I accidentally went over the head of one of my bosses today. I'm not overly concerned about it, but it raised the question for me. When is it okay to break the chain of command and when should you obey it? It seems to me that blindly obeying the chain of command is foolish (outside of maybe a military organisation) but blatantly disregarding it could cause problems as well. What's the SE take on it?
Posted Jul 6, 2017, 11:10 PM UTC
Shamelessly taken from Schlock Mercenary's Seventy Maxims:
A Sergeant in motion outranks a Lieutenant who doesn't know what's going on.
An ordnance technician at a dead run outranks everybody.
I've found that as long as you aren't undermining the authority of the boss, or bosses, that you go over then there isn't much of a problem
I'd like to add that respecting the chain of command can build a relationship with your supervisor that is useful. I have often kept my boss informed on more than strictly the need to know, and I have found that it can often be a two-way street. It can be very advantageous to follow the chain.
In my experience, which may or may not be universal, jumping the chain of command can be viewed negatively by the up-the-chain supervisor. It can be seen as either disloyalty, a disregard for procedure, or both.
If you have done this and it was noticed by your immediate supervisor, I reccommend that you acknowledge what you did, see the error in it, and won't do it again. You will be respected for it.
If you can get away with it, it's fine. If it makes you a new ennemy, brace yourself.