Rules/Policies, Logic, and Love

How to behave in our organizations
Bruce E. Winston, Ph.D. 
This article provided by the Engstrom Institute

Organizations have rules, regulations, and policies to guide the behavior of the people who work and live in the organization. The intent of those who developed the rules, regulations, and polices was that people would adhere to these requirements, but we know that sometimes people don't follow the 'law' of the organization. For some people there are consequences for not following the law, and for others there seems to be no negative outcome. To a newcomer, or to an outside person, and for many within the organization, it is difficult to understand who is supposed to follow the law and who is not. The New Testament concept of Nomos helps organizational leaders to understand who does not have to follow the rules, regulations, and policies and when it is appropriate to not adhere to them. This article presents the concept of Nomos, along with its three levels, gives scriptural examples of each level, and offers advice on how we might develop our organizations to be more in line with the concept that Jesus and the disciples referenced in the Gospels.

Nomos is used 155 times in the New Testament to describe three different approaches to the "law." Each of the three approaches seems to contradict the others, as evidenced by the following three verses:

• Romans 2:23: You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God?
• Matthew 12:5: Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath, and are innocent?
• Romans 13:10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.

The three verses, although seemingly contradictory, in fact fully define the concept of Nomos in that Nomos has three levels:

• Rule by edict/policy
• Rule by reason
• Rule by love

Nomos' three levels work in a sequence of knowledge, insight, maturity, and wisdom, with the lowest level being one of no responsibility for self but only doing what one is told to do. The second level requires some responsibility for self and to accept the consequences for one's decisions and actions. The third level requires one to be fully knowledgeable of the edicts and why the edicts were created as well as requiring one to be mature and wise. The sections that follow help clarify each of the three levels.

First Level Nomos

Rule by edict implies that people have to abide by the edicts, or policies, of the organization. This is particularly true of new people or immature people. In the first case, regardless of maturity a new employee or a new member of an organization would need to follow the established policies and regulations of the organization. Failure to abide by the policies and regulations would result in consequences of some form, with, of course, an appropriate amount of mercy as needed. Scriptural support for the first level of Nomos include references to what must be done according to the law such as Romans 7:2-3 about a woman being bound to the husband while the husband is alive; Hebrews 7:5 about paying one-tenth to the Levis; Matthew 12:2, where the Pharisees accuse Jesus of breaking the law on the Sabbath; and Matthew 12:10, where the Pharisees accuse Jesus of breaking the law by healing on the Sabbath—to list a few verses.

New employees should be taken through training classes on the policies and regulations and told what to do if a situation is not clearly defined in the rules and regulations. The training should use scored tests to determine how well the new person knows the rules, and a portion of each employee's work-performance evaluation should include an evaluation on how well the employee adhered to the policies and regulations. Under no circumstances should an employee be punished for adhering to the rules and regulations of the organization. Consider a restaurant in which the owner wrote a regulation for waiters that said that only one napkin can be given to a patron. During one evening a patron asks for a second napkin. The waiter who is at the first level of Nomos must decline the request and if the patron asks again, the waiter must move the request to a supervisor or someone who can operate higher than level one. If the patron complains to the owner about the lack of service from the waiter who followed the rules, the owner must thank the waiter for following the rules. The responsibility and consequences for rules and regulations must always fall to the people who created the rules and regulations or those who assume the responsibility of the rules and regulations.

Employees operating at level one do not need to think about what to do in any situation but rather should follow the rules and regulations. This is rather freeing to the employee. The orientation training should advise new employees what to do if a situation is not covered in the rules and regulations—whether the employee has latitude in his/her decision or if the employee has to defer the decision to someone else.

Second Level Nomos

Rule by reason implies that people can choose to not follow the rules and regulations if there is a logical reason not to. I have not encountered organizations that formally train their employees in reason and logic as a means of training people when and how to not follow the rules and regulations, which makes operating at this level difficult. In the restaurant example above, the waiter operating at the second level of Nomos could give a second napkin if the first napkin is sufficiently soiled or if the patron left the napkin on a plate that was bussed from the table. Scriptural support for the second level can be found in Matthew 12:5, in which Jesus responds to the Pharisees about gathering grain on the Sabbath and informs the Pharisees that the priests break the Sabbath; John 7:51, in which the concept of a court does not judge a man until the court has heard from the man and knows him; and Romans 2:20, in which Paul implies that the law embodies both knowledge and truth—to list a few verses.

There may be situations in which following the rules and regulations may not be the best choice. The correct choice given a situation may require the collection and evaluation of data. For example, an employee may arrive late for work, and while the regulations may say that the supervisor should reprimand the employee, the supervisor finding out that there was a major accident on the highway blocking all traffic for two hours may come to the decision that there is a reasonable and logical reason for the employee to be late. If the supervisor operated by level one then the supervisor has to reprimand the employee. However, if the supervisor operated by level two, then the supervisor could choose not to adhere to the rules and regulations.

Employees operating at level two must realize that they will be held accountable for their decisions to not adhere to the rules and regulations and may be punished for faulty logic or reasoning. This means that the organization should invest in training to help employees understand what is logical and reasonable in the organization.

Third Level Nomos

Rule by love implies that people can choose to not follow the rules and regulations if the employee decides that the best action is to love someone and all the circumstances fit the organization's concept of love. This is where the problem exists in that few organizations intentionally train employees on what love means in the organization and what actions or decisions fit the notion of love. For this article, love is considered to be the Agapao love that is found in the New Testament to describe behavior/action between people when one seeks to do the right thing for people. Agapao, while of the same root word as Agape, is not a self-sacrificial form of love but an intentional decision to do the right thing at the right time for the right person.[1] Scriptural support for the third level include: Romans 3:27, where Paul equates the law with faith; Matthew 7:12, when Jesus says that the Golden Rule is the law of the Prophets; Romans 13:10, where Paul says that love is the fulfillment of the law; Galatians 6:2, where we are admonished to bear one another's burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ—to list a few verses.

Consider the first example from the restaurant in which the patron asks for another napkin and the waiter finds out that the patron wants to take the napkin home because this restaurant was where she and her husband had their first date 30 years before. If the waiter was able to operate at level three then he could, out of a sense of love for the patron, give the additional napkin. In the second example of the employee arriving late, the supervisor used level two Nomos logic and reason to determine that the employee did not need to adhere to the rules and regulations. Imagine that the employee arrived late and told the supervisor that the employee had learned that a dear relative had passed away and the employee was up late consoling the family. The supervisor, operating at level three, could decide to not adhere to the rules and regulations out of a sense of love for the employee.

Level three requires that employees know that they will be held accountable for their decisions to not adhere to the rules and regulations with specific attention to supporting why their actions fit love. It is easier to justify logic and reason than love. Love can be subjective based on the relationship and history between the people in the organization. Thus, people operating at level three must carefully weigh their decisions to rule by love and to know that they can justify their actions later.

Nomos in the Organization

Organizations, if they wish to follow the New Testament concept of Nomos, must intentionally train people in the rules/regulations, logic/reason, and love and then clearly identify what level people can use so that if someone in the organization operates at level one only it is clear that this is all that the person is allowed to do. This may be like the 'trainee' badge worn by employees who are receiving on-the-job training. The 'trainee' badge alerts patrons to expect slower service and possible problems. If we had a 'level-one' badge, then everyone would know that the person can only operate with the rules and regulations. Likewise it, would be helpful if people knew who could operate at levels two and three.

Experience at the task and longevity with the organization can play a role in ascertaining what level of Nomos one should be at. It is feasible to me that an experienced worker who is new to the organization would have to follow level one Nomos in the beginning with, perhaps, a faster movement to level two. Likewise, someone with significant longevity but placed in a new job may have to adhere to level one but might move to level two quickly. Employees who are new to the organization should anticipate operating at level one for a period of time regardless of their level of expertise, reasoning, and maturity.

If organizations could incorporate the concept of Nomos into the culture it would create an environment in which people can operate to the fullness of their training, ability, and insight giving customers and other employees the type of treatment that is needed and deserved. However, training, preparing, testing, and evaluating employees as to what constitutes logic, reasoning, and love is time-consuming and difficult. If living by the New Testament concepts is worth doing, it should be worth the effort of getting both people and organization to the desired level.

Bruce E. Winston, PhD is an Associate Professor of Leadership and Dean of the Regent University School of Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship, Virginia Beach, VA. He has researched and published in the biblical elements of leadership and organizational development as well as servant leadership. He has lectured and consulted in the USA, Canada, and South Africa.

[1] For more insight into Agapao please see my book Be a Leader for God's Sake.