What is really going on under the hood is this: in large companies, the vast majority of employees are unnecessary. They are kept on because having a lot of people underneath you in the org chart is a status symbol. The more people report to you, directly or indirectly (the latter being preferable because managing direct reports requires actual work) the more power and influence you have, and so people with a lot of people reporting to them tend to command the resources to allow them to accumulate more people who report to them. Actual productivity is a secondary consideration. Being docile and obedient are the primary qualifying factors because most employees are essentially pets for the powerful few, not much different from maintaining a ranch or an aviary or a stable of race horses.