> I think managers should be serving their subordinates This is totally what I think about managers of technical staff (and not "in some respects"). It's the s

> I think managers should be serving their subordinates This is totally what I think about managers of technical staff (and not "in some respects"). It's the subordinates that are doing the production; managers are lubricant, whose task is to ensure the production staff are maximally effective. Without effective management, production staff operate at reduced efficiency. But without production staff, managers are completely useless, and might as well be re-tasked to work as coffee boys. I'm referring to line-managers, not the executives who make business decisions. I know nothing of executive work, and I suspect there's not a lot of continuity between line management and executive work. And yet some line-managers carry on as if they're already three-star generals.