Big companies definitely hire people -- at all levels -- who are completely irrelevant. Managers have a big incentive to hire more people because they will the

Big companies definitely hire people -- at all levels -- who are completely irrelevant. Managers have a big incentive to hire more people because they will then have more direct reports. Directors want more managers. VP's want more directors, etc... I was on a small team at a big company in 1998. Due to recent mergers there were duplicated teams across the company. A big initiative came out that our team was in line to respond to. We (about 10 of us) put together a highly functional prototype in a couple months, put it forward showing we could take it on. Another team went out and hired 200 people and had no other presentation than an org structure. They won, and I learned a lesson.