Seagull management is a management style wherein a manager only interacts with employees when suspecting that a problem has arisen. The perception is that such a management style involves hasty decisions about things of which the manager has little understanding, leading to disruption and the disorientation of resources.[1] [2]
The phrase is a figure of speech comparing such a manager to a typical squawking and messy seagull, with one employee characterising seagull managers as those who "flew in, made a lot of noise, dumped on everyone from a great height, then flew out again, leaving others to deal with the consequences".[3]