[mytailorisrich]

Managers have an interest in expanding their "fiefdom" and thus push to get more and more people (either by grabbing actual work or by generating work). This is indeed how you create a "legible & convincing narrative" to increase your budget (end goal being more people, more power).

In some startup envrionments the execs may want to show growth by hiring as much as possible but that's not your typical company.