Contingency Theory- an overview

 Although several approaches to leadership could be called contingency theories, the most widely recognized is that of a leader-match theory. This means, it tries to match leaders to appropriate situations, as it suggests that a leader’s effectiveness depends on how well the leader’s style fits the context. In many ways, organizations are systems that are open and need special care and attention by a leader to in many ways; stabilize internal needs to adapt to situations. It should be understood that there is not a single method of approaching or organizing change, as the dynamics of such an organism like change are so diverse and easily altered due to reactions or movements in the environment that can easily change the dynamics of the change. The appropriate form of organizing change depends on the kind of task or environment with which one is dealing. Management must be concerned, above all else, with achieving alignments and good fits. Different approaches to management may be necessary to perform different tasks within the same organization. Different types or species of change methods are needed in different types of environments” or under different types of circumstances.

 

The contingency approach to management and leadership has dominated businesses and organizations perspectives on modern day organizational analysis, which primarily focuses on the distinction between mechanistic or organic approaches to organization and management, and particularly to change theory. In taking the multitude of prospective situations that may derive from such a broad range of theory, it has been determined that an analysis of leadership styles must be conducted in order to better understand the best applicable approach to a given situation. As for situations, the variables that exist in any given situation are extremely expansive, and must be categorized in order to make an effective analysis of the situation. There are three assessment factors that have been suggested and characterized in order to analyze a situation, beginning with leader member relations, task structure, and position power.

 

First, the type of organization and/or situation must be determined, whether it is considered mechanistic or organismic in nature. Than, an analysis of the leader member relations shall be conducted. Are the relations good or poor? What is the task structure under the circumstances of the leader member relation’s results? Is it high or low task structure? What are the leaders position power? Position power is strong if the individual has the authority to hire and fire, or give raises in rank or pay; it is weak if a leader does not have the right to do these things. These three situational factors determine the favorableness of various situations in organizations.

 

Based on the three situational variable analyses, one can predict whether or not a leader is going to be effective in a particular setting. It is important to point out that contingency theory stresses that leaders will not be effective in all situations.