Question

The top-down approach is/can be the most effective way to implement change in any organization. I say can be because the management team has to be right because with the wrong managers in place then the change that the organization is trying to go through will be far more difficult to handle. If the senior managers do not feel that they can rely on some of the lower management, do you think they could experiment with a variation of the bottom up method?

Answer 1

The top-down management approach in business is the traditional way to implement in any organizational change process.In this method usually, the decisions are being taken by the top managerial and executive level.It gives a full control to the top management in the organizational decision making. When decisions are made in Top-down approach the goals and objectives are clear and it is easier to control the plan. It also takes the idea of involving your employee more in work rather taking any sort of decisions in the company. But there are some disadvantages in a top-down approach. when leaders are not clear about objectives and goals it can hamper the implementation process. As no views or suggestions are taken from the bottom level management sometimes the risks and the constraints are missed which become a hindrance in future.

In this case, bottom-up approach is better as compared to the former approach.In this approach as bottom level employees are involved, they show great commitment towards work and they are more involved in performing their duties. This can help build the morale and achieving the goal is easy. Sometimes the lower level employees have more insight to tackle a problematic situation and this method takes full advantage of that.So bottom-up approach gives a better control of a change process as it involves the whole organization.If the company can't rely on its managers it is always better to adopt a bottom-up approach.