I think Hugo has said it all really, it's kind of the 80:20 rule - get the grunts to follow procedure rigidly, which works 80% of the time, then get a few people who you pay to think to deal with the exceptions which don't fit with the procedures.

Of course the larger the company the less chance you have of thinking through the implications of your actions in terms of how it affects other people/departments, in which case you have no option but to work through the mountains of paperwork necessary to make changes.