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Circle of escalation: Difference between revisions
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''Not to be confused with the [[circle of delegation]].'' | {{a|mgmt|{{image|Circular escalator|png|Is that a circle of escalation or a [[Stairway to Heaven|stairway to heaven]]?}}}}''Not to be confused with the [[circle of delegation]].'' | ||
A phenomenon that may happen in an organisation of a certain size and is guaranteed to in a big one, the [[circle of escalation]] resembles a [[4x100 medley relay]], only one where contestants carry a stalk of [[limp celery]] rather than a stiff baton. | A phenomenon that may happen in an organisation of a certain size and is guaranteed to in a big one, the [[circle of escalation]] resembles a [[4x100 medley relay]], only one where contestants carry a stalk of [[limp celery]] rather than a stiff baton. | ||
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A [[salesperson]] approaches you with what is, on its face, a narrow and uncontroversial question — one to which, in your direct recollection, the salesperson already knows the answer. This is a sure sign {{sex|she}} is indulging in [[compliance arbitrage]] where, while ''after a fashion'' {{sex|she}} presents the whole picture to the internal control functions, she does so in several<ref>''Legally'' several that is, in the sense of “not joint”.</ref> instalments, each so thinly-sliced as to present only those facts the [[salesperson]] considers sufficiently germane to question (and helpful to her cause). | A [[salesperson]] approaches you with what is, on its face, a narrow and uncontroversial question — one to which, in your direct recollection, the salesperson already knows the answer. This is a sure sign {{sex|she}} is indulging in [[compliance arbitrage]] where, while ''after a fashion'' {{sex|she}} presents the whole picture to the internal control functions, she does so in several<ref>''Legally'' several that is, in the sense of “not joint”.</ref> instalments, each so thinly-sliced as to present only those facts the [[salesperson]] considers sufficiently germane to question (and helpful to her cause). | ||
As a seasoned [[compliance professional]], you adopt the standard approach: [[Limp celery|''ostensible'' approval]], hedged around with caveats deep enough for you to jump into and hide in later on, should shots ring out | As a seasoned [[compliance professional]], you adopt the standard approach: [[Limp celery|''ostensible'' approval]], hedged around with caveats deep enough for you to jump into and hide in later on, should shots ring out: | ||
:“''I [[would be]] [[inclined]] to be [[okay with this]], [[subject to]] you confirming the withholding position with {{tag|Tax}},''” you say, happy that you have passed the tangled skein off your desk. | :“''I [[would be]] [[inclined]] to be [[okay with this]], [[subject to]] you confirming the withholding position with {{tag|Tax}},''” you say, happy that you have passed the tangled skein off your desk. | ||
Of course, the tangled skein has not magically winked out of existence. It has ascended from your desk, hovered momentarily, and thudded on | Of course, the tangled skein has not magically winked out of existence. It has ascended from your desk, hovered momentarily, and thudded on someone else’s. This poor blighter in [[tax]], will have the same aspiration as you: to quickly and quietly pass ''le petard'' on and, to fulfill it, {{sex|he}} will take the same approach you did: | ||
:“''There may be an increased risk of retrospective [[withholding]] which is hard to quantify,''” | :“''There may be an increased risk of retrospective [[withholding]] which is hard to quantify,''” he will say<ref>When one gives tax advice for a living one gets adept at saying this sort of thing by rote</ref> “''but as long as the desk is prepared to absorb that additional risk then I [[have no objections]].''” | ||
And lo, off the [[escalation]] goes to the business. [[Salespeople]], naturally, have but one goal: impregnating their [[client]]s, while assuming no responsibility for the congress at all should it go wrong. So, along the chain it goes to the [[trader]], a young whippersnapper who will neither know nor care what “absorbing additional tax risk” is, and certainly won’t want to be responsible for it. {{sex|He}} will pass it up his line management, a better-coiffed version of himself, but holding no more insight into tax risk, who will instinctively direct the query to {{sex|his}} [[chief operating officer]], a chap who is nothing if not expert in retrospective withholding risk.<ref> | And lo, off the [[escalation]] goes to the business. [[Salespeople]], naturally, have but one goal: impregnating their [[client]]s, while assuming no responsibility for the congress at all should it go wrong. So, along the chain it goes to the [[trader]], a young whippersnapper who will neither know nor care what “absorbing additional tax risk” is, and certainly won’t want to be responsible for it. {{sex|He}} will pass it up his line management, a better-coiffed version of himself, but holding no more insight into tax risk, who will instinctively direct the query to {{sex|his}} [[chief operating officer]], a chap who is nothing if not expert in retrospective withholding risk.<ref>That is: he is nothing.</ref> | ||
And so on. | And so on. | ||
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:“In principle I [[would be]] [[inclined]] to be ok with this [[at this stage]], but can you just run this by [[Chip]] to make sure they have no issues.” | :“In principle I [[would be]] [[inclined]] to be ok with this [[at this stage]], but can you just run this by [[Chip]] to make sure they have no issues.” | ||
[[Chip]] is the [[general counsel]], a handsome silvered fifty five year-old with the bearing, and legal acumen, of a 747 pilot. You know exactly where he’s going to send it, | [[Chip]] is the [[general counsel]], a handsome silvered fifty five year-old with the bearing, and legal acumen, of a 747 pilot. You know exactly where he’s going to send it, don’t you. | ||
And so the cycle of life revolves. {{tag|Sales}} will demand that you now confirm your approval in writing. You will wantonly neglect to do so, and through the effluxion of time the organism which is a modern multinational will resolve on the course of proceeding with the transaction, along the way having neatly [[tranched]] up, [[distributed]] and diffused responsibility for the decision in a way that will never come back to bite anyone until all concerned parties are elsewhere in the financial firmament. | And so the cycle of life revolves. {{tag|Sales}} will demand that you now confirm your approval in writing. You will wantonly neglect to do so, and through the effluxion of time the organism which is a modern multinational will resolve on the course of proceeding with the transaction, along the way having neatly [[tranched]] up, [[distributed]] and diffused responsibility for the decision in a way that will never come back to bite anyone until all concerned parties are elsewhere in the financial firmament. | ||
{{limpcelery}} | |||
{{limpcelery}}{{c|Metaphor}} | *[[Middle management ouija board]] | ||
{{c|Metaphor}} | |||
{{ref}} | {{ref}} | ||