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This happened quite often to me during my active duty years and I did exactly as you say--salute smartly and say "Yes, sir!"

I'm not excusing the tech's reaction by any means, but corporate offices are usually much more collaborative than military shops; it's the nature of the beast. You are also losing sight of the environment during the announcement: a staff management meeting, which implies this was not a "decide now" situation.

The manager could have headed the whole thing off by taking one of two different paths: presenting it as a request (I'd like you to...), rather than as an order, or having some preliminary discussion (What do you think of...). We even did this in the military for things like shop or crew reorganizations.

If you constantly have to prove you're in charge, you probably shouldn't be in charge. Or you need to change your people.

Edit: clarify