[kemiller2002]

I think it largely comes down to fear. Fear that if people find out they'll leave, or retaliate or some such. Also, a lot of people aren't (or will ever be) prepared to be in management positions. Some wanted to try it and are stuck and others got pushed into it.

Delivering bad news is hard, and it's to try easy and avoid it. It's like firing people. A number of managers would rather wait until its someone else problem rather than doing what needs to be done. It causes everyone problems in avoiding it, but doing what needs to be done appears to be a far worse course of action to many.

[indymike]

That is exactly my experience. The answer to "Why didn't you just tell the truth?" usually starts with "I was afraid that ..."

Most of the time the fear was unfounded or at best, a better outcome that what happens when employees lose trust in leadership.