Ive learnt through working with some bosses with very pointy hair that you have to be adaptive which is what eric is saying.
The most etreeme examples were where the one company employed a management style called 'surprise' and outright lying to both the customers and the staff which led to some interesting meetings,and working now as I do in a defence related comapny although not a defence 'shooty bang' sort of comapny it can take 6 months to get a design spec approved and then it will change at least once a day for 6 months after that.Its just something you have to learn to live with.
I always work on the principle that my boss is an incompetant moron who is constantly looking to get one over on sales and or marketing and expand his little empire and I treat him as such.Dilbert isnt so much a comic as a guide on how to deal with management.