Parent comment was suggesting that we would call a boss simply saying "no" to an employee asking for some change to be bad management. And that's a pretty reasonable assertion, unlike the straw man I constructed through poor reading comprehension.
So the question then is "why is an ultimatum okay when just saying "no" isn't?"
and that's a good question. I mean, I guess it's explaining that, you know, this is something the boss isn't going to change, that the boss would rather change the employee than change the thing the employee is asking to change.
so... I guess that is better than "no" because it conveys a lot more information. I mean, you could get a similar effect, I think, without the ultimatum with a sufficient "no, and here is why:" but the ultimatum conveys more information about the employers priorities.