The rayon mill faced a relatively stable environment, employed a technology that was
routine and well understood, and was organized in a highly mechanistic way. The firm had a
“factory bible,” which was held by every head of a department and defined required action in
almost every situation. People in the organization thus knew precisely what was expected of
them and attended to their job responsibilities in a narrow yet efficient way to create a
competitively priced product. The firm was relatively successful in meeting the demands
placed upon it, treating problematic situations as temporary deviations from the norm and
doing whatever it could to stabilize its operating environment. For example, the sales office
was sometimes asked to restrain sales in the interests of sustaining an even and trouble-free
production schedule.