Truckflyer, agree with you totally. We tried it in a company I worked for, and suggested that the Rostering Manager (that dreadful title "manager" again) shadowed a crew for a week. By that we meant sitting on the flight-deck, with all the glare, noise etc, not in a passenger seat, and taking in his stride all the changes of hotels, report times etc. However, he "couldn't be spared" from his "managerial" job, so nothing changed.
In another company, we were working multi-sector days right to the limit of duty, and requested that some form of meal be provided. When this was refused, we stopped after the fourth sector and went into the terminal for a cup of tea and a sandwich before sectors five and six. Two crews, two discretion reports a day for two weeks, until crew meals began to be provided.