Stanley Milgram’s experiments, as described in the Obedience videos, appear to the “teacher” to be about operant conditioning, but they actually explore the extremes to which people will go to obey “authority.” Does what you’ve seen influence your view of leaders you follow? Of thoughts about your own leadership? About the power a leader wields?
Up to what point would teachers be able to direct their students; this question has actually created the development of a more socially-based examination as to how much development of recognition of authority would people actually respond to. It could be analyzed that the field of management in business administration has specifically been interested in determining what specific matters define the capacity or the capability of every human being to become more responsive to the authority that others have upon them. Relatively, such point of authority renders the leader a particular sense of power that determines the position one has in relation to others and how they should follow his commands.
Based on Milgram’s experiments, it is relatively scary how authority and power work together to impose fear and the delusion of the need to follow through the situation and become more conformed to the idea of obeying their superiors. Apparently, the psychological distinction of understanding the concept of superiority drives people to obey their leaders amidst the conditional existence of ethical concerns about the commands being given them to follow. The same thing is true in business organizations; some people are willing to do towards the extent of breaking their principles and the values they believe in just to be able to please their leaders or be compensated for the job accordingly [no matter how unethical it may seem].
This is the reason why when one is given the position of leading a particular group, it is important that he becomes more concerned as to how he is able to affect the being of those who he is leading, thus making amends on how he specifically gets involved on the things they do. It is better to be a good leader who motivates than a superior who forces others to do as he wills.
References:
Milgram, S., Liberty; II. J., Toledo. R. and Blacken J. (1956). Response to intrusion in waiting lines. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 51, 683-9.
