The rabbit hole is a lot deeper, but it’s worth jumping into. I have a jumble of thoughts that I’ll aim to make somewhat coherent regarding this, as this is another topic I spend a lot of time thinking about.
The label I currently have on the paradox you are describing is “the agent-principal problem”. The principal-agent problem is familiar to many of us, and there is a lot of formal material on the topic of how to ensure that an agent stay in line with a principal working on their behalf. However, I find almost no material addresses the issue you describe the tendency of a principal to capture all the increased value that comes from improvements where the agent plays an essential role.
The disparity of literature itself strikes me as an indicator of why the problem you describe exists. One cause of this is the notion that a business is primarily (if not exclusively) intended to serve shareholders, even at the expense of other participants. Thus, shareholders have the right to take more value from the system whenever they see an opportunity to do so. Since those opportunities primarily occur when things change, a system of continuous improvement provides continual opportunities for value extraction, which creates the “relentless” pressure that @ramon described.
Individuals and teams can counteract this pressure locally, but since the broader system reinforces this extraction, this is why Deming’s ideas, Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints, and other systems that would create better workplaces are difficult to sustain. One exercise that tends to make me sad is to look at examples cited of organizations resisting this pressure and following up on them to find that they are no longer operating that way due to acquisitions, changes in ownership, death of the founder, etc.
Incidentally, I view this as one overlooked reason why crypto/web3 is generating so much resistance. The different model of value distribution is threatening to the extractive model. Thus the centralizing forces that have arisen in the space and the nature of regulations/enforcements coming from the US and its allies.
In short, the issue you describe seems inextricably linked to much broader societal forces that are resistant to these kinds of changes. That may seem depressing, but there is a hidden benefit. Since the resistance to this change is also holding back many other vital changes we sorely need, pushing on this is one way to help us all create a better future. That’s probably too cryptic without more context but I don’t want to abuse the attention of this forum more than I already have. 