SOP has its own importance to the employee as it is a procedures or regulations that have to be followed by them in their routine operations. But, in my opinion, making the employee obey the order without giving them a chance to speak is not right. If they feel unfair or dissatisfaction , they should have the right to voice out their opinion to their superior. As a superior, they have to accepted and heard what the employee opinion as they also play important role in the organization. 

In my view, not necessarily employees always obey the instructions from the superior because they also have the right to speak. If an employer is telling a bad thing, it is not necessary for the employee to comply with the instructions as it may harm the worker's performance. 

The reason why do people need to follow these procedures is because regulations may require them as part of the compliance (OSHA, SOX, EPA, DOT, FDA). Besides, procedures protect work processes. Preventing process errors is the main reasons for writing procedures. Procedure or work instruction act as controls or countermeasure for identified risks that can create defects, injuries, or non-conformances. Furthermore, procedures protect workers. Workers who are following established procedures have more confidence that their actions are supported by management, the underlying statutes or regulations, and that they are following industry best practices while protect workers from injuries. Moreover, procedures protect customers. Customers are entitled to dependable product or service delivery based on established and accepted measures and not on any one worker’s personal values, and not varying from one geographic area to another. The standard operating procedures protect your customers from defects.

However, I feel that in certain circumstances, people can choose not to follow the SOP. In this circumstances, it is wrong. They have the right to question the procedures if they are disagree with the procedure set. For instance, one site often does processes in a different way, so people often get procedures that are irrelevant for different sites.  This results in standard operating procedures that are not necessarily based on best practice.  Generally, these SOP's get ignored because procedures are incorrect and inconsistent for a particular site. The same things can be applied to ethics and morality. The superiors can choose to follow his or her ethical and moral values and beliefs rather than follow the SOP in certain circumstances. The superiors can choose what is more important and correct according to them. For example, in John Riordan’s story, his action of deciding to save many lives of his workers and to go against his superior’s order is a perfect example. He did a great job back them although he might face the risk of being punished from his action.

A lot of SOPs pass on the 'how', but not the 'why.'  This means that company processes get repeated without people ever questioning why they need to do something.  Over time, staff are taught processes that solve problems that no longer exist.  Superiors should empower their staff by explaining why they have to something, so they know whether that process is redundant when things change. People have the right to ask the reasons behind every procedure without to obey them blindly. They can go through every procedure and ask why they have to do that procedure. As a result, the staff will be comfortable and confident to follow and apply the correct SOP in their daily work activities. 

On the other hand, from the perspective of Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB), people are willing to go beyond what is formally expected of them to contribute to the well-being of their organization and those in it. An example can be taken from John Riordan’s story. He was willing to go extra miles to save many lives of his workers. His action back then has changed the lives of his workers.