Law department employees seen as nadirs of competitiveness

“According to a survey of 2,500 middle managers in the USA conducted by Business Week magazine, legal departments were perceived as containing some of their company’s least competitive employees. Embarrassingly, only the strategy and research departments scored worse, mainly perhaps because no-one really knows what they do.” LSI Newsletter: Ed. 30, Sept. 2006 newsletter@laurencesimons.com

I read this tidbit and furrowed my brow. Does it mean that lawyers do not compete with each other? Or does it mean that lawyers are next to last in their perceived ability to help a company compete? Is aggression and testosterone absent from litigation managers and their colleagues? Might it mean that law departments lag in weeding out underperformers? Just what does this oddity mean, if it has any meaning at all?