Breaking Workplace Rules

Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.

–Henry David Thoreau

There's a recurring pattern in the plot of the popular TV show, 24. At some point in every season, its hero, Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer, will break the rules to get the bad guys. Whether it's deliberately disregarding orders from his higher-ups or breaking someone out of jail, rules, and deference to authority in general, tend to have very little to do with Jack's understanding of the world.

Most of us will admit to disliking rules and secretly sympathizing with Jack Bauer – after all, he breaks the rules to save the day, and always does so successfully. But rules, people remind us, are there for a reason. They're necessary. So what about rules and the workplace? Is it all right to break the rules at work? And can breaking the rules help your career?

Of course, there's breaking the rules for those odd times when we're asked to save the world, and then there's just plain breaking the rules. When it come to the latter, a 2004 Kelly Services survey of New Zealand workers concerning ethical behavior in the workplace shows that some workers are willing to break or bend the rules, even though they consider it to be wrong. According to the survey, 24% admitted stealing stationary and office supplies, while only 7% approved of this behavior. Similarly, 53% admitted using their employer's computers for personal reasons, but only 32% felt that it was acceptable.

That type of rule breaking is different from what can be called ethical rule breaking. In a hospital setting, for example, a nurse might allow an extra family member or friend into a dying patient's room, even though doing so exceeds the limit for visitors. A bus driver might let a homeless person ride for free. In terms of ethical rule breaking, rules are broken because the possible harm that might be caused in doing so is considered negligible when compared to the benefits. Here, rule breaking is ultimately an altruistic gesture.

Things get a bit more complicated when we consider yet another type of rule breaking: career-advancing rule breaking. This type of rule breaking can be outwardly ethical. For example, leaving your workstation unattended to help an old woman with a cane – in order to look good in front of your supervisor. And it can be unethical. For example, reading your workplace rival's personal emails for dirt to be used against his or her promotion. Career-advancing rule breaking can even fall into a category beyond the question of ethics, beyond – in Nietzschean terms – good and evil. You may recognize, for example, that the rules and regulations at your workplace lead to inefficiencies or hamper innovation. You have spoken to your supervisor about the situation, but he doesn't believe you and won't do anything to change them. Your gut instinct tells you he's wrong, so you weigh the risks and choose to break the rules to show him. If you're right, you'll look like a hero, like Jack Bauer. If you're wrong … well, the other thing about rules is that there are consequences to breaking them.

Rule breaking happens more often than not in the workplace, and it's necessary. Rules can stifle innovation and history is full of enough examples to demonstrate this truism. And reality hardly ever conforms to the rules we design to order it – hence the bus driver's and the nurse's ethical dilemma. But whatever your motivations, whether they are unethical, ethical, or career-advancing, if you're considering breaking the rules, always keep in mind the following:

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