People Who Work or Worked at IBM Hate It
IBM is really bad, casually say insiders to me. Some say so anonymously. Some are whistleblowers. The former and current Red Hat staff hate IBM. They ruined Red Hat and its culture, say those disappointed insiders and former insiders. IBM ruins things and bluewashing is only the first step, a prelude of sorts.
A short while ago someone left the following comment that almost 'rhymes':
Boy oh boy, people sure hate IBM. People who used to work there hate it, and people who currently work there hate it. It seems like the only people who don't hate IBM are people who've never worked there. And the executive crooks raking in millions. I think my morale would be really low if I worked at IBM and had to work on some meaningless project that I knew wasn't worth my sp-t. And all the while with those RAs hanging over my head... Golly that would su-k. I sure hope you IBMers are in therapy.
Prior to that someone had said:
Former IBMer here...the answer to the OP's question is: It's part of the culture. The OP already knows this ("I've watched the same pattern for years"), but still asks why?It's part of a culture that has been going on for decades...ever since the first RA all those years ago. There's no deeper reason than that. In an environment where everyone can be canned at any time, a lot of people will strut like peacocks showing their colorful feathers. They think (with some justification I might add) that increased visibility to management will help them keep their jobs a while longer.
Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. It won't stop those people from trying.
Companies where sucking up becomes the way to be 'rewarded' are doomed to fail. It can become profoundly obnoxious to colleagues. Some will eventually leave. We see this at the EPO, so not only the private sector has this problem. █