David,
You need to look at the underlying culture to see why those managers are
not free to make decisions. It could well be the senior manager is
speaking on thing, and doing another. The problem in this instance starts
at the top, not with those middle managers. They are acting out behavior
which they "see" as expected, even though they may "hear" differently.
If the senior manager is concerned about this, then you might be able to
suggest some "statements" which signal his confidence in their ability to
make decisions. Have him leave an important meeting before the decision
is made asking that their action be communicated to him later that day.
Then he has to accept the risk of following through with their decision.
If he continues to change decision on them, then nothing will happen.
A second idea: Have delegate the leadership of important meetings to
middle managers. Let him be a participate, but not a critic of the
meeting leadership.
Hope you find some help,
--Ed Brenegar Leadership Resources brenegar@circle.net
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>