Yup - sadly I have to agree with you - and unfortunately with no support from senior management, all that encourages is PHB behaviour.
However, part of being a good manager (although they seldom teach managers how to do this) is being able to manage the boss/senior management/execs so that those people develop the confidence to allow the manager to exercise their 'non-egocentric management style' - it's a lot of work and damn hard if the senior managers don't have faith in this, but it can be done.
In my experience, my bosses do trust me because every time I delegate responsibility to my team and they complete the task successfully, I make a point of saying 'I told you so'. But I've had to put my own reputation on the line many times backing my team to do the job without my micro-management. And I the reason I have confidence in my team is because I spend a lot of time coaching my team leads and senior techs who in turn coach the rest of the team.
Ultimately, IMHO, the key to a good manager is one who spends time with their team and has the strength to carve out time in their daily routine to do so. It isn't an easy task and sadly often goes unsupported and unrecognised.
Edit: Oh and the way I carve out time for my team - I let any phone call that is not from a recognised number (and even some that do) go through to voicemail. My staff are always amazed when they are talking with me that I will ignore a ringing phone (even if it's from my boss) and focus on them. My argument is that even if a system has gone down, there are plenty of 'escalation' contacts to try - the manager should not be the micro-managing escalation bottleneck - especially when they are engaged in face to face conversations. To me, it's basic respect - but I also find that by following this policy, people gain confidence in the rest of the team to handle escalations and I gain so much valuable time which I then invest back in my team.
However, part of being a good manager (although they seldom teach managers how to do this) is being able to manage the boss/senior management/execs so that those people develop the confidence to allow the manager to exercise their 'non-egocentric management style' - it's a lot of work and damn hard if the senior managers don't have faith in this, but it can be done.
In my experience, my bosses do trust me because every time I delegate responsibility to my team and they complete the task successfully, I make a point of saying 'I told you so'. But I've had to put my own reputation on the line many times backing my team to do the job without my micro-management. And I the reason I have confidence in my team is because I spend a lot of time coaching my team leads and senior techs who in turn coach the rest of the team.
Ultimately, IMHO, the key to a good manager is one who spends time with their team and has the strength to carve out time in their daily routine to do so. It isn't an easy task and sadly often goes unsupported and unrecognised.
Edit: Oh and the way I carve out time for my team - I let any phone call that is not from a recognised number (and even some that do) go through to voicemail. My staff are always amazed when they are talking with me that I will ignore a ringing phone (even if it's from my boss) and focus on them. My argument is that even if a system has gone down, there are plenty of 'escalation' contacts to try - the manager should not be the micro-managing escalation bottleneck - especially when they are engaged in face to face conversations. To me, it's basic respect - but I also find that by following this policy, people gain confidence in the rest of the team to handle escalations and I gain so much valuable time which I then invest back in my team.