I would say AA's management labor relations was very poor, but until Carty became CEO, their business acumen (under Crandall) was not bad... if anything, they knew the airline world. Unfortunately, that meant hosing employees to get to where they wanted to go.

So you have to look at "bad management" as it relates to two things:

1) labor relations, pay, a "great place to work"
2) Running an airline, outcompeting, understanding routes, yields, etc.