Escalation is rarely designed.
Most organisations inherit escalation paths accidentally through hierarchy.
When a decision cannot be resolved locally it moves upward. Each step in the hierarchy becomes another potential resolver.
This creates what can be described as an Escalation Chain.
Each link in the chain receives the decision object and either resolves it or forwards it upward.
Poorly designed chains create predictable problems.
Chains become too long.
Authority remains ambiguous.
Decision objects circulate instead of terminating.
Healthy escalation chains terminate quickly.
The purpose of escalation is not movement.
The purpose of escalation is resolution.