Bwahahahahahaha. Phones run hot to the managers? I've phoned Ops Control to speak to the duty captain precisely five times in the last five years. Three were fumes events where our procedures require us to call them after the fact, one was to tell him I was going to take an aeroplane for a taxi test because of a noewheel steering issue (QF drivers may recall why I CYA'd on this one) and the last one was to tell him why I wasn't accepting an aeroplane when the engineers insisted it was good to go. None of those situations were improved by engaging with the duty captain, they were just the person who 'needed to know'.
I also recall a colleague who was in a situation that was being 'managed' by someone back in the office. He said it was a crap fight and he found it very difficult to cut through all the BS going on back at the office and get them to realise the significance of what he was facing and the time constraints he had. Of course, office politics played a big part in there too in complicating the matter. Had they not been involved the situation would have been sorted about 6 hours earlier than it otherwise was..... and with a better outcome.