I think you’re trying to fit this into an exclusive OR when it really is AND. Unless the developers strongly warned management about the lack of idempotency and

I think you’re trying to fit this into an exclusive OR when it really is AND. Unless the developers strongly warned management about the lack of idempotency and were ordered to continue anyway, they share the blame for those bugs even if they were not part of the conspiracy to cover them up (this also goes for anyone involved in those hot fixes trying to patch up errors without telling the customer). More broadly, your idea that this is solely a management problem is how we end in situations where developers are being told to unquestioningly code some design exactly as given, which never works. You don’t get professional judgement if you don’t accept responsibility, too.