Interesting article by Lucy Kellaway of the Financial Times, Why Academics Make an Unfit Subject for Management.  She offers seven reasons why academics are ill-suited for modern organizations:

1. They are very clever. This is not an advantage in most institutions as it means they can think for themselves. (They may not actually be that clever, but they think they are – which may be worse.)
2. Some have spectaculary low levels of emotional intelligence, which is often more important than IQ in getting things done.
3. They are not team players, to put it mildly. Many are introverted. Moreover, the structure of university life means their colleagues (in most subjects save science) are their rivals.
4. Criticism is a way of life. The mind of the academic is trained to pull holes in things. So when presented with a new initiative, they question if and deem it a waste of time as a matter of course.
5. There is no line of authority. In a big company everyone sucks up to their bosses and agrees with them. In a university, there is less to be gained from brown-nosing, so disagreement prevails.
6. They are complacent and have an interest in the status quo that has given them their secure jobs and pensions.
7. Because their status largely depends on their research, which may only be understood by a tiny number of people, insecurity, pettiness and bitchiness often result.

(Hat Tip:  Allen Kamp.)