EK is built around silos- each department beholden only to itself. Flight ops, training, rostering, HR, accommodation, engineering, IT etc etc etc.
Now this is only conjecture on my part, based on what I can see, but it appears to me that each has its own budget and works towards its own goals with little regard to the other departments. The examples abound: flt ops has no control over rostering, accommodation does as it pleases........
So does flight ops really care how many pilots leave if the costs to replace them are borne in another department? Probably not.
Add in some cultural influences such as saving face and you see how EK came to be where it is - a big bloated monster of a company.
When it was small it was nimble. Now it takes month to years for various departments to agree on changes, plans, budgets in an environment where no one wants to stick their neck out and maintain the status quo.
Mueller is here to change the status quo! Whether they actually let him or not is another question but that will be his goal. He will rip EK apart hard and piss off lots of people while doing it. These guys know that so they go hard and fast. Hopefully, in the end, EK comes out better for it.