Officers bear command responsibility for subordinates’ actions whether or not they ordered them

Evidence

Who was responsible for this? As Kelman and Hamilton analyze the situation, the answer depends on what kinds of responsibility we are consider-ing. Clearly, Calley and the enlisted men had direct causal responsibility; they did it. They killed people and they did it knowingly. Yet we also hold the notion of role responsibility; in the military this is discussed under the notion of “command responsibility.” Officers are responsible for the conduct of their subordinates whether they ordered the actions of those subordinates or only allowed them to happen. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4002

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies the distinction between direct causal responsibility and role/command responsibility in organizational settings.