Question 1 In his article, Jerry Harvey discusses how organizational dilemmas such as reductions in force (laying off) of employees, asking one department to support the layoffs off another department if they are sparred, etc. has similar principles behind it as the murder of Jews during the Holocaust. The article states that in essence, “a reduction is force (RIF) is little murder.” Harvey then outlines that various parties that are involved in committing the murder and what their roles are. Next, he outlines the various thought patterns that are associated with committing the little murder. These thought patterns are used by people to try to rationalize or justify to themselves why they participated in the act. Although not valid, these thought patterns allow many people to “cope” with what they are partaken in. Finally, he discusses possible ways to try to eliminate the little murder (RIFS, layoffs, etc.) that occur in organizations. In the article, Eichmann represents what Harvey describes as a middle management executioner. Although, Eichmann did not institute the policy of the deportation and killing of the Jews during World War II, he was the one that executed the policy by organizing and managing the deportation and killing of Jews. Eichmann can be compared to a middle manager executioner in an organization that does not institute a RIF, but organizations, facilitates, and manages how the RIF occurs. Middle management executioners, such as Eichmann, use the defense that they neither developed the policy nor actually carried out the physical act, he neither developed the policy to kill nor did the killing himself. The Danes were the people of Denmark that displayed unified opposition to the deportation of Danish Jews. When the Nazis tried to identify Danish Jews for deportation by having them wear yellow stars, the Danish king said he would be the first to wear the star. Furthermore, officials from the Danish government stated that they would resign if they saw any anti-Jewish acts by the Germans. The Danes remained unified in their opposition to any proposal from the Nazis to deport Danish Jews. Because of their unified opposition, the Nazis were mostly unsuccessful in their deportation of Danish Jews. Their opposition also caused some Germans to rethink or question the policy of the deportation of Jews.
Harvey’s and Milgram’s works are related because they both show how people can and will go to extreme measures when listening/obeying authority figures and how difficult it is for the majority of people to oppose authority. Many of the thought patterns that individuals had in Milgram’s experiment also match the thought patterns that the Jewish Council Members and Eichmann had in order to justify the acts committed. As Harvey mentioned, Nazis changed their vocabulary and instead of saying murder or killing, they used works such as final solution or special treatment. In the same way, the teachers called the act of shocking an experiment instead of shocking or hurting a person.
In both cases a fear of the authority figure also existed. Although the fear as Harvey mentioned, is a negative fantasy, both Eichmann and the teachers believed that negative consequences might occur if they did not obey or questioned the authority figure. Although the belief that negative consequences can occur might not be rooted in reality, the participants justify it as a possible reality. In addition, individuals justify that they were just listening to the authority figure. From a year age individuals are taught to follow what the authority figure says, especially authority figures in uniforms. For example, police officers, doctors, etc. since these individuals are seen as the experts. In both examples, the authority figure either has a white coat or uniform and participants can justify to themselves that they were only following what the authority figure and expert told them to do. It is important to note that none of the