards a life (sic) in Christ. This would be impossible if the Christian succumb (sic) to the workplace environment and appear no different than the other pagan employees. (http://biblicaltheology.com/eph/49_00_00.html)
Carter’s (2012) comments are striking in that the Christian employee has a responsibility to show a similar type and intensity of respect to managers as the employee would show to God.
Paul addresses slaves (
doulos) in his letter to the Colossians (Col 3:22–25).
Doulos (Strong’s word 1401) implies (a) slaves, (b) those in voluntary service to another, (c) servant, or (d) attendant. Liddell and Scott’s Online Lexicon defines
doulos as a slave or bondman/bondwomen (
http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/lsj/#eid=29080&context=lsj&action=from-search). Carter (
2018) explains the concept of slavery in the context of Paul’s letter:
Western culture tends to equate slavery with the 16th to 19th-century practice in the Americas. The nature of first-century middle-eastern slavery differed significantly from American slavery. First-century slaves were more like household servants who were often better educated than the family, sometimes serving as tutors, household managers, and in other respected positions. Many servants worked for the family to pay off a debt, or to build equity towards their future freedom and security. One can effectively replace “servants” with “employees” and replace “masters” with “employers” to see the same principal (sic) applied to modern culture. (Kindle Locations 1302–1308)
Carter’s description helps us see how Paul’s instruction can be used in discussing the employee-manager relationship. Thus, a foundation for a faith-based perspective of being an employee is that we must do all that we do in the workplace with the understanding that we are serving God and we must respect workplace managers like how we respect God. This begins with a good person-environment fit for the employee.
Person-Environment Fit
Person-environment fit is a concept that explains how well matched an employee is with the environment, which includes person-organiz...
