Malicious compliance


Malicious compliance is the behaviour of intentionally inflicting harm by strictly following the orders of a superior while knowing or intending that compliance with the orders will have an unintended or negative result. The term usually implies the following of an order in such a way that ignores or otherwise undermines the order's intent but follows it to the letter. It is a form of passive-aggressive behavior that is often associated with poor management-labor relationships, micromanagement, a generalized lack of confidence in leadership, and resistance to changes perceived as pointless, duplicative, dangerous, or otherwise undesirable. It is common in organizations with top-down management structures with poor morale, leadership, or mutual trust.

Examples

One example would be a child who, on the day of the fall equinox, is told to “stay out of the pool for the rest of the summer," then learns that the equinox is in two minutes, and gets back in the pool exactly two minutes later after summer has technically ended.
Another example would be a public relations office demanding that employees of its parent company give explicit approval for any public comment or interaction after an undesirable media incident. Employees of the company unhappy with the policy or the company in general bombard the public relations office with requests for even the slightest public interaction, overwhelming the public relations office and causing its work - and possibly the work of the company itself - to grind to a halt.
In another example, a group of firefighters was ordered by management to wear a self-contained breathing apparatus for safety reasons. In response, they took to wearing the equipment on their backs while ignoring it and breathing normally. This made their work less efficient than if they had not been wearing the breathing apparatus at all. A further instruction was required ordering them to wear and use the apparatus.