‘Hang on, are you allowed to assign me work? You’re not my boss! I’m going to go check with my boss that I have to do this work before I start it.’
I think it’s fair to say that there is a certain amount of status associated with assigning work.
It’s traditional for a manager to assign tasks to his underlings.
It would be rare for the minimum wage worker to assign tasks to his boss. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if that minimum wage worker’s boss replied with:
‘You don’t tell me what to do, I tell you what to do, now go get me a cup of coffee!’
So what if someone who wasn’t your boss, who works in a completely different department started assigning you work?
What if the customer service manager started assigning work to a sales rep?
I think it would be fair to assume that the sales rep would have to validate the authority before starting the task. Check with their boss, ask the question: ‘Do I have to do what they say?’
I think wherever there is status there will also be respect.
To take the customer service manager and sales rep example. I think the sales rep would not query having to do the work if the CS manager first showed respect and asked permission of the sales manager, for the sales rep’s time, in front of the sales rep.
There would be no qualms and the sales rep would get on with the task.
But if someone starts assigning work outside of their authority, without any preamble or obvious respect shown, I think it would be safe to assume those assigned the task would become indignant.
Now if it was asking for a favour it would be a completely different story because you’ve shown respect. A request offers the other the chance to turn you down, an order does not.
A volunteer initiative also differs in this aspect because the volunteer has a choice, they can leave whenever they want. Also they probably don’t mind doing the work because it’s for a cause they believe in. They are enrolled and present of their own volition.
The workplace stands apart.
Hearing orders from your boss is to be expected, you get paid to follow orders from your boss but otherwise no one likes being ordered around.
Thomas Duggan 