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Seagull management is a management style wherein a manager only interacts with employees when they deem a problem has arisen. The perception is that such a management style involves hasty decisions about things they have little understanding of, resulting in a messy situation that others must deal with. The term became popular through a joke in Ken Blanchard's 1985 book Leadership and the One Minute Manager: "Seagull managers fly in, make a lot of noise, dump on everyone, then fly out."
As seagull managers only interact with employees when there is a problem, they rarely offer praise or encouragement when things are going well. When problems arise, they often seek to place the blame on other people, and to draw attention to themselves in order to appear important. They criticize others but make little contribution to the solution of a problem.
The seagull style of management may be indicative of a manager who is untrained, inexperienced or newly-appointed.