IMHO, it is a lot more nuanced than this.
There's working to your job description and KPIs; if that's what is being done and a manager has an issue with it, the problem lies with the manager (who, presumably, has some responsibility for the job description and KPIs).
The idea that someone should be outperforming their job description and KPIs as a matter of course is, again IMHO, one of the fundamental problems with UK.
It is paying someone below what they're worth.
And, as with most things, it comes down to shoite management.
Again IMHO, this one of the fundamental reasons (along with lack of investment, and the culture of presenteeism), for the UK's habitual tag of "one of the least productive of the developed economies".