https://samf.substack.com/p/passing-the-buck
When this happens you’re encountering an “accountability sink” – a term coined by the writer Dan Davies and discussed in his excellent new book “The Unaccountability Machine” (he also has a substack). The crucial property of an accountability sink is a set of rules that mean no individual can be blamed for a decision. In the customer service example, the person on the helpdesk is genuinely blameless and the person who could theoretically help you is entirely inaccessible.
As Davies says:
“For an accountability sink to function, it has to break a link; it has to prevent the feedback of the person affected by the decision from affecting the operation of the system….If somebody can override the accountability sink and overrule a policy that is in danger of generating a ridiculous or disgusting outcome, then that person is potentially accountable for that outcome.”
One you’ve understood the concept you start seeing them everywhere – a source of so many of the petty frustrations of modern life. The NHS is a sea of accountability sinks. Your MRI got randomly cancelled? “I’m afraid that’s our new booking system that no one here can override”. You can get an emergency same day appointment at your GP or one in four weeks but not one in two days when convenient? “I’m afraid that’s the way the system is set up”.