Jack, Rap & John, I agree with you; it's easy to oversimplify and forget about gray areas and complex, multiple causes. And "downfall" prolly isn't the best word to use (although it prolly gets more readers...).

John, while I wouldn't deny the need for some way to evaluate employee performance, such a rigid, unforgiving system is clearly unproductive (not to mention likely to be highly inaccurate; just for starters, it has no way to allow for the possibility of a team of people who are all brilliant, or all rubbish -- which does happen now & then...)

Anyway, I don't think the article itself is saying that there was just one cause. And I still think that there's a connection in the shift from concern about substance (what will be useful/of interest to our customers) to the concern about image (how do we make sure we look like we're productive). (Even though I'm sure John is right when he says "There's a lot more to the story than is in this story.")