i totally agree with you. i am just trying to see it from the candidates perspective. these questions are so common that i don't think many would have any idea what you are really after. so in a sense it still feels like a trick question.
so i wonder if there is any better way to test for this.
when i was doing an internship once the boss asked me to take care of some task, and i said no, because i was going for my lunch break now. later that day i got berated by my supervisor for denying the bosses request. it was a pretty frustrating experience, but i was to young to defend myself.
on the other hand, in china, where people are typically very subservient at work, i once hired a student, who, after about 3 months of working with me had the courage to argue a technical question with me and stand his ground defending his opinion. he had never worked for a foreigner before, and he certainly would never act like that with a chinese superior. when he started he barely even spoke english (he could read and write it though) so i felt pretty proud that he was able to make that change while working with me.
the point of that story is that the initial response in an interview may not be an indicator of future behavior because the behavior can be changed by how i treat my subordinates, welcoming critical responses and encouraging different opinions.
