I Love Bureaucracy

A few weeks ago, I ordered a wireless headset for my phone at work so that I wouldn't have to endure hour-long conference calls with my phone handset cradled between my shoulder and my ear. My company has some Ariba software to manage the catalogue of approved products and the order and approval process. My $190 headset was automatically approved without any humans actually looking at the order. Yesterday, I ordered a $26 handset lifter to allow me to use the headset without manually taking the handset off its cradle and putting it on the desk. That required four separate approvals, including two from the same person. That makes sense, doesn't it?