It's difficult for some managers to measure the productivity of knowledge workers and unfortunately they resort to tracking the number of hours there are "butts in seats". If your organization is like this you'll see people who are at work to be seen being at work, even if they're not being productive.
Japanese salarymen are the pathological example of this but I'm sure it manifests everywhere.
Absolutely, unfortunately taylorism did follow suit into the world of knowledge workers.
In some hostile work environments like banking this is everywhere. Don't leave before your manager, eat lunch at your desk, look busy and stay in the office as long as you can
Japanese salarymen are the pathological example of this but I'm sure it manifests everywhere.