Our companies have Staff people to gather data and submit reports, Line people to produce results, and Managers to make decisions and issue orders. This division of labor seems logical enough and is consistent with using system design methods to organize a group of people to accomplish an objective.
People become unsatisfied or frustrated and sooner or later gum-up the works.
Staff people have opinions about what their data means, so they filter it to predetermine the manager's decision. Line people disagree with or resent management's orders because, as they see it, management clearly is out of touch with reality. They execute poorly or come up with creative ways of doing what they believe is right. We all need effective and meaningful work to remain productive and enthused. We have an intrinsic need to observe, judge, and act about things that are important to us.