A friend of mine works at a state facility where, as he describes it, it's impossible to be a manager without constantly breaking rules, because many contradict one another or violate the laws of reality. Result is that management is a nasty snake-pit where everyone knows which rules everyone else is breaking and they'll collectively point their fingers at anyone who tries to rock the boat (including, and perhaps especially, improving things), quickly getting them fired (or at least transferred somewhere they'd rather not be).

Perhaps significantly, management positions aren't represented by the state workers' union, which is the only thing (barely) insulating the lower level workers from that insanity.