Raise your hand if you can hear me

After yesterday's gripe about having no-one to trust when I run off to the Orient for that well-deserved break from this mad-house, I was approached by both FO and Arkel to say something along the lines of "I'm willing to keep an eye on your girls while you're gone", and I have already mentioned my attitude towards either from a management perspective.
But this got me thinking about one of my pet areas of interest - management theory. Neither of these two chappies has what could be called a management background - they have industry knowledge, professional skills, vast experience, but no formal management training. That could be said for anyone in the company - including me, but I have the advantage of having done some thinking over the years on the topic. Both Gabriel and Polo have true people management experience, but I don't think either really thinks much about it, and, due to their industry experience, it's mostly by luck that they meet with general success (or lack of failure).
In the mind of FO and Arkel, though, management is a process by which you ensure that the people you manage don't waste too much time on coffee breaks, don't sit around reading online newspapers (or blogs) or personal email, and effectively do what they are asked to do as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible, in the way that you tell them. People are a cost. If you are over budget, you must achieve fewer people. If you are swimming in cash, hire more.
How extraordinary! Hello? Are you out of the dark ages yet? I refuse to chain people to desks and get out a whip (or buy a slave to do the whipping for me) unless people are into that sort of thing; and what they do in the privacy of their bedroom is nobody's business until the mpeg turns up on the internet.
Where was I? Management! My people are intelligent, educated, semi-dedicated semi-professionals (none of them work in the 'field' of their training) - they have to be, because I hired them myself. Although I tell them, in broad sweeps, the goals of each task, and I sometimes provide them with tools and technical input to complete same, I do leave it up to them to find a way forward if they can, to complete things at their own pace (rather than by my estimate), and to present the results in their estimation of a reasonable manner.
This reminds me of a boss I once had who asked me to create a presentation for him. It took me half the day to get to a nice draft. We spent the other half of the day with him changing each slide individually because "he wouldn't have done it like that". From cost-effectiveness, he could have spent that latter half-day producing the thing himself, and I could have spent the whole day doing something useful and not getting frustrated.
It's these little moments that I've stored in the back of my mind and thought "I'll never do that to someone in my team", or else "That's a good way to deal with the situation". Although the former thoughts outnumber the latter, those latter are far more precious, and I value the people who can trigger them. Five year ago, Polo was one of those people. Since I dragged him into this company, I'm not as sure.