That’s a thought I had as well, and based on my extremely limited knowledge and research I think it’s the conflict that’s being avoided. Rather than dealing with the person directly, you use indirect actions that signal the expected result when taken in that social context and then let the pressure of those expectations generate the result you need without you ever directly doing anything. My understanding is that the pressure is pretty enormous, your coworkers will basically shun you out of fear of being targeted themselves and resentment for all the work you’re not doing that they have to pick up instead.