Indeed, the idea of top-down control is largely an illusion. Granted, it's messy to include lots of people in decision-making and design processes. At frequent intervals, people need to be brought in and included in the change process. Open communication is a key in respecting the diversity within an organization, and can prevent the costly surprises encountered by top-down mandates for change. Watch for the biasing effects of theory application .
Every practitioner has many layers of knowledge useful for solving problems on the job.
Some of that knowledge gets represented in textbooks and theories in the field. Good practitioners make best use of theory by keeping an eye out for the unexplained, the anomalous, the unaccounted for. By combining the best available theory with our own tacit knowledge, we are likely to meet the needs of the local situation. In this respect, we are like the postmoderns, who recursively turn their critiques toward themselves. Our exploratory exercise stresses the importance of thoughtful practice over decontextualized theory.