It’s easier to manage four people than one person
I've been on the junior report side of this in my first job, and these points really resonate with me - it was the worst manager situation I've ever had, due to the situation-induced micromanaging and my having no one else in the same situation to validate how bad my experience was, or share a different perspective.I switched teams as soon as I could, and I and that manager have both gone on to be reasonably successful - that manager has a lot of reports now who seem to really appreciate him, and I haven't had a bad manager since that situation. I think the bad manager-report scenario wasn't really about either of us nearly so much as it felt at the time.It is validating to read this is an anti-pattern observed by a lot of people; it was hard not to take things personally at the time or blame the manager for how unhappy I was.