Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
How do tight and loose cultures practically influence ministry?

How do tight and loose cultures practically influence ministry?

Last updated on: July 24, 2019 at 12:35 am by Brad Vaughn

How do tight and loose cultures practically influence ministry? 2019-04-27T13:28:43-07:00 Brad Vaughn

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Credit: Public Domain

The previous posts explained the distinction between tight and loose cultures (Part 1, Part 2). For too long, Christians have not explored the way of understanding cultures. In this post, I consider a few potential implications of the tight-loose distinction. Why does it matter for contextualization, leadership development, among other matters? I cannot fully develop all the possible applications.

In Michele Gelfand’s book Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our World, she covers several applications for business and cross-cultural communication. It is up to us to consider the significance of tight-loose cultures for the task of ministry.

Engaging with People

One obvious application concerns the way we relate to other people. One’s background, whether being from a tight or loose culture, will influence a person’s relationships, not only in a cross-cultural context but even with people from what seems to be similar cultures.

The tight-loose distinction can help us explain and anticipate differences we might have with co-workers, teammates, and anyone else with whom we need to work. Disagreements and confusion could occur due to differing expectations regarding decision making and what counts as “efficient” or timely. Of course, people could have different perceptions about leadership and the role of group members in decision making.

The tight-loose distinction also affects the way we understand social class. Keep in mind that the world “culture” can refer to the countless subcultures in which we all belong. Gelfand finds that people in lower socio-economic groups tend to be more culturally rigid or “tight.” They appeal to tradition and conventional ways of handling problems.

Why? As I explained previously, groups or cultures in which people have felt threatened or insecure for some reason (e.g., financial, natural disaster, etc.) tend to tighten group norms and expectations in order to preserve group cohesion and protect themselves against harm.

Leadership Development

Gelfand and her colleagues studied how tight and loose cultures perceived leaders. Specifically, who is regarded as a good leader in each type of culture?

Researchers studied over 2,300 people in order to understand their perceptions of leaders in relation to norm violation.[1] By social “norms”, they refer to the “implicit or explicit rules that constrain behavior without the force of laws.” They want to find answers to a few questions, such as “Do people see ideal leaders as norm/rule keepers?” And “are people who break norms seen as more powerful and stronger leaders?”

The study found that “respondents in tighter cultures expressed a stronger preference for norm followers as leaders.” Accordingly, “norm violators have a more challenging path to the top in tighter societies, where the only way up seems to be norm adherence.” I

In looser cultures, people who break social norms are often regarded as more powerful. Furthermore, “self-directed leaders may be more inclined to deviate from the norm, which could increase their effectiveness in more individualistic societies where innovation, uniqueness, and independence are praised.”

In one respect, these results are not surprising. On the other hand, we are reminded of the importance of understanding tight-loose cultures so that we can properly consider the impact of leadership decisions as well as rightly interpret the decisions of other leaders.

These results do not imply we need simply to mirror the leadership styles of a local culture. After all, the perception of good leadership might not, in fact, be good leadership. A person should also consider the makeup of one’s organization or team. A team of creatives and people who like to challenge conventional thinking will not flourish under tight leadership. There may be times with a tight culture needs a leader with a style reflective of a loose culture.

Furthermore, the tight-loose distinction should give us pause to reflect on the type of leadership training we provide? Are we giving them the tools needed for their cultural context or for ours? Do we assume our cultural vision of leadership is the biblical way leading?

Priorities, Mission Teams, and Organizations

While missionaries tend to emphasize the cross-cultural component of their work, we should not underestimate the impact of a mission organization’s subculture. From my perspective, an organization with a “loose culture” is Pioneers. At least in East Asia, they have an egalitarian leadership structure. Ingenuity is encouraged. Accordingly, the ethos of every team looks a little different.

By contrast, the IMB is a mission agency with a tighter culture. The organization is quite influenced by the culture of the American South. In practice, leaders tend to be more directive, expect greater conformity from workers, and establish layers of policies and procedures to ensure norms are kept.

Both have their advantages and disadvantages. In tighter organizations, leaders could easily stifle creativity due to their feelings threatened by those under them who violate norms of the organization’s subculture. In looser cultures, teams may struggle with implementation. Much effort and many resources might go underutilized.

What else?

In three posts, I’ve only scratched the surface when it comes to explaining tight and loose cultures. We identified several potential implications and applications. As you think on the subject, what else do you think is worth exploring? How do you see tightness and looseness impacting the work of ministry and especially cross-cultural missions?

[1] Gelfand et al. “Cultural Collectivism and Tightness Moderate Responses to Norm Violators: Effects on Power Perception, Moral Emotions, and Leader Support.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (2018):1-18

Previous Post

July 17, 2019

Honor, Shame, and Guilt within Tight and Loose Cultures

Next Post

July 31, 2019 Shrewd as Serpents amid Sinicization

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Atonement Biblical Theology Book Reviews China Chinese Church Chinese Culture Chinese Language Collectivism Contextualization Culture (General) Ecclesiology Evangelism Gospel Honor & Shame (Face) Interpretation/Exegesis Justification/Righteousness Missiology Mission Methods One Gospel for All Nations Other Practical Contextualization Reading Romans with Eastern Eyes Resources Romans Salvation (General) Saving God's Face Seeking God's Face The Cross in Context Theological Contextualization Theological Education Theology Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does the Bible warn about "idle chatter"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Is entertaining Is educational Leads to poverty Is holy

Books by This Author Books by Brad Vaughn

See All Titles »