Top-down Approach

Description of Top-down Approach. Explanation.

Definition Top-down Approach. Description.

The Top-down Approach is an autocratic and Hierarchical style of Decision-Making, Organizational Change and Leadership, in which strategies or plans are first conceived by one or a few senior managers, and then disseminated  (cascaded) further down the Organization Chart of the firm. The lower levels in the hierarchy are, to a greater or lesser extent, bound by the decisions of the top management.

Advantages of the top-down approach include:

• Simplicity (making a decision with more people is more complex).

• Speed (making a decision with more people will typically take more time).

Disadvantages of the top-down approach include:

• Low participation (this is likely to influence the implementation of the plans in a negative way).

• Requires a lot of knowledge at the top level.

• Does not use specialized knowledge which may be present in the lower echelons of the organization.

Compare with: Bottom-up Approach  |  Centralization and Decentralization  |  14 Principles of Management   |  Chain of Command  |  Hierarchical Organization Structure  |  Management by Objectives  |  Hoshin Kanri - Policy Deployment  |  Core Groups  |  Change Management Iceberg  |  Change Model Beckhard  |  Change Phases  |  Force Field Analysis  |  Core Group Theory  |  Bases of Social Power  |  Office of Strategy Management

Return to Management Hub: Change & Organization  |  Communication & Skills  |  Decision-making & Valuation  |  Leadership  |  Program & Project Management  |  Strategy

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End of description Top-down Approach. An explanation.