Management is completely untrained, both with respect to running a research program and with respect to working with others. People are promoted into management positions based on ambition rather than ability. The more of a steamroller you are the better.
There is no training available to scientists with respect to managing and interacting with people (and we are scientists-'nuf said), and to rely on management that also has no people skills is a mistake. I was having trouble with a report once and my "pep talk" meeting with her was absolutely disastrous. I handled it very poorly, and could have used a little coaching. Additionally, managers are completely unable to run meetings, allowing some people to turn a 5 minute update into a 30 minute dissertation. That turns a 1 hour meeting into a 2 1/2 hour waste of an afternoon.
I also wonder if there isn't a little seniority discrimination or "problem dumping" going on. During one of our department downsizings, I was chosen to be one of people who needed to find another position within the company. I was having some serious personal problems at the time, and was also one of the highest paid non-managers. In the nine years I had spent in that department, I had received mostly excellent reviews and several awards (including a very rarely given gold award). Admittedly I was struggling at the time I was selected to go elsewhere, but rather than try to help me and guide me through my troubles, the director chose to dump me instead. So honestly I can only suspect that the dumping came from wanting to make me someone else's problem or to get rid of one of the highest paid scientists.
