why are top and middle managers often reluctant to mentor divers lower-level managers and non managers, even w

Question

even when such mentoring relationships can have tremendous payoff.

Answer 1

People are people, including the people who are top- and middle-level managers. Some people are just more likely to be mentors than other people are. Some managers may think that mentoring junior managers might be grooming their replacements, so they don't do any useful mentoring.