The design of effective top management studies

Abstract

The performance of eight commonly utilized styles of top management are evaluated in various environmental situations. The eight styles are: entrepreneurial, professional management, professional bureaucratic, professional entrepreneurial, conservative traditional, colleaguial, bureaucratic, and middle-of-the-road. Utilizing data from the author's study of over a hundred Canadian corporations, the paper deals with four organizational decision situations: 1) What top management style to choose if information about the environment is not available, 2) what environment to get into if the style of top management is not yet decided upon, 3) what environment to pick if the top management style is decided upon, and 4) what top management style to pick if the environment is decided upon. The implications of the results for Indian management are described. The various paths by which an organization can move from an undesirable style to a desirable style are indicated, and some suggestions are made on the way the change strategy could be implemented.