In the top-down management context, being a manager is almost as bad as being managed. You're still a subordinate in truth, but you are now responsible for motivating other people to do things they don't want to do. You don't get to set priorities, but your career has been bet on the work of other people (your subordinates). So it's the worst of both worlds.
Additionally, managers in a top-down world are constantly struggling to establish themselves as legitimate leaders of the group (without resorting to, "Fuck you, I can fire you.") They're puppet leaders picked from above, and often not the leaders the group would pick. This often creates a lot of tension.
There's good and bad in management. The good aspect is mentoring others, coordinating efforts, building teams, and solving large-scale problems. The bad is the extortionate kind, which is the "if I don't like you, no one here does" idiocy (seen in high-stakes performance review games) that causes so many people to hate management. But when the boss has a bad boss there are no other options for him.
I'm not talking about 'traditional' strict hierarchies, but rather about ~3-storey organically evolved scheme where leadership is quite informal and firing is really not an option: our company is quite young and people are the most valuable asset. Also, some of us would gladly accept firing but will keep working otherwise.
Thus we have no way other than reaching mutually satisfactory state.
Additionally, managers in a top-down world are constantly struggling to establish themselves as legitimate leaders of the group (without resorting to, "Fuck you, I can fire you.") They're puppet leaders picked from above, and often not the leaders the group would pick. This often creates a lot of tension.
There's good and bad in management. The good aspect is mentoring others, coordinating efforts, building teams, and solving large-scale problems. The bad is the extortionate kind, which is the "if I don't like you, no one here does" idiocy (seen in high-stakes performance review games) that causes so many people to hate management. But when the boss has a bad boss there are no other options for him.