Businesses and institutions don't want to compete, because competition is hard and they might lose. So we get shit like this, and any good work that makes it through is a lucky side effect. Doing a good job is often not a competitive edge.

In just about any field or area, if someone is trying to tell you it's meritocracy, they're just pulling the wool over your (or their own) eyes.

The estabilishment/incumbent does not like competetion in any area. And the default mantra is claiming it's actually a meritocracy. Which usually translates to "we like the existing structure because it keeps us and our friends in power".

Now we're receding back to something more resembling the mid-late 1800s, where aristocracy was a big deal and you had situations like the Imperial British military, where the enlisted soldiers were impeccable, but the blue-blood officers did things like carry pianos into combat zones, and caring about things like self-improvement was a sign of weakness socially.