The way top decisions are made is one of the most defining aspects of a team or organization's culture. The textbooks describe how leaders should swap decision-making technique depending on the situation at hand - see the diagram below.
However, the technique that a decision-maker chooses is often influenced by their personality and communication styles. For example, styles of leaders like Steve Jobs and G.W. Bush would be described largely as 'command', with perhaps moments of 'consultative' style. For leaders with keen vision & strategy, this can be extremely effective. Just look at the iPhone - an risky& expensive product to develop that happened to pay off big time. However, leaders who place bets on the command style stand to lose big time if those decisions don't pan out. The diagram below displays the relationship with culture these results can have... and I think it also emphasizes the positive cultural effects that inclusive decision-making and communciation can have.
Including teams in the input for every decision can be expensive time-wise, but can pay-off in more than just the quality of the decision. A strong two-way communication pattern between decision-makers and affected staff can buid a relationship of trust and respect that is important to maintain.
*P.S. - I'm not sure where these diagrams came from. I found them while cleaning my hard-drive... and they spurred this thought, so I figured they'd do more use in a blog than my recyle bin.
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