Why are folks still surprised by middle and upper managers firing people virtually at random? It's simple, it is the culture of self survival first. The thought process works like this;
Otis sez ,"YOUR BIDNESS IS UNDER PERFOMING! Yes Otis I have already identified the problem, it's ahh, wait I am looking at my org chart, it's ahh, yeah here we go, it's "insert randomly selected name here". Yeah that's the ticket! and by odd coincidence he happens to be male white, worked for the company 15 plus years, has always had great reviews but makes more than $85,000. Otis sez, "WHY HAVE YOU NOT FIRED HIM ALREADY"! Oh oh oh I'll do that today, don't you worry today, before I leave to go home errr I mean I never really go home, err I'm sorry please don't fire me Mr. Otis ahhh I mean sir, masta, owner, cause I'm just your boy, or girl, ahh whatever you want...