Affiliations: Department of Leadership and Management, United States
Coast Guard Academy, 15 Mohegan Avenue, New London, CT 06320-4195, USA.
E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: While organizations function by regulating the actions of their
members, when these attempted regulations are experienced as invasive and
threatening, they create the potential for resistance [1]. This paper
examines organizational resistance by cadets at the United States Coast Guard
Academy, in particular their resistance to regulations. Contrary to the popular
public image of blind obedience to authority by subordinates in the military,
there exists an inherent tension between blind obedience and loyal disobedience
(i.e., situations in which being disobedient rather than obedient is considered
as being loyal). The paper focuses on cadet resistance of a specific
regulation, the accouterments regulation. The analysis concentrates on
understanding the various categories and patterns that emerged from in-depth
interviews, conversations, institutional documents, emails and photographs. As
well as emergent themes and their implications to the Coast Guard Academy, an
intervention strategy is presented. The major themes discussed are the nature,
meaning, and form of regulations, resistance, the cycle of
resistance/counter-resistance, and the cadet/administration relationship and
communication.