[kami8845]

>(Of course, in a closed-allocation company, your boss can just give you impossible or extremely boring work if he wants to flush you out.)

I found your post very insightful until you brought in your standard and (imo) off-topic closed-allocation rant.

[michaelochurch]

It's not off-topic. To assess whether managerial power exists (and whether it is toxic) one must know that form it will take when it is expressed.

Standup prevents a manager from saying, "This guy isn't getting any work done". In a closed-allocation company, there's nothing to prevent the manager from assigning terrible or impossible work. It's still unilateral firing; it just takes longer.