CONTINGENCY APPRAOACH

OF
MANAGEMENT
Prepared by: Jen Heart L. Limson
Contingency approach states that there is
“no one best way” to manage an organisation.
It is also known as situational approach.
G.KRISHNA VAMSY
 In 1970s, it is recognized as a key to effective management.

CONTRIBUTORS:Ø L.W. Lorsch

Joan Woodward
Burns
George Stalke
Paul R. Lawrence
Joan Woodward (1916-1971)
“Management and Technology”, 1958,
”Industrial Organization”, 1965
 is a management theory that suggest the most appropriate
style of management is dependent on the context of the
situation and adopting a single, rigid style is inefficient in the
long term
 is an organizational theory that claims that there is no best
way to organize a corporation to lead a company or to make
decisions
 the optimal course of action is contingent upon the internal
and external situation
What you do “depends” on the
“situation”
-internal contingency factors
-external
contingency factors
Internal Contingency Factors

Technology

People Tasks

Purpose Structure
External Contingency Factors
Socio-cultural Economic
Factors Factors

Legal Technological
/Political Factors
Factors
 Features of Contingency Approach to
Management
 Management is externally situational:the
conditions of the situation will determine which
techniques and control system should be
designed to fit the particular situation.
 Management is entirely situational.
 There is no best way of doing anything.
 Three Major Contingency Theories of
Leadership
Situational Leadership Theory
 Path-Goal Theory
 Decision-making Theory
 Four Contingency Variables

 technology
 size
 degree of environment
 Organizations` strategy
• Contingency approach helps the manager
to enhance their leadership and decision
making skills.
• It provides options to the employees, that
helps them to grow and share their ideas to
the organization.
• It helps to design the organizational
structure and plan the information decision
systems.
 The Key Elements of Contigency

• protection
• detection
• recoverability
 Limitations of Contingency Approach
• Difficulty in determining all relevant contingency factors and showing
relationship between them may be complex.
• It is totally practical approach without support of theoretical and
conceptual frame work.
• Sometimes manager finds difficulties in analyzing the situation and
discovering appropriate management technique in absence of proper
research and lack of proper understanding of the situation.
 Strengths of the Contingency Theory

• This is critical as it proves that the theory is

reliable, based on various trials and research. The
contingency theory is also beneficial as it
widened our understanding of leadership, by
persuading individuals to consider the various
impacts of situations on leaders.
Thank You for Listening
and God bless