Ms. Quinn's top-down style grated on top-level staff members, who were accustomed to a more open workplace.
Mr. Small's goal-oriented, top-down style is felt in other ways.
Young says that while there was, rightly, a concern about trivialising the news, the old patrician, top-down style of newsreading is an anachronism.
"This is a city that not long ago seemed ungovernable, so a very top-down style of government has taken shape, epitomized by the current administration," Mr. de Blasio said.
PAGE A10 Los Alamos Chief Steps Down G. Peter Nanos, who sought to put the Los Alamos National Laboratory on a sound management footing but alienated some employees with his top-down style, is resigning as director to take a Pentagon post.
Mr. Rosselli is vowing a major fight at the union's convention in June in Puerto Rico, saying he wants to end what he calls Mr. Stern's top-down style.
In the process, Mr. Bersin has alienated the teachers' union, which supports Ms. Zimmerman, with his strict top-down style and such measures as the elimination of 600 classroom aides.
Several union officials said Mr. Raynor would become president of a two-month-old breakaway apparel affiliate, Workers United, although he was facing some resistance because of what critics said was his top-down style.
It seems that Morozov wants to see the chaos of popular, grassroots movements replaced with a kind of orderly, top-down style of regimented activism led by intellectuals whose thoughts can't be pithily expressed in 140-character tweets.
At a company known for its cautious pace, he has made quick decisions and given more authority to managers who felt hamstrung by the top-down style of the old regime.
