shift

Well, I guess you could argue there's no difference in meaning as such ~ something like the tendency to follow a smooth path of least resistance ~ and that the shift lies in the value judgments we're associating with certain examples of the behavio(u)r...?

I mean, for example, that if you were addressing a bunch of fresh army recruits under fire, sequacious behavio(u)r might seem an admirable trait - unless they became asked to blindly follow a madman, in which case we might criticise them for "only obeyink orders"!