One of management's jobs is to enable and empower the workers. One of the principals that enables Kanban development is that management should not dictate worker process. If management doesn't know that they may be tempted to fix the development problems with more process, which actually disempowers the workers. Adding more dictated process may work in the short term, but it's a tactical fix, not a strategic one. A well run business keeps tactics and strategy in balance, and hopefully delegates the tactics as low as possible, to retain empowerment. Good management acts as a multiplier to worker productivity. Bad management cripples what it's trying to manage.

So yes, you need good management, but good management alone does not guarantee success. Management cannot be the source of the solution to every problem.

The other bit to take into account is that management can benefit just as much from its own cycle of metrics, feedback and retrospective action. All levels of an organization need to be able to improve, not just the developer teams. However, that's usually a completely different set of tools and skill sets.