Meritocracy is fundamentally about the needs of the organization. It's about making the organization more effective. It's common that there are people who woul

Meritocracy is fundamentally about the needs of the organization. It's about making the organization more effective. It's common that there are people who would be more qualified to a position than the person currently holding the position, as long as we view merits in isolation. But the real ability the organization cares about is the ability to advance the goals of the organization when working within the organization. If replacing a person with a "more qualified" one demoralizes other employees enough that the organization's ability to reach its goals is compromised, the replacement is actually less qualified than the original person.