At workplaces without civility, jerks are often rewarded if they deliver results, and management tolerates them because they make them look good. OTOH, not separating out punishment of the brilliance from the jerk is an equally-damaging lack of nuance.
You're talking as if most, if not all, companies are engaging in R&D at the level of the Apollo 11 space mission. You don't need brilliant people in most cases, merely having honest, diligent, persistent normal human beings can get the job done.