I don't disagree that it solves the "in this job until I die". But as you allude to, it creates its own issues and it's not clear to me if, on balance, its better. Churn can also create an ineffective (or superficially effective) organization because the hardest problems can't really be solved in a short tenure. (If it could the Executive Branch would be considered highly effective because it has churn every 4-8 years).
On the whole, I think it's still a net positive. The drag of unmotivated, apathetic, and/or inflexible employees is incredibly high, and then there's the additional efficiency drag of the systems that must put in place to ensure they meet minimum performance (i.e. filling out make-work forms to track performance).
Better to simply create a system by which they're weeded out.
Which I guess dovetails with the military "up or out" process.
From a giant organization perspective, there's a lot to admire in militaries. They're the worst systems, except for all the other ways organizations as large as them could be organized...
>Better to simply create a system by which they're weeded out.
I agree with this. It's really just another way to say there should be mechanisms to hold people accountable.
>Which I guess dovetails with the military "up or out" process.
I don't think the military does a great job of this. From what I could see, it only forces out the absolute absymal performers (e.g., those who can't pass a PFT or have multiple DUIs etc.) I would argue it takes far too long (often only implemented once they've been in a decade or more and haven't made SNCO). This does a disservice to both the organization (the person is still around for a decade) and also the service member (they have now dedicated over a decade to a career that is a dead end, and usually over halfway to retirement).
>but there's also much stronger gating of promotions by competency tests there, right?
I think it heavily depends on the branch and what is considered “competence”. I remember meeting Airmen who could cite all the stats about weapons systems because that was on their test, but the couldn’t shoot. And Marines where it was the opposite. It’s also generally possible to get promoted by just hanging out, keeping out of trouble, and having reasonable fitness tests
