The Dark Side of Organizations and a Method to Reveal It

Abstract

Few who have read Stanley Milgram’s book, Obedience to Authority (1974), or have seen videos of these “shocking” experiments can forget them. In our view, Milgram’s experiments offer important lessons about contexts, human behaviors, and the role of contexts in setting boundary conditions around such behaviors. This article takes these lessons seriously. But first, a succinct summary of the experiments. A “teacher” is instructed by the “scientist-in-charge” to administer an electric shock to a “student” every time he gives a wrong answer—which is most of the time. The teacher is given a list of questions in advance. The electric shocks range from 15 to 435 volts and are visibly displayed on a panel facing the teacher: Slight 15+ ... Intense 255+ ... Danger 375+ ... XXX 435. The student—a superb actor who is not actually shocked—starts to grunt at 75 volts. He follows a standard script.