top-down

(adjective)

Of or relating to a perspective that progresses from a single, large basic unit to multiple, smaller subunits.

Related Terms

Examples of top-down in the following topics:

  • Downward Communication

    • When leaders and managers share information with lower-level employees, it is called downward, or top-down, communication.

  • Functional Structure

    • Correspondingly, the company's top management team typically consists of several functional heads (such as the chief financial officer and the chief operating officer).
    • Each different functions (e.g., HR, finance, marketing) is managed from the top down via functional heads (the CFO, the CIO, various VPs, etc.).

  • Top-Level Management

    • Top-level managers work at the top of organizations and guide strategy and planning.
    • Top-level managers are responsible for controlling and overseeing the entire organization.
    • Chief Information Officer (CIO) – Sometimes referred to as the CTO (Chief Technology Officer), the CIO takes a top-down view of the technological integration of company operations and the flow of communication.
    • This organizational chart shows the top-level manager for a company.
    • Note that the top box, representing the top-level manager, has 12 people directly reporting to them, some of whom in turn have their own direct reports.

  • Employee Development

    • Senior management invests in employees in a top-down manner, hoping to develop talent internally to reduce turnover, increase efficiency, and acquire human resource value.

  • Building Support for Intrapreneurship

    • Having access to upper management, and understanding the strategic motivations behind their decisions, plays an integral role in building top-down support organizationally.

  • Benefits of Innovation

    • Managers can accomplish this through providing top-down support to employees, providing clear roles and responsibilities while allowing individuals the freedom to pursue these as they see fit.

  • Communicating Organizational Culture

    • While it is too simplistic to say that culture is a top-down communicative process, there is relevance to the idea that culture generally begins with the founders of the organization and the values they emphasize in the organizational growth and hiring process.

  • Fulfilling the Organizing Function

    • Decision-making can be quite rapid, if it occurs from the top down.
    • Centralization: The location of decision making authority near top organizational levels.
    • Similar to a tall structure, this expedites decision-making from the top down.

  • Decentralizing Responsibility

    • In decentralized structures, responsibility for decision making is broadly dispersed down to the lower levels of an organization.
    • In decentralized structures, responsibility for decision making and accountability are broadly dispersed down to the lower levels of an organization.
    • In a centralized organization, decisions are made by top executives on the basis of current policies.
    • In a decentralized organization, the top executives delegate much of their decision making authority to lower tiers of the organizational structure.
    • The management structure in a decentralized organization changes from a top-down approach to more of a peer-to-peer approach.

  • The Impact of Culture on an Organization

    • Organizational structures: This comes down to the hierarchy, or who reports to whom and why.
    • Ensure buy-in from the top down.
    • Top management needs to exhibit the kinds of values and behaviors that they want to see in the rest of the company.