[doorhammer]

As a whole the incentives of capitalism are aligned as you suggest, but every major corp I've worked with has not-so-rare pockets of savvy middle managers that know how to play the game and also care about the welfare of their employees--even if the cultural incentives don't lean that way. (I'm assuming a US market here--and I'm at least tangentially aware that other cultures aren't identical)

E.g., when I worked in call centers I was directly part of initiatives that saved millions and made agents lives better, with an intentionality toward both outcomes.

I also saw people drive agents into the ground trying to maximize utilization and/or schedule adherence with total disregard for the negative morale and business value they were pushing.

It makes me wonder if there are any robust org psych studies about the prevalence and success of middle managers trying to strategically navigate those kinds of situations to benefit their employees. I'd bet it's more rare than not, but I have no idea by how much.

[tafda]

Moral Mazes ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_Mazes ) is a sociology classic along these lines.

Here's a relevant interview with the author, Robert Jackall: https://anso.williams.edu/files/2015/07/Jackall_interview_Ch...