Japanese firms call people assigned to this madogiwazoku (literally 'by-the-window tribe'), assigned to what seems to be a position of prestige and respect for a venerable company elder that has no real power or subordinates, except to look out the window and wait to retire or die. Peter called moving an incompetent employee to one of these jobs 'Percussive Sublimation.' This is closely related to the 'Lateral Arabesque,' in which the incompetent employee is kicked sideways, instead of up either way, the personnel in question get shuffled over into a new position of theoretically equal status (if not higher), but which doesn't have nearly as much effect on the situation. If the first thing we see of a character is him being kicked upstairs, you can bet that his job is about to become Serious Business. Other times, however, an organization kicks someone upstairs for more unethical reasons like silencing a potential whistleblower with a higher salary and a cushy (but meaningless) position. This is the most benign fate of a Pointy-Haired Boss: He goes from incompetently micromanaging your every task to incompetently giving vague company mission statements.

This can often be used as an excuse of why an authority figure of an obscure topic is so awful at his job: He got kicked upstairs into the position. Alternatively, the role assigned might be significant, but the main advantage of putting the character there is that it would be a long way from anyone else you care about. Or the employee can be given a 'vitally important task' that really isn't worth the effort (and may even be a Snipe Hunt). Rather than being eliminated normally, he or she can get 'promoted' beyond the point where the person gets to do anything damaging or given a role that serves no useful functions (except, perhaps, giving the appearance of workplace diversity). Maybe he can't be fired because of some complicated union situation, or because employment law heavily favors the employee rather than the employer in this setting. Maybe the only reason he has this role is that he's the boss' nephew, and he's terrible at the actual job. Perhaps he's far too eager but incompetent, or is good but has some crazy ideas, or just annoys everyone. Sometimes someone working for an organization cannot be eliminated, but isn't actually wanted in his role.

Liason road to nowhere