The capacity for self-delusion is indeed great, but in my experience, the only people deluding themselves in a situation like that is management thinking they a

The capacity for self-delusion is indeed great, but in my experience, the only people deluding themselves in a situation like that is management thinking they are successfully saving face. Which is really what it's about. Employees know what's up. The people who just lost their job are plunged into chaos regardless, and the ones who are still part of the ride are now wondering when they'll be next. If management has shown they will keep up appearances right up until it becomes untenable, that teaches employees a very destructive lesson: you won't have any clue you might lose your job until it's already a done deal. That doesn't create peace of mind, it creates paranoia. Worse is when such a restructuring is paired with lofty visions of how the new strategy is going to work out in 6 months or a year, often presented in a very long and painful meeting. All anyone really wants to know is what is going to happen next: how are the next few weeks going to play out, now that a bunch of people are no longer here, and everyone else has to pick up the slack regardless? That's why you should respect people who are actually honest with you. Being given the information you need to plan for the future is far more important than pretending you don't need to.