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'Insubordination' is the act of a subordinate deliberately disobeying a lawful order. A lawful order is a directive from a legitimate representative of an organization, a person who has been designated as having the authority to issue the order, to a subordinate within the organization who is expected to carry out the directive as part of their duties within the organization
Refusing to perform an action that is not ethical or legal is not insubordination. Refusing to perform an action that is not within the scope of authority of the person issuing the order is not insubordination.
Insubordination is typically a punishable offense in hierarchical organizations which depend on people lower in the chain of command to do as they are told.

Contents

Military

Economy

Examples

See also

Military

The concept of insubordination is most often associated with military organizations, as military organizations have a chain of command and lawful orders given by a commissioned officer (CO) or noncommissioned officer (NCO) are expected to be carried out by the person to whom the order is given. Refusal of a military officer to obey his (civilian) superiors would also count, though in some nations the head of the government is (at least technically) also the most superior officer of the military (see for example Commander in Chief).

Economy

Other types of hierarchical structures, especially corporations, may also use insubordination as a reason for dismissal or censure of an employee.
In the modern workplace in the Western world, the organizational culture is usually sufficiently relaxed and un-military so that the issue of insubordination rarely arises formally. The power relationships in the modern workplace are less obvious and are sometimes inverted when employees with special and essential skills are so valuable to the organization that what would be considered insubordination in other cases is overlooked or at least no overt action is taken.
There have been a number of court cases in the United States which have involved charges of insubordination from the employer with counter charges of infringement of First Amendment rights from the employee. A number of these cases have reached the U.S. Supreme Court usually involving a conflict between an institution of higher education and a faculty member.

Examples

There have been a number of famous and infamous people who have committed insubordination or publicly objected to an organizational practice.

★ Douglas MacArthur - US General who was relieved of command by President Harry S. Truman during the Korean Conflict.

★ Jackie Robinson - US baseball player was accused of insubordination while in the military but was exonerated at a court martial.

★ Howard Zinn - historian who was fired for insubordination

★ Albert Pike - charged by the Confederate Army with insubordination

★ George Grosz - soldier in German Army, World War I, and artist

★ Eugene Debs - labor organizer and member of Socialist Party

★ Jeffrey Wigand - VP of Brown & Williamson who revealed tobacco industry practices

★ Billy Mitchell - famous aviator, United States Army Air Corp commander during World War I and proponent of air power during the interwar years

★ Hunter S. Thompson - famous writer fired from Time Magazine

★ Thomas Scott (Orangeman) executed by Louis Riel because of this crime

See also

★ Mutiny

★ Whistle blower

★ Criticism

★ Court cases involving insubordination:

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★ Rendell-Baker v. Kohn, 457 U.S. 830 (1982 US Supreme Court)

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★ Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919 US Supreme Court)

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★ Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U.S. 593