to demand to be treated with more respect than other people because you think you are more important.
And although he held a senior position in the company he would never stand on his dignity.
stand on (one's) dignity
1. To maintain one's dignity or propriety when faced with challenges. It's hard to stand on your dignity when you've lost all of your worldly possessions.
2. To demand better treatment than others are given. I can't believe he's trying to stand on his dignity and get us to call him "sir" when we all have more seniority than him.
stand on your dignity
insist on being treated with due respect.
ˌstand on your ˈdignity
(formal) say firmly that you wish to be treated with the respect that you deserve: The teacher stood on his dignity and insisted that the students be punished for being rude to him.