Employees are expected to work at an insane, frenzied speed. Upper management thinks they can do everyone's job better than them, and as a result, they get in their own way constantly. The owner loves to say that he hires people that are smarter than him. This is half true. He definitely hires people that are smarter than him, but he doesn't actually show that he values that hire, because he doesn't really let anyone do what they know best (to his defense, I think he's usually just trying to be helpful, but his helpful suggestions are not as helpful as he thinks they are). Nepotism runs rampant here; they went through a phase where a ton of fraternity brothers were hired, seemingly without much reason, and then found places where they could fit. Someone's (100% inexperienced) brother was also hired, given a VP title, and then his job duties were repeatedly changed because he couldn't do what he was being asked to do. There's a lot of that at XYZ.
I think eventually they'll grow to a point where upper mgmt HAS to give up some control, and that will be a great day for everyone at that place. For right now, it's the place where creativity goes to die.
