I can't tell if you're trolling or not. What's so confusing about rational actors reacting rationally to a change in incentives? Do you think there's only one way for a policy to "fail miserably" or something? Once someone knows that they'll likely have to fire some number of their team whether they want to or not, of course they'll hire sacrificial lambs. It's not like the upper management that has that stupid of a policy is going to give two shits if some middle manager claims they missed their own performance expectations because of instability in their team.
And think about the corollary: how much additional effort would have to go into monitoring managers to make sure they weren't circumventing the "spirit" of the given bullshit metric? A company like that would resemble a dystopian regime.
I'm not trolling at all.
As i replied to the other comment, there are zero systems that can't be worked around.
There are zero good systems where bad action can be avoided without some form of accountability.
"how much additional effort would have to go into monitoring managers to make sure they weren't circumventing the "spirit" of the given bullshit metric?'
Zero - Everyone already knows when it is bullshit.
They all sit in a room, knowing someone else is saying bullshit, but avoid saying anything about it because they want to say bullshit too.
Rational actors do act rationally all the time - the system has to deal with that, and isn't here. That's the point - none of the bad behavior was dealt with.
It's rational to do lots of things. Kill your competitors in the drug game before they kill you, embezzle and rip people off who are vulnerable who can't fight back, etc. Rational is a silly bar, and definitely does not lead to viable systems. It has no moral component. It has no business component. It is only logic.
No system works if it doesn't hold people accountable, even if they are acting rational.
And think about the corollary: how much additional effort would have to go into monitoring managers to make sure they weren't circumventing the "spirit" of the given bullshit metric? A company like that would resemble a dystopian regime.