What should a person do when the boss tells you to do something wrong?

[sterlinggirl]

What should a professional do when a boss tells them to do something that is ill-logical, crazy, time wasting, and ill informed?

1. Look confused and ask them if they could give you some work instructions. Nine times out of ten, the 'idiot' bosses are too busy putting out fires to do it, and they'll tell you verbally. That gives you an excuse to get confused and do it your own way.

2. If they put it in writing, hand them exactly what they ordered, along with a list of problems you encountered and suggested solutions to each problem.

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by political genius

What should a professional do when a boss tells them to do something that is ill-logical, crazy, time wasting, and ill informed?

On occasion I have worked for bosses that were just plain insane and directed me to do something in a way that made no sense. Now I know we all have our favored ways of doing things and much of life's decisions include discretion, but some of these commands were just plain insane.

I would argue with the boss and try to convince them that their approach would not be effective and would cause the company harm and create waste and inefficiency. Maybe because their ego would not let them admit they were wrong and wanted to show me who was boss, they would not back down.

Usually I would just go ahead and do it like the boss said and then be told off when the results turned out exactly as I suspected. But in other cases I would go to his/her boss and try to get the decision overturned. I have never been successful and was fired once for going over the bosses head.

What is the logical thing to do in these situations where you are convinced the boss is wrong but their actions are not illegal? Anyone have luck going over the bosses head?

The assumption of this question is that you have the same information as your boss. Now, a great deal of the time, you might have enough information to realize that the action is indeed stupid. But, having run a company myself, there are also times when I didn't have time to explain every little nuance of why I wanted something a certain way. So, later on, the lightbulb came on over the employee's head and they said, "Ohhhhhh, now I understand why you wanted it this way."

Second guessing the boss and going around him is almost never, ever a good idea--unless, of course, he's doing something illegal or immoral. It brands you immediately as untrustworthy. What's more, it's typically wasted energy. Because a truly incompetent boss will eventually get shown the door anyway.

[Tricky D]

I never work for bosses who don't appreciate my input.
Besidez, every action I do has to be within line of my conscience.
It is my general experience that when you're honest with your boss they'll appreciate your honesty.
But I have to admit that I wear my tongue up my sleeve so most bosses already expect my criticism ( read: input).
And whenever I believe that the order my boss gave me is stupid but not illegal I'll 1st give him my opinion and then do it his way.
Afterwards they'll usually tell me that I was right.
But once in a while I have to admit that I was wrong.