The Decline and Fall of IBM by Robert X. Cringley is an interesting read. Some of Alan Kay's writings give an indication of how Xerox Parc fell. Bell Labs is

The Decline and Fall of IBM by Robert X. Cringley is an interesting read. Some of Alan Kay's writings give an indication of how Xerox Parc fell. Bell Labs is an outlier in that it was the AT&T break-up that ended up starving it of funds. You might also want to read some of Steve Blank's blog entries - his site is very well organised so it is easy to find his version of events. Since your question specifically mentions engineering teams, the changes there come after PHBs start issuing Dunning-Kruger Syndrome based edicts. Engineers at first push back and when that fails, the ones who can find new jobs leave in droves. Eventually the best engineers are gone and only the less talented ones (generally more junior due to lack of of experience) remain which in turn leads to a dual problem of them not knowing enough to push back and implementing solutions poorly partly due to lack of ability and also partly due to lack of motivation to do the right thing. While that is going on, the managers get increasingly antsy and demanding, issuing ever more bad decisions. It really becomes a downward death spiral. As an aside, I worked with DEC and watched (from the side-lines) as it was acquired by Compaq and then the merger with HP. The management incompetence was unbelievable and the technical teams' morale sank like a lead balloon.