Like pawns in a game of chess

Your disgruntled lecturer thought (s)he couldn't be surprised by Degree Farm anymore. Naive and wishful thinking. They always find a way to take it to another level.

Imagine you have worked somewhere for several years which you've spent in your office and your chair. "Your" is the keyword here. We all know that the place is not our property but we grow accustomed to it, fill it with personal belongings and eventually create our comfort zone. This makes sense - feeling safe and comfortable in your office is vital for your productivity (plus emotional and mental health).

Now imagine that one day you come to work and find out it's not your office anymore. Your line manager has decided to move you into another office, another floor, with complete strangers and they never informed you about that! Yes, after your years of service, it didn't occur to them to ask how you'd feel about the move, let alone inform you that it was decided, although they see you on a regular basis and the whole thing had been planned well in advance! Instead you find out from your office mate who tells you that something is up because the estate people are checking your desk and brought boxes to "pack you up".

Well, at this point you definetely feel like a valued member of staff (sarcasm alert!).
The sad point is that to our managers we are nothing more than pawns in a game of chess. They think that they can tell us to do whatever they want and move us to wherever and whenever they wish. They don't care about our opinions or wellbeing, or for that matter our job satisfaction. You'd think that one of manager's duties is to create an atmosphere conducive to productive work - not at the Degree Farm. Here the thinking goes: the more the staff are fragmented and the less informed, the easier it is to manipulate them. But most importantly, they are less likely to question the managements' decisions and incompetence.