One could say that in the work place, success is uncorrelated with merit.
I'm not sure where' you're based, but that's certainly not the case where I live. I once worked for a company that made grading software. I quit after 3 months because they wanted to implement features like, "Teacher wants to be able to change grade to a specific letter, even if student's scores add up to a different letter grade." (In other words, even though this student received an "A" based on test scores, I want them to have a "C" instead. Or vice-versa.)
He still kept his job because majority of the class got 4+'s on those exams, despite at least 1/3 of his class getting D's and F's.
I wouldn't generalize editing letter grades as a way of "cheating the system". There's usually good intentions in every act.
Do you truly believe this? In my career experience, success is highly correlated with merit. Sure, I have seen plenty of incompetence at high positions, and I've seen brilliant people who received little success in their careers.
But overall, I'd say the correlation is very high.
Edit: what a coincidence this is on the front page right now: http://theconversation.com/huge-success-in-business-is-large...
Obviously at the very least some advancements happen due to merit and due to that, there is a correlation.
A more important and useful thing to understand is that merit is measured by rules that bubble out of social systems.
A mistake you can make is to believe the the rules of merit that you believe are the same ones others believe, that the ones they state are the same ones they actually believe, that the rules don't depend on context, etc.
It's hard for people to accept this because we're taught that merit is an inherent quality, we may internalize the rules of merit we learn, treat them as constants, and then build our self-images based on those rules.
(I'm not suggesting to give up on the idea of merit altogether, but you'll do better to think of it as something you achieve for personal satisfaction and not necessarily expect external rewards.)
BTW, the rules of success (beyond the most basic stuff) are also social constructs, but they are different than the rules of merit. It's a mistake to expect them to necessarily be harmonious or consistent.