There are several corporate leadership styles which managers and business owners may decide to use in order to maximize their profits and accomplish other objectives. Each of the methods has their advantages and disadvantages and it would therefore not be easy to point out on one as absolutely better than the other. Corporate leadership is important in every organization because it is comprised of the top managers and therefore it is in charge of all the undertakings of the company. Corporate performance is a crucial function of corporate leadership. This paper is going to look at two of the methods of corporate leadership that is the hierarchical and the top down corporate leadership styles applied in businesses.
Discussion
In the hierarchical leadership style, there are some forms of levels that are put in place with one leader reporting to another. There is some form of pyramid whereby there is one leader in charge of every operational unit with his subordinates dealing with the sub functions. This can either be the top bottom leadership or the bottom up leadership. In the bottom up leadership, the corporate leaders who are appointed to manage the affairs of an organization are not from outside but rather, they are employees who have managed to rise through the ranks. They are therefore familiar with the company structures (Hansen 2010, 257).
In the top down management corporate leadership style the top managers make the decisions and then they are passed down to those at the lower levels of the management ladder. The major problem of this method is that most of the leaders at the top of the ladder are not familiar with the actual problems that are encountered at the other lower levels. The decisions they may decide to implement may therefore not be suitable for all. This method is different from the bottom up style of management in that the bottom up style promotes lower rank people from the bottom to the top. This means that the ones who are appointed have the necessary experience and are aware of the problems that require to be solved in order for the organization to prosper. Top down leadership is good in cases where projects have tight deadlines to be met and where results require different departments to collaborate. The chain of command extends from the top to the bottom with those at the top exercising more authority. Higher levels dominate over the lower ones (Hansen 2010, 257).
The two methods are therefore similar in a way since they are both formed by some form of pyramid where a certain group of people report to another. The only difference is that the top down corporate leadership style is a type of hierarchical leadership style. In the hierarchical method, there is the bottom up leadership type in which the managers have more respect for the people at the lower ranks of the management ladder. This is due to the fact that they fully understand them since they once held their positions. The hierarchical method can therefore take the form of top down leadership therefore making them one and the same thing (Hansen 2010, 316).
As the corporate part of any firm is what determines whether the firm will prosper or fail, it is important for the top management to evaluate the best leadership style suitable for the particular business. An in depth analysis of the benefits of whether to have a hierarchical or top down leadership should be carefully evaluated since the method adopted determines the kind of interaction that management will have with the employees. Both methods however require the manager to be decisive in order to avoid confusion.