Dilip,
This is a great post. However, if bosses are looking for information in the way you just mentioned, well, it's the beginning of the collapse of an organization!
It is very important for a boss to understand what his subordinates are trying to say. That's more significant than vice versa. A boss may be busy, but this is fundamentally part of his work! He is paid for it. If he cannot decipher the details his subordinates are trying to say, he is probably not in the right position in the first place.
The bigger issue with such posts: The moment a subordinate is advised to treat a 'boss' as an 'extra special' human being in the organization, the level of professionalism will drastically go down.
I don't know on which side of the fence you are, but you certainly need to understand that such things are more damaging than one can imagine. Imagine now, an HR professional wanting 'structured' info at the right place and time, in the right keywords, from his subordinate! Will he EVER be able to function effectively?
Training a subordinate to be professional and objective is always a two-way process. One should never forget that. Most often, HR specialists try to drive the change only at the subordinate's end. A typical example of the failure of HR.
Reg,
Nikhil Gurjar
President
Consulting Connoisseurs [link no longer exists - removed]