The actual structure can be assessed. Explain the applicant’s authority and limits instead of treating the number of reporting lines as the legal test.
Show how a decision is resolved
Use an actual type of decision and identify the applicant’s role, required approvals and operational support. The arrangement must be assessed against managerial or executive capacity and the other L conditions. What sinks this conversation is the instinct to answer a legal question with a diagram.
Two lines are drawn, one is called solid and the other dotted, and nothing in the file says who decides anything. The underlying cause is that reporting structure is visible and decision authority is not, so the visible thing gets documented. Work from decisions instead.
Hypothetical example: a director of operations for a group of long-term care residences approves shift coverage and staffing levels without reference to anyone, recommends but does not approve capital replacement of nursing equipment, and escalates any change to admission criteria. Three sentences of that kind carry more weight than a chart, because each one can be checked against a signed approval, an email trail or a board minute. Set out, for each recurring decision, what the applicant settles alone, what the applicant recommends, and who signs.
The number of lines above the applicant is not the test.