Malicious Compliance

(You are Never Too Old to Learn Something New)

As knowledgeable as I think I am, I am always learning new things.

In talking to an associate about a business situation, he mentioned that it sounded like a case of Malicious Compliance. Not being familiar with that term, I decided to learn more about it.

Malicious compliance is defined as “The act of intentionally inflicting harm by strictly following orders, rules, or policies with the knowledge that compliance with the policy will not have the intended result”.

That is some heady and powerful stuff.

Chances are good we have all seen this occur sometimes. We didn’t know the terms or name for it, but weren’t comfortable or approved it in action. We knew it was wrong and may have felt some adverse effects because of it.

An example of malicious compliance is:

For safety reasons a group of U.S. firefighters was required to wear self-contained breathing apparatus . In response, they took to wearing the equipment on their backs but not using it. This made their work less efficient than if they had not been wearing the breathing apparatus at all. A further instruction was required that ordered them to wear and use the apparatus.

Another example is two soldiers who were told to ‘paint the whole room white’ by a petty superior. They did in fact ‘paint the whole room white’. This included the light fittings, windows, desks and chairs. This act of malicious…