Lack of courage to stand up to the manager might be the case sometimes. But sometimes it's also just realizing that it is futile because they are not open to it

Lack of courage to stand up to the manager might be the case sometimes. But sometimes it's also just realizing that it is futile because they are not open to it hearing it. I remember one meeting where I watched an engineer make a good faith effort to estimate time honestly and accurately, they said the number, and then the manager came back with a time period about half as long. In that situation, the manager and engineer viewed the discussion in completely different, incompatible ways. The engineer saw it as a process of attempting to find the answer to a question about the world. The manager saw it as a negotiation. It looked like the engineer was frustrated with the manager for trying to treat facts as negotiable. And the manager was frustrated at the engineer for not being aggressive enough. I'm not sure what the solution is. I'm sympathetic to the manager in a way because there is a natural tendency to ask for lots of time. Why wouldn't you, if you can get it?