Top-Down versus Bottom-Up Change Management

Top-down change management is the traditional management strategy in which all decision-making, guidance, and authority flows from top management down to everyone else. It is typically the only methodology used to manage change in organizations. This approach often fails due to low employee buy-in and lack of flexibility and empowerment of line management and front line employees. An even bigger problem with this methodology occurs when top-management doesn't understand the work processes of their own company, and so they are unable to make good decisions about how things will get done in the new system. This dissonance will lower productivity and ultimately damage employee morale.

Experienced project managers understand that employee buy-in is the most important variable in the success of any change management process. The most successful outcomes are achieved when supervisors actively engage employees in the change management process using bottom-up management techniques. This is the most effective method for managing employee expectations and securing end-user commitment.

Supervisors have the most direct line of communication with employees, and they have the greatest influence on employees' perception of change and of new systems. Each employee's attitude to the project needs to be assessed, and individual concerns addressed one-on-one. This should be treated as an educational process, with a goal of dispelling negative attitudes through increased understanding of the process, and the sharing of a clearly articulated common goal.

Change can be challenging, but handled correctly, it need not pose an insurmountable obstacle to achieving an organization's goals.