Perhaps something along the lines of the following:

Senior executives tend[/display a tendency] to use their managerial clout with[/to achieve] a heavy-handed, top-down style.

"Heavy-handed" was my first thought for communicating the meaning of the verb (and "heavy-handed, top-down approach" does get plenty of hits on Google), but of course this adjective can also mean "clumsy", so it might be safer to use "overbearing" or another synonym.

Executives sometimes shove their ideas/plans/action items down our throat without discussion or without giving us a reasonable explanation, and I believe that's what this survey item is talking about. Obviously, "shoving something down one's throat" would be too blunt and too informal in this context, but that's the gist of it.