Without factual information and timely, candid feedback, teams quickly dissolve into weak, dependent groups, shifting responsibility and ownership for problems to those who are informed.  In many organizations, this results in a crippling "dependency syndrome," an upward delegation of problem-solving and conflict resolution.  Got a problem?  Give it to the boss to solve!

- John J. Murphy, Pulling Together

One very common complaint from both employees and their bosses stems from the same source - if employees are not given enough information (through data, training, or empowerment), employees spend a lot of time passing tasks up the chain to their bosses.  This frustrates the employees because it is a waste of time and it means their hands are tied in many circumstances.  Conversely, bosses get frustrated that they have to spend so much time micromanaging these lower-level problems.  

So how do we break the cycle?  Simply keeping track of the tasks, problems, and issues that are escalated is the first step.  Then, periodically take stock of your list and evaluate which of these items absolutely do not need to be given to anyone else to handle.  Gather the team together and discuss what information need to be accessible or what training needs to happen to cut the dependency.