Should you do it?

I've read others who have quoted the Confucian Book of Rites as saying, "Whoever [...] wants to order the state and does not rely on custom resembles a man who wants to plow without a plowshare." (If someone more knowledgable can confirm or correct the quote along with a link, I'll update this post.)

In his essay "La Loi" (The Law), Frederic Bastiat said, "No society can exist unless the laws are respected to a certain degree. The safest way to make laws respected is to make them respectable."

It's been proposed that the costs of monitoring and enforcing compliance with externally imposed rules in organizations of any sufficient size are large enough that no better than 10 percent of those rules can be "policed" by management. Successful adherence requires a kind of "spontaneous abidance" - a willingness of the organization to comply without the need for external coercion. That is, for an organization to work effectively and efficiently, the members must want to follow the rules voluntarily and enforce them among themselves. Why would they do that?

Most of us would agree that we need some rules of just conduct in society to establish order and predictability - some of them externally imposed and perhaps a few of them coercively enforced. This allows us to coordinate our individual actions in pursuit of our goals with everyone else who is trying to do the same. Because of this we accept that we must have some constraints placed on our freedom - as Cicero said, "We are the servants of the law, so that we can be free." (I'm full of quotes today...)

But they need to be the right kinds of rules - consistent with our shared values and accepted norms of behavior. When externally imposed rules conflict with these, Bastiat says we are asking a person to choose between the "cruel alternative" of either losing his or her moral (and common) sense, or losing respect for the rules and the organization that imposes them.

As a manager, I'm sure you don't want to intentially create such a dilemma for your employees. If you have given directives, suggestions or expectations that don't make sense, you'd want employees to speak up and challenge them. But how will employees know if your rule (suggestion, expectation, etc.) should be respected or challenged? Fortunately, there is a gold standard against which any specific rule, command, action, process, etc., can be judged: The MBM Guiding Principles.

If you are in the position of imposing a rule (suggestion, expectation, etc.), make sure it is consistent with these principles. If you've determined it is inconsistent with these principles, get rid of it. If you are on the receiving end, don't just blindly follow, viciously comply or quietly ignore! If what you are being expected to do is consistent with these principles, then do it with gusto. But if it isn't, then you should challenge it - with humility and respect.

Those are my thoughts - I could be wrong. If I've gone too far out on the limb, take out your saw and cut me loose - in the comment section.

Comments

[Chris]

Ben, I've been wrestling with that one myself, you've view looks bang-on to me!