Irresponsible Responsibles

Assigning subordinates responsibilities while at the same time they have no authority to make decisions, so that they have failed before they start. They can be forgiven if they behave but it is only a matter of time before they are blamed for being incompetent and fired.

I have never seen responsibilities assigned with absolutely no decision-making authority, but neither have I ever seen them assigned with absolute decision-making authority. One always must work with some intermediate level of authority; that's just the way things are.

This AntiPattern is typical in MicroManagement.