What's that saying? You almost always have to get approval from your manager to spend $500 on a tool, but call a meeting with 20 people and no one bats an eye.
I think partially this has to do with the lack of overtime pay in a lot of companies. There is no direct cost in wasting people's times. When I started my career in Germany we had a strict 35 hour week. There were almost no large meetings and we spent most of the work week actually working. Despite this the company was very successful and efficient.
I’m now a contractor charging by the hour in a company I used to be an employee in (no OT). It’s amazing how few meetings I get invited to now compared to my previous employment. I just get left to get my stuff done and I’m kept up to date through my own efficient means of finding stuff out (i.e asking the correct people). I would say I’m at least 3x more productive now and no worse off.