Star Trek

During the episode when they have to create a tachyon net to catch cloaked Romulans transporting good for Duras's fighter and during the Gambit pt 2 (when Picard goes undercover with a gang of archaeology thieves) Data is given command of a space ship.  And he's a real jerk about it.  He dresses down his executive officers for doing their job and determines that he needs to be in charge all the time.  He's got a real problem with delagation.

Thoughts?

oh thats just him copying some guy on TV scince he has no emotion he copys people

He was addressing the insubordination of those beneath him in the chain of command.  Hobson immediately requested a transfer, and with that denied, he constantly challenged Data's authority.  Worf also repeatedly criticized him openly well beyond what he would have done with Picard or Riker.

His first officer was being insubordinate because Data was a machine, so Data started acting with "anger" to seem more human. If the crew had been acting better, Data would have been his same old self.

Data wasnt the jerk in those cases, Worf and the other guy were bering the jerks by not following his orders and by showing public distain.

Data was acting like that because no one was taking him serious since Hobson was constantly questioning and disobeying his orders. On top of that he was insulting him. In other words Data was showing him who's boss.

Exactly. He wasn't being a jerk. He was exerting his authority.

Data also shot down Hodson when he tried to take preemptive action about shutting down the phaser array or something and then told him to go ahead and take the action Hobson just ordered.  That's just petty.  Hobson may have challenged Data's authority, but Data turns around and denies Hobson his initiative.  It is like Data doesn't know how to delagate and just decides to be a passive-aggressive jerk instead.

The reason he did that is because, while Hobson may have had a good idea, he failed to ask his commanding officer permission...and while that may be acceptable in more familiar cases when the person is demonstrating initiative or a good idea/being prepared...in this case it would only be a hindrance to Data’s authority as I'm sure Hobson and/or the rest of the crew would use it as a reason to undermined and/or decide they didn't need Data's command, thus leading to them possibly not listening on other more important occasions. 

In short:

Even if he didn’t really do anything wrong, letting him get away with it once would make it easier for him to assume he can get away with it again.

Plus it could make the other crew members that they could possibly get away with doing other things without asking. 

And well, they liked and respected him well enough in the end didn't they, so he must have done something right. 

Data explained to Hobson that it was inappropriate to take action without consulting the commanding officer.  That was correct.  The fact that Data interrupted Hobson's insubordination does not quite fully explain why Hobson brought the affected systems back online.  It wasn't that the measures being taken were inappropriate to the circumstances, but Hobson was undermining Data's authority.  I understand how it could be veiwed as petty, but Data needed to make a point, and Hobson was further trying to usurp Data's authority.  Putting the systems back online to undo what he had done while complaining that people were at risk from the radiation was another attempt to make Data out to be the bad guy because Hobson ingored Data seconds earlier.

Especially when one considers how many times Riker orders, "Shields up!" or "Fire!" without Picard's prior authorization.

Exactly.  Part of the XO's job is to act with initiative on the captian's behalf.  If Data couldn't trust Hobson to perform in that capacity then he should have accepted Hobson's request for a transfer. 

What's more, Hobson's prejudice against Data for being an android is understandable.  Hobson has never met an android before; he didn't know Data could do the job.  It wasn't unreasonable for him to question Data's ability.

Picard and Riker had a good working relationship so Picard gave Riker some leeway.  Riker never tried to undermine Picard's authority.  Data had to establish some boundaries for Hobson.

However Data defied Picard's order with good intention. At the end of the episode he wanted to submit himself to disciplinary action for disobeying Picard's orders. He explains that even though his actions proved positive the ends do not justify the means.