I have worked on projects for companies which in my opinion are extremes in both worlds.
In the first world, companies have their policies, procedures, guidelines, management systems, safety systems, quality standards, engineering procedures and many more. A new employee may take months or even years to familiarize with the system.
Quality systems organizations require certified companies to adhere to these documents that in any situation wherein there may be some variations required in order to complete a project, new procedures or new documents need to be written. This is a natural phenomenon called evolution of documents.