Anyone who
has worked with children, served in the military or managed a healthcare
institution knows how important it is to achieve compliance (or obedience) to
rules and expectations. Yet, compliance
has also led to some of the most egregious atrocities ever perpetrated against
humanity. We all know the testimonies of
war criminals who were “just following orders.”
Unfortunately, studies show that most normal, decent people (like you
and me) will still do bad or stupid things under the influence of our cultural
training to comply with the authority system where we find ourselves. Kind of scary.
Ira Chaleff,
in Intelligent Disobedience, Doing Right When What You’re Told To Do
Is Wrong, describes the types of situations where compliance can obviously
be detrimental, even career-ending or deadly.
Airplanes have crashed because a co-pilot didn’t stand up to the pilot
who was making a mistake. The WorldCom
accountant, who was asked by management to move funds around illegally, thought
about refusing, but that wasn’t enough to keep her out of jail. A guide dog that sees an oncoming car, but
obeys his blind master’s signal to cross the street, is going to get them both
killed. A teacher witnesses bullying by
another teacher, does nothing about it because it wasn’t her classroom, and
gets fired.
Chaleff noticed
several red flags to watch for: conflict
between orders you’ve been given and a higher set of values you hold, technical
answers given to smooth over moral questions, unwillingness of an authority
figure to put orders in writing, noticing that you are avoiding implementing an
order unless the authority figure is physically present.
He points to
items which can help people intelligently disobey: voicing problems sooner, withdrawing your
support if you are also an authority figure, having bystander support, and
training your subordinates to feel comfortable questioning unreasonable orders
(you’d want them to, wouldn’t you?).
It is easy
to complain about the problems created by the authority structures around
us. Listen in on any break room
discussion. It is harder to identify
when to take a stand and how to take a stand.
We’re really talking freedom of conscience here. Problems can arise suddenly. The costs can be high. There are no guarantees you’ll win. It pays to be prepared.
© Donna
Stuart, ADPC February
27, 2016
Chaleff,
Ira. Intelligent Disobedience. Oakland: Berrett-Koehler Publishers,
Inc., 2015.
