Dimension 2:  Interaction Comfort

Sometimes we are able to interact freely with our social system environments.  We can comfortably give and take.  We feel we can both influence these environments and allow ourselves to be influenced by them.

Sometimes, however, we do not feel comfortable in such interactions.  We don’t like what is happening to us and around us and we don’t feel able either to go with it or to change it.  At such times, we tend to become stuck on LOOSE or on TIGHT.

LOOSE is the tendency to give in, to allow what is happening to happen, and to suffer through it.  TIGHT is the tendency to become rigid, tense, and unyielding.

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When we are STUCK ON LOOSE, we tend to go along with what is happening to us even when we are uncomfortable with what is happening. We accede to others’ wishes even when we don’t want to.  We allow unpleasant conditions to continue when we don’t want them to continue.  We would like to change these unpleasant conditions yet feel that we cannot.

On a scale of 1 (not at all) to 7 (very characteristic), to what extent do you feel that LOOSE characterizes your pattern of organizational behavior?
                                    (Choose and note an appropriate number)                      ____

When we are STUCK ON TIGHT, we tend to become rigid and unyielding in the face of conditions we are uncomfortable with and don’t feel able to change.  We tend to resist all attempts to influence us.  We tend to become inflexible, stubborn, annoyed, frustrated, and angry.  We feel upset about being that way, yet feel unable to change.

On the same 7-point scale, to what extent do you feel that TIGHT characterizes
your pattern of organizational behavior?
                                    (Choose and note an appropriate number)                      ____