Managing Relationships within Organizations: Organizational Structure, Motivation, and Leadership

Abstract

When it comes to managing relationships within the organization, the message in Luke has the following three key themes:

• 1. Everyone is to be treated with dignity (e.g., in first-century terms, rather than men lording it over women, women and men are treated more as equals, with women often having a leadership role in the oikos).

• 2. Organizational boundaries are to be porous and welcoming (e.g., in first-century terms, rather than adult children having a primary focus on enhancing the security of their oikos and thereby honoring their parents, adult children are challenged to leave the security of their oikos to establish new inclusive forms of oikos where everyone is welcome to find security).

• 3. When looking for leadership within an organization, particular attention should be given to those who do the basic work of the organization (e.g., in first-century terms, rather that masters exploiting their slaves, slaves are held up as role models of “servant leadership”).