Subordinates act on what they believe a superior wants without being told, leaving no instruction to trace.
An obscure word until 2017, when officials were suspected of approving a heavily discounted public land sale to Moritomo Gakuen because they believed the prime minister would wish it, with no instruction given. It was named one of Japan's words of that year. The accountability problem is exact: an inquiry looking for the order finds none, because none was needed.
In practice
- A director mentions in passing that she admires a competitor's pricing, and three teams rewrite their proposals unasked.
- A review concludes that no rule was broken and no one decided anything, and the outcome happened all the same.
- Standing
- Compare sunflower management, which describes the same behaviour from the superior's side.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Organizations & Bureaucracy
- Essay
- Why organisations learn, harden and decline