I think they got that technique from Apple, but optimized it by promoting them directly, instead of giving them a task force to head:

https://books.google.nl/books?id=0DHnCxjX_t8C&pg=PA85&lpg=PA...

>West of Eden: The End of Innocence at Apple Computer, by By Frank Rose, page 85, Package Goods

>[...] Who knew what any of it meant? Certainly not Sculley; this stuff had about as much to do with the prehistoric electronics he'd dabbled in as a kid as it did with soft drinks and potato chips. But he was running a computer company, so he'd better know. He spent hour after hour with Steve going over the basics. By the end of April his speech was peppered with jargon. Convincing people he knew what he was saying took longer.

>On organizational issues, he was able to look more decisive, in part because Markkula had left him so much to do. He didn't say much -- he wasn't warm or friendly or outgoing -- but he did listen, silently, and when he made a move it was invariably a quick one. His first move was to fire John Vennard -- no great shock, since Steve had been demanding his head since February. Vennard was in Japan, working with Alps to fix a problem on a new disk drive for the Apple III, when Scully summoned him back to get the ax. Then he got rid of Wil Houde, who'd been running the Apple II division until the previous fall, when Markkula had decided to replace him and, unable to decide between the division's marketing director and its engineering director, had put them both in charge. Houde had been named to head a special task force to look into ways of streamlining the company. His task force was already streamlined: He was the only one on it. Everyone knew that heading a task force at Apple was like being named vice-president in charge of looking for a new job. Sculley was merely completing the process.