rank and yank
n.— «Before it collapsed in a heap of moral ruin, Enron periodically fired the bottom-performing 10% of its employees. What’s more meritocratic than that? The McKinsey Quarterly praised this innovative practice, known internally as “rank and yank,” as one of the explanations for Enron’s success (It was actually based on a system that McKinsey invented, and implemented at Enron by their illustrious former partner, Jeffrey Skilling).» —“Questioning the merits of meritocracy” by Matt Prewitt Brown Daily Herald (Providence, Rhode Island) Apr. 17, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Understanding the varieties of conversational styles can mean the difference between feeling you’re understood and being insulted. “High-involvement” speakers interrupt or talk along with someone else to signal their enthusiasm...
In an article in The Atlantic magazine, humorist Mark Twain quoted a sing-songy bit of doggerel about conductors punching railroad fares that illustrates how colored paper has long been used to encode information. This is part of a complete episode...