30 Reasons Employees Hate Their Managers: What Your People May Be Thinking and What You Can Do About It

Chapter 2. I know how to do my job. Why can’t they just let me do it?

Forty percent of employees say they don’t have the decision-making authority they need to do their jobs well, and 63 percent believe that decisions in their company are usually not made at the appropriate level.

Rick is a competent and experienced human resources professional who has been with the organization many years. His boss is a micromanager. She is very controlling, constantly second-guesses his decisions, and wants the final say on everything. Rick feels like a prisoner whose voice goes unheard by the senior executives of his company because his boss allows him only very minimal contact with them.

Needless to say, coming to work each day is very difficult for Rick. He ...