Here's what I think probably happens in these situations. Especially when all parties involved are genuinely looking out for the best interests of the company.

Here's what I think probably happens in these situations. Especially when all parties involved are genuinely looking out for the best interests of the company. If you're with a company who depends on lower expectations to survive, they are probably not just doing this with programmers. The managers are probably under-qualified as well. I get the sneaking suspicion the breakdown is in communication. If a manager can recognize and articulate a problem with precise language, face it head-on, and define a precise set of rules / constraints that a team needs to follow in order to resolve those problems, and retains a tight feedback loop to determine if the plan is working (adjusting if / when necessary), problems like this should not arise and remain an issue. Unless, of course, the programmer is unreceptive to the plan.