Why Is The Excuse Of “Just Following Orders” Seen As Justifiable (average, profit)

[Huckleberry3911948]

Since Nuremberg trials the soldier not the commanding officer is responsible for carrying out illegal orders
To me nonsense let’s hanchos off the hook and throws the little guy under the bus
Happens a lot to cops and soldiers
Of course consider we hung the Germans out to dry for abortion and look at us now

[Herodotus]

Many of the greatest people in history are ones who questioned authority. That said, there is always a price to pay for doing such. In your case, it may be difficulty in the workplace, or the loss of your job. I can respect a man who is willing to fall on his sword for what he feels is right. In the past, the cost could be much worse. A troublesome worker could find himself basically blackballed, with no way to make a living, and let's not even talk about those who questioned political authority. The guillotine, brazen bull, crucifixion, the boats, and other such horrors could await those who questioned authority, or refused to go along with what the leader wanted. You can't really blame some people for not wanting to rock the boat. Go tell Kim Jong-un no as a North Korean, and see what happens.

[oceangaia]

I think it often comes down to a difficult choice between *possible* consequences in the future versus *guaranteed* consequences now. Even if those future consequences could be more severe, it is going to take some nerve to defy orders and take the consequences now. In an extreme case such as being in the military of a dictator, those immediate consequences could be death.

[Dane_in_LA]

Originally Posted by jimmy12345678

A person who says that tells me a couple of things:

1. That person is unable to think for themselves or question what they are told, simply if a person in charge said it, it must be true and the right thing to do.

2. They don’t want accountability if they do something bad or wrong.


We need to foster an attitude of constantly questioning all authority and seeing whether it is righteous and justified or not. Blind obedience only benefits those in charge.


Thoughts?

Hi. The USCG says this is the way it's done. If think you have a better idea, write them. In the meantime, do as I say and we can discuss why when we're at the dock.

[tnff]

When your definition of not following orders is "I'll take as long as I want or I'll pack up my tools and go home," you aren't yet experienced enough to discuss the moral, legal, and ethical obligations of disobeying orders. You throw this phrase out, like so much of your posts, like it's a game. Your experience of the world and understanding is way to narrow.

[Lekrii]

Originally Posted by Quietude

So an employee should never question orders, because the boss is smarter? Even when, say, the directive is to find or invent violations to allow the company to cancel franchise contracts?

(See current stories on the hit-woman who ran Subway franchises out of business, on orders from above, so the corporation could pick up the going operations.)

Did you even read what I wrote? I said often a boss has more information than the employee for a very good reason. I never suggested an employee should never question orders.

Please respond to what I actually said when you quote me.

Originally Posted by jimmy12345678

If I question why were doing things a certain way, I expect a clear, well thought out, intelligent answer, not “because I said so”. Even if I don’t agree with their reasoning, I’ll at least respect that decision. I do not respect decisions made on blind emotion or someone on a power trip just barking out orders.

And if that answer is "there's more going on here than you realize, you don't need to know the answer, you need to trust me and do what I ask" sometimes that needs to be good enough. If you don't trust your boss, why are you working for that person?

[AnOrdinaryCitizen]

There's a popular question: "Do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy?" Look it up on Google and apply it to your everyday life and your workplace.

[loves2read]

I am reading series of mystery novels set in England where main character is psychotherapist who has uncanny ability to profile the people who often commit crimes he becomes involved with as victim or bystander...
One of the books deals with him teaching a class to college students and mentioning the college experiment where students were given the instructions to apply electric shocks/current to other students who gave wrong answers to questionnaire...
They even went so far as to apply full measure current supposedly strong enough to kill
Of course there was no current applied in reality but those who thought they were heard false sounds that implied it was real—-and they still did it...

[Sockeye66]

Originally Posted by loves2read

I am reading series of mystery novels set in England where main character is psychotherapist who has uncanny ability to profile the people who often commit crimes he becomes involved with as victim or bystander...
One of the books deals with him teaching a class to college students and mentioning the college experiment where students were given the instructions to apply electric shocks/current to other students who gave wrong answers to questionnaire...
They even went so far as to apply full measure current supposedly strong enough to kill
Of course there was no current applied in reality but those who thought they were heard false sounds that implied it was real—-and they still did it...

That's a true and interesting study and doesn't have anything to do with Angry-jimmy's post.

Basically it was testing the how far the person administering the shock went at different levels of witnessing the results. The more involved like seeing and hearing the reaction the quicker people stopped. The less involved, neither seeing nor hearing, the more shock was given.

[WannabeCPA]

Like a lot of things there's a balance to be had, though that balance will likely differ from person to person. If you're a police officer and your supervisor tells you to shoot someone in custody for no apparent reason, I don't think you can justify that. If that same supervisor tells you to use funds meant for buying office supplies to buy him a cup of coffee or else he'll make your life miserable, I think a lot of people will feel you were justified, or at least that your behavior was excusable. Of course there are gray areas too. If you're in a maximum security prison and in a prison gang and your gang tells you to kill someone or they'd kill you I think some would say it's morally justified to kill that other person. Others would disagree. I'd bet every single one of us has, at some point in their life, done something equivalent to "following orders". Basically doing something we personally don't want to do because someone with authority over us tells us to do it.