Let us recall what each management approach entails and their relevance to your question:
Classical approach:
The classical approach to management emphasises the best way to manage and organise workers with the aim of improving productivity (output). It involves three main processes, being:
- Planning: this involves preparing a particular course of action for a business.
- Organising: this involves the structuring of an organisation to be able to effectively implement plans and goals.
- Controlling: this is the process of comparing the intended outcome(s) with the outcome(s) that a business actually achieved.
The classical approach also embraces a hierarchical organisational structure, which is characterised by increasing authority/power at higher levels of the hierarchy.
As part of the classical approach, managers typically use an autocratic leadership style, whereby they make all the decisions and dictate work methods as they see fit, that is, with very little (if any) consultation with employees.
Based on this information, the classical approach is not what you are looking for, given that it is management-centred rather than employee-centred.
Behavioural approach:
The behavioural approach to management emphasises that the people (employees) of a business should be the primary focus of the manner in which a business is organised. It involves three main processes, being:
- Leading: this involves constantly listening and responding to the needs of employees. A leader is defined as an individual who can display empathy and has a will to empower others within an organisation.
- Motivating: this is the process that causes a person to behave in a particular way. Generally speaking, motivated workers are more likely to perform at a higher level than unmotivated workers.
- Communicating: this is an important element in terms of the functioning of a business because effective communication enables managers to positively influence employees.
Additionally, the behavioural approach values teamwork, which gathers individuals within the same organisation, who work together (implying regular interaction and coordination) towards a common organisational goal.
Of course, the above suggests that the behavioural approach stresses a participative/democratic leadership style, which involves managers consulting with employees, that is, seeking and considering employee suggestions when making decisions.
This information is much more consistent with the information that you mentioned, i.e. the behavioural approach indeed places employees at the centre of the organisation, although there is no implication that employees are fully responsible for making organisational decisions or that the approach necessarily embraces a bottom-up structure.
Contingency approach:
The contingency approach emphasises the need for flexibility and adaptations of management ideas and practices with the aim of suiting changing circumstances. This approach is therefore heavily based on the premise that no two situations are absolutely identical, and that each situation requires its own unique solution.
Depending on whether you have any additional information that you can analyse, the contingency approach may be relevant to your question. For instance, placing employees at the centre of the organisation, making employees more influential and/or adopting a bottom-up organisational structure may occur under a contingency approach, where management believes that such organisational features strongly align with the goals of the business.
I hope this helps!
