Management 13th Edition by John Schermerhorn,Daniel Bachrach

Exercise 14

THINK BEFORE YOU ACT
Sooner or later someone in "authority" is going to ask us to do something that seems odd or incorrect, or just plain suspicious.
Sometimes "No" May Be Your Best Answer

M cDonald's Restaurant -A telephone caller claiming to be a police officer and having "corporate" on the line, directs the assistant store manager to take a female employee into the back room and interrogate her while he is on the line. The assistant manager does so for over three hours and follows "Officer Scott's" instructions to the point where the 18-year-old employee is naked and doing jumping jacks. The hoax was discovered only when the assistant manager called her boss to check out the story. The caller was later arrested and found to have tried similar tricks at over 70 McDonald's restaurants.
Managers are supposed to make decisions, and employees are supposed to follow their lead. Although that is certainly the conventional wisdom, sometimes saying "Yes" to an authority figure isn't the correct thing to do. There may be times when it's best to disobey. Sooner or later someone in "authority" is going to ask for something that seems odd or incorrect or just plain suspicious. If what's asked is wrong, but you still comply with the request, you'll share the blame. Blind followership can't be excused with the claim: "I was just following orders." But, who's prepared for the unexpected
YOUR TAKE
If obedience isn't always the right choice, how can you know when it's time to disobey Should students get more training on both spotting bad directives and learning how to say "No" Do management courses have enough to say about tendencies to obey, how to double-check decisions to make sure obedience to a manager's request is justified, and even about the price of disobedience Is it possible to educate and train students to be "principled" followers who don't always follow orders and sometimes question them