Corporate Decision Making occur at various levels in organizations and it can be top down or bottom up.

The difference between these two styles of decision making is that the top down decision making is done at the higher levels of the hierarchy and the decisions are passed down the corporate spectrum to be implemented.

              On the other hand, bottom up decision making is done by giving self-rule to the middle managers and the line managers to take decisions based on the conditions and circumstances existing in their teams. In many organizations, what we see is a top down decision making in the realms of policy, strategic focus, direction in which the organization has to proceed and bottom up decision making about the day to day running of the teams.

It needs to be remembered that the middle management is often called the “sandwich” layer because they have to implement the decisions made above and at the same time have to decide about how to run the teams and have to communicate them to the lower levels as well.

Some aspect related to corporate decision making is that many organizations prosper on leaders who have a “halo” around them and hence decision making is smooth because the rival power centres often accept to the leader’s charisma or his or her ability and vision. Again, Infosys has seen this happen when with the retirement of its legendary founder, N R Narayan Murthy; the company is going through a bad phase with competing factions hus for control. Abroad, Apple is an example of a company that relied on the halo effect of its founder, Steve Jobs and once he passed away, there is some uncertainty about the way the company should take in the market.

In conclusion, corporate decision making is successful as long as there is a “Fixative” to bind the organization together in the form of charismatic leaders or an organizational culture that follow values consistency and imposes stability. Once any of these conditions are removed, then the organizations fall into a self-defeating trap where in the process of corporate decision making is impaired leading to the loss of competitiveness of the company.

About Author:

Jaishree Chauhan
pursuing B.Com (Hons.)
RNB Global university