I noticed this recurrent pattern in companies that are always in "emergency" mode.

They are always either grossly mismanaged, understaffed, underpaid or everything else in between. This leaves the managers having to make do with minimal resources at his/her disposal, constantly keeping him/her in a pressure cooker situation, which eventually spills on to the employees for absolutely no fault of theirs.

They then micromanage to make up for their shortcomings in either keeping employees motivated, fulfilling their targets, or keeping top management happy, and this is the reason why the attrition rate is so high at these places. Because there' s very few people willing to put their heart and soul into something for paltry pay and a couple of stock options, which by the way will come only if the company makes it, and ever does get listed.

An entire life gambled away for 3 meals and a roof over your head. Insane!