What is the gestalt of middle management that makes things worse? It seems like there's a negative synergy that develops whenever a company grows large enough

What is the gestalt of middle management that makes things worse? It seems like there's a negative synergy that develops whenever a company grows large enough to need 2-3 layers of middle management. I expect that it has multiple causes, but several of them are various kinds of lack of accountability. Imbalances where risk of action or inaction rewards/punishes a manager individually, while the negative consequences socialize to the team or the company. Lack of accountability (both positive and negative) if something isn't changed. Lower rewards for positive synergy (i.e. cooperating with other teams) than for defecting (working on your own thing only).