I read this piece on micro-managers once and always thought that it was spot on. Read on:

"A micromanager is one of the most frustrating and demoralizing forces in the workplace. He/she has to make all the decisions, set all the priorities, and do all the talking. He/she has to sign off on every document and communication emanating from his/her team and has to attend every meeting that anyone on his/her team attends. He/she makes sure the spotlight is always on him/her and is quick to accept credit for team accomplishments. He/she is just as quick to assign blame to some individual on his team when something doesn’t go exactly right. He/she wastes valuable time on activities that others can handle without him, while many of his/her real responsibilities get shortchanged.

One of the micromanager’s main concerns is self-promotion. Somewhere in his/her past, he/she was woefully misinformed that a management role was an opportunity to gain personal recognition for work done by others. To justify this recognition, he/she supervises work needlessly or invades meetings where he/she isn’t needed, all to put his/her thumbprint somewhere on the project."

Personally, I have both worked with and for a few of these type of people in the past and I will bet that a lot of people here can name at least one person like this as well. Micromanagers most fear losing control, so they over compensate by contolling everyone and everything little thing in their department. Control is an illusion. The more you think you are in control, you eventually seem to find out how much is actually not in your control.:-D