Duty and Orders

[Selexor]

Exactly, and look at Stanley's reaction. It was totally, utterly inconcievable to him that Parson wouldn't have understood the order. Parson was a Warlord - simply by virtue of his rank, he should have instinctively known exactly how to carry out the order and manage Gobwin Knob as he was meant to. Any other unit in Erfworld, given Parson's rank and orders, would have known what to do without being told. The knowledge would simply have been there in the unit's mind.
Parson's a special case when it comes to this instinctive understanding of Erfworld's Rules, perhaps because he's not a native. But if anything, I think Stanley's reaction to Parson not managing Gobwin Knob properly supports what I was suggesting before. Any Erfworld unit has an instinctive, intuitive understanding of the Rules that apply to anything in their sphere of influence. Units with Leadership just seem to have a clearer understanding, and through that, a better ability to bend those Rules.

[Oberon]

But the order to manage the city was clear enough and yet Parson failed because he did not understand it.

I would qualify this slightly. Parson understood the order well enough. He didn't understand the conditions behind the order which the order required. He didn't know that in order to correctly manage the city and therefore reduce the city expenses that he must "walk the rounds." It makes no sense that observing an empty bank, an empty butcher shop, an empty granary will cause them to produce more for less, so Parson didn't do it. Being the city manager must have seemed like a formality to Parson. As in "OK, I've been appointed the city manager. Great. Now I guess the city will have reduced expenses because I've got a fancy new title." He was ordered to manage the city, a task which seemed to him to have no requirements to fulfill, since things just pop in Erfworld.

[drachefly]

I, uh, think that qualifies as 'not understanding the order'.