Approval workflows show up anywhere a business wants a second set of eyes before something happens: a purchase order over a set amount, a new supplier, a contract or a refund. A good design routes each case to the person who actually has the context and authority to decide, and it escalates automatically if nobody responds within a set time.
The common mistake is routing every request to one person regardless of size or risk, which turns approval into a bottleneck and trains people to approve without reading. A better design sets a threshold, such as segregation of duties between the person who requests something and the person who approves it, and reserves close review for the cases that actually carry risk.