I could probably write a book about the examples I've seen, but here's one of my favourites to illustrate the point: Domain experts recommend a particular product after a rigorous vendor selection process. However, senior management overrules the specialists and force them to implement the Microsoft solution, which the domain experts have advised is unsuitable for the environment and not a good match for requirements. As the specialists predict, the Microsoft solution takes a lot more time and money to implement and the users hate using it, so the project is deemed a failure, and a new project begins immediately to replace it. Sounds like a complete waste of few years and a few million? Not if senior management had negotiated tens of millions off their annual Microsoft licence fees on the condition of being able to say they were in the process of rolling out this particular Microsoft product.
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Yes, sometimes the employee doesn't know things the management does, and if they did it would make the seemingly irrational more rational (or at least slightly less irrational).
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I think this is why transparency about why your asking the employee to do something is so important. If they understand the end goal and agree with the path they will gladly and proudly take it.
The nice thing about transparency is, of they understand the desired outcome and are given sufficient autonomy, they might find an even better path without specific direction from management.