In some firms role relationships prescribed by the chart seemed to be of secondary importance to personal relationships between individuals. - Joan Woodward

There was a particular form of organisation most appropriate to each technical situation.

The number of levels of authority in the management hierarchy increased with technical complexity, while the span of control of the first-line supervisor decreased.

Those responsible for marketing had to sell, not a product, but the idea that their firm was able to produce what the customer required. The product was developed after the order had been secured, the design being, in many cases, modified to suit the requirements of the customer. In mass production firms, the sequence is quite different: product development came first, then production, and finally marketing.