Ground Floor/Sheila O'Flanagan: To resign or not to resign? To leave or to be pushed? The past few weeks have seen those questions hurled around the corporate and political arenas as high-profile people have considered the notion that the buck might stop at their desk but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll be clearing it.
Maybe there never was a time when people put their hands up and admitted they'd got things horribly wrong while then stepping aside for someone else to come in and clear up the mess. Maybe that's just a figment of our imagination. But certainly it seems that, these days, the key issue is to blame everyone else and brazen it out yourself.
Donald Rumsfeld has given bravura performances in admitting that he has ultimate responsibility for the appalling behaviour of some US soldiers in Iraq and apologising to all and sundry while assuring them (through a jaw clenched so tight that it would crack brazil nuts) that he would of course resign if it served any useful purpose.
Personally, I think it would serve a useful purpose. It would remind people who are elected (or promoted) to certain positions that it is their responsibility to know what is going on and to deal with it. Not to shove the file in the bottom of the desk and hope that it'll never see the light of day.
Nobody's been rushing to type up resignation letters at AIB either - despite the extraordinary debacle regarding overcharging for foreign exchange services. At worst, it was fraudulent; at best, it was incompetent.
Either way, charging twice what the bank said it was charging for foreign exchange services and not noticing it for eight years is breath-taking in its (profitable) ineptitude.
To baldly state that it was just a "clerical or secretarial error" - as AIB did last week - is positively shameful.
Staff should be aware of the difference between a regulatory issue and an administrative issue and, if they're not, the human resources and training departments in the bank are just as culpable as the internal audit one. Given that this episode is only the latest in a string of management incompetencies, it hardly instills a great deal of confidence in the leadership of AIB. But why should the board care? Who's going to get rid of them?
With Luc Vandevelde, the chairman of Marks & Spencer, leaving became a question of inevitability.
Investors were getting increasingly perturbed about his positions outside the retailer - he has commitments to Carrefour (the huge French retailer) and Vodafone, as well as being the manager director of private equity firm Change Capital.
It became a question of divided loyalties as far as M&S and the City were concerned, particularly as sales have begun to slip again after a mini-revival (M&S's share of the UK clothing market has declined for the last two quarters).
The other high-profile resignee of late was, of course, Ernst Welteke, who left the Bundesbank after those freebie accusations. Not unexpectedly, his resignation letter was terse.
In fact, quite a lot of people have to work hard not to tell their bosses exactly what they think of them when they're leaving.
But the HR professionals recommend that, when you tell the company that you're leaving, you remain positive, polite and you say that you intend to take care of any outstanding work before you go. In that way, you will retain your dignity (although they make no mention of what can happen at the booze-up afterwards).
In my early career there weren't that many jobs to change to, so picking and choosing wasn't a major option.
Actually, I was considered a bit flighty - given that, at one point, I changed jobs twice in six years even though I stayed in financial services. Today's options are far wider and most people will change jobs a number of times during their careers. Strangely enough though, many of them have trouble with the resignation letter itself.
The power of the Web can help you! There are templates of the simplest and best resignation letters at a number of different websites (check out www.I-resign.com for a good selection).
You can, of course, also read a selection of those where the employee's deepest feelings got the better of him or her, and where they give the full low-down on the company they're about to leave.
These letters are usually long and heartfelt. I particularly liked the pithy one from the journalist who wrote: "I would like to confirm my status as the latest rodent to vacate your increasingly leaky vessel" which seemed to me to get right to the nub of the issue, but I doubt that HR would really recommend it. They always advise that you not be bitter and twisted in print.
After all, you never quite know when you might meet or indeed work with any of your current colleagues again and, even if the last few years with them was like working in the mines of hell, you shouldn't really say so.
Ideally, you should also wish your old employers well (even if you are doing a Rummy jaw clench as you type the words) - this will leave you standing on the moral high ground and mark you out as a true professional.
Then all that remains is for you to work out your notice (though many employers now thankfully buy your time instead) and set off on your new, improved career.
If you're Donald Rumsfeld that probably means a few high-priced after-dinner talks to chummy neo-conservatives.
If you're an ex-bank board member, it surely means a seat on the board of another financial institution.
And if you're the rest of us, you're simply hoping that the new employers will be a better bunch than the last!
