Top-down Approach

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What is a Top-down Approach?

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.

Forum Forum about the Top-down Approach. When Top Down Approach? In what situations is a top down approach best used? When is a top down approach recommendable?... 14   2 comments PROs and CONs of Autocratic Management Style If the management style in an organisation is autocratic, then as an employee you don’t have any opportunity at all to change anything in the organisation or even put an opinion forward. Autocratic ma... 7   1 comments Human Resources Development in organization Why is the top-down approach not always amenable to education development or training?... 5   1 comments Why Top-down Approach? The disadvantages of employing top-down management outweigh the advantages. So why perpetuate this approach? One is led think that in contemporary management, an organization's strategic approach sh... 2   🔥 Top Down is Passé In today's world top down management is passé. It's all about bottom up. Some special functions, like financial, fiscal and monetary management, are the main responsibility of CEO's and CFO's… But cr... 1   Setting the Organization Purpose Top managers should be very careful in setting the organization purposes since they are ones which determine the goals of the organization. A good purpose will create a strong linkage between the orga... -2   Start a new topic about the Top-down Approach Sign up for free

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Compare with: Bottom-up Approach  |  Centralization and Decentralization  |  Theory E and Theory O  |  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

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