One thing I’ve discovered in my many years of managing is this: People like workplace rules.

This doesn’t mean that all people like all rules all the time. It also doesn’t mean that people like dumb, regressive, shortsighted policies, like ones that seek to gag or muzzle employees and limit normal human behavior.

No, my experience hasn’t found any of that, but it has shown me that reasonable people like reasonable rules and polices that help guide them in their everyday duties. Employees want to have some structure to their jobs and some help in dealing with difficult situations, and that’s why smart and well-thought-through policies can make for a better business.

But there is another side to workforce rules and regulations: They can be used as a hammer to pound workers into submission and limit flexibility and thoughtfulness. In my world, you want to cultivate smart employees who use their brain and exercise some discretion, when appropriate, to deal with the many shades of gray that we deal with in life.

The problem is that discretion is hard to manage. Tough, inflexible rules are much easier to hold employees to, especially when such rules are put in the hands of small-minded and unbending supervisors in an organization’s management food chain.

And, that’s why what happened at Best Buy, the large “multinational retailer of technology and entertainment products” (as the company describes itself), is a lesson for executives everywhere.

According to the Denver Post, “Two employees who tried to stop a knife-wielding shoplifter at the Best Buy store … in Broomfield [Colorado] were fired for violating corporate policy. Jared Bergstreser tackled a man who allegedly stole two cell phones from the store August 1. Colin Trapp came to his aid. Both men were fired [August 16] at the request of corporate officials because they ignored company rules against following shoplifters out the door, Bergstreser said.”

According to a Wall Street Journal account of the incident, “Bergstreser said he gave chase when a man burst out of the Best Buy store … with an armload of electronics he hadn’t paid for. Bergstreser, a 20-year-old former high school football player, said he wrestled the man to the ground. Trapp, 23, said he also rushed out of the store and pinned the suspect.”

The tussle got messy when “the alleged shoplifter was able to grab a pocket knife and cut a store manager who also had run outside,” according to the Journal. “The suspect and a male accomplice then fled, jumping into a getaway car, a gray Pontiac with a female driver, local police said. No one has been arrested.”

This falls into the category of “no good deed goes unpunished,” because what many feel is heroic conduct is actually a violation of Best Buy’s corporate policy. 

Spokeswoman Kelly Groehler told the Denver Post that the company has clear policies regarding shoplifters, basically that they are supposed to let them go. “Employees who work in our stores are aware, and trained, on the standard operating procedures for dealing with shoplifting or theft,” she said. “These procedures are in place first and foremost for the safety of our employees.”

Although Best Buy’s policies are apparently common in the retail world, that hasn’t stopped people in Colorado from feeling that these two Best Buy employees got a raw deal.

The Journal notes that “scores of comments, most expressing admiration, have been posted on Trapp’s Facebook page and other Web sites. ‘Punished for not being cowards,’ one commentator wrote. … Several posters pledged to boycott the chain.”

I understand the Best Buy policy on shoplifters, and I agree with the need to have such a policy, but I wonder: Did Best Buy really need to terminate the employment of two very engaged members of their workforce? Was there not another option? And is this not a case of following the rules over the cliff?

On Wednesday, the Denver Post published an editorial protesting Best Buy’s decision to fire the young men. “Shouldn’t heroism be rewarded?” the paper asked. I agree completely. There’s a way to deal with this incident and reward the heroic effort without having these guys lose their job.

Best Buy needs to inject a little common sense into this argument and not be so focused on rules and procedures that they can’t see the bigger picture. If I were the Big Boss at Best Buy, I would have my HR people give these two a formal written reprimand for violating policy, but also a bonus and public commendation for their effort—above and beyond the call of duty—to help the company.

Heroes in the workplace should be recognized and rewarded, whether they help subdue shoplifters or land the damaged airplane they’re piloting safely in the Hudson River. Common sense and good management practice should tell us that this is the right thing to do. Letting corporate rules and policies dictate otherwise is no way to run a railroad—or to build a highly engaged workforce.

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