It is easier to see the issue when thinking what "meritocracy" means as a process as opposed to a state of being. The word "meritocracy" has no procedurality to it, it solely signals values without providing an effective method of achieving it. Signalling values can in fact hurt achieving those values by poisoning discussions about them. Everyone has their own idea of what "meritocracy" means, so it allows people to pretend that they're all on the same page even if they're not. It also invites people to presume that the organization is already a meritocracy and be less self-critical about maintaining that state.