Examples Of Contingency Theory

There have been numerous theories surrounding leadership, which attempt to explain which form is most effective in the workplace. A universalistic approach was once used to rationalize leadership and it was believed that successful leaders possessed certain common abilities and traits. However, today due to external factors such as globalization and advanced technologies, there has been an evolution towards a new paradigm of leadership. Subordinates want to feel empowered and engaged at the workplace and often the behaviors and relationships between leaders and their subordinates become important to understand in order to fully understand effective leadership. Contingency theories have been developed in which people began to look at the behavior of leaders in specific situations. Two such contingency theories are: Path-Goal and Hershey and Blanchard’s Situational Theory.

Hillman (2009) indicated that “Resource Dependence Theory” refers to a business entity as an open mechanism that is reliant on contingencies in the external environment (p.2). That is, the theory views a business in relation to its resource dependences with other businesses in the environment (Salazar, 2012). Pfeffer and Salancik (as cited in Sheppard, 1995, p.28), stated that the essence of a company’s survival concerns its ability to get and maintain resources. The hypothesis helps explain why businesses should enter into exchanges with related parties and the manner in which the entity can maintain its survival. Pfeffer and Salancik (as cited in Sheppard, 1995, p. 28 - 29) conveyed that this survival occurs via demand management, namely the demands of interest associates upon which the entities rely on for resources

When you consider Fiedler’s Contingency Theory, there are two types of leaders who are effective in different types of situations. There are the task-oriented leaders who are effective in scenarios which need structure and often clarification. These leaders are often found to be most effective in crisis type

I strongly believe that a leader must be adaptable to the situation and therefore prefer the Contingency theories. I shall therefore use two contingency theories to illustrate my ability to fulfil key responsibilities of my leadership role.

The contingency approach, founded in the 1970’s differs from the behavioral approach. “Examining various situational variables is central to understanding leadership in organizations, according to the contingency theorist” (Stojkovic, Klofas & Kalinich, 2012). Fiedler’s Contingency Model is one of those contingency theories.

It is depicted that modern organizations tend to incorporate the aspects of the open systems with those of the natural and rational perspectives. Examples include the institutional, transaction cost, and the contingency and the contingency theories. Organizations adopt the open system that accommodates the other two theoretical perspectives for it to exist (Davis & Scott, 2006). These organizations tend to have structures that are based on the processes, the products, and the function.

The contingency model developed by Fiedler is based on the foundation that a meticulous leadership style is most effective in opposed situations. The key element would be to outline which leadership style needs to be used in what situations.

3) Contingency approach to leadership-this theory refers to the group atmosphere and to the degree of confidence, loyalty, and attraction the followers feel about their leader. If certain favourable situations occur then there has been a positive relationship between the followers and the leader which means that the task was clearly defined and there is a clear leader position power.

The Contingency theory, developed in 1950s, argues that there is no 'one best way ' to structure an organization and we face different possibilities when determining how it should be structured and how it should be managed. Successful organizations adopt structures that are an appropriate response to a number of variables, or contingencies (Enoch, 2006).

Fiedler’ model is considered the first highly visible theory to present the contingency approach. It stated that effective groups depend on a proper match between a leader’s style of interacting with subordinates and the degree to which the situation gives control and influence to the leader (Fiedler, 1967). Fiedler argued that the leadership style could be indentified by

The contingency model of leadership is based upon the relationship between three aspects of leader-follower-situation model. Apart from this contingency model, leaders are assumed to act in a flexible manner.

The most popular and extensively researched situational theory of leadership was first proposed by Fred Piedler during the 1960s. Fiedler's model claims that group performance depends on the interaction of the leader style and the favorableness of the situation. Fiedlers major contributions consist of(l) iden-tifying the leadership orientation of the leader and developing a way to measure it, and (2) identifying three situational factors influencing leadership and developing a method of measuring them

Fielder’s contingency theory argues the effectiveness of a leader is contingent to leader ship style and the extent the leadership situation gives him or her influence and control over outcomes.

Contingency Theories:- Stoelhorst and Peter (2013) said that this leadership theory mainly focus on particular variables which shows the relation with the environment. This will indicates about what kind of leadership will be the most effective? This theory simply states that no theory is universal perfect but the implement of theories depends on the variability, it also

Thus, strategy changes are inevitable in all organizations leading to structure and designing changes. Along with the changing policies the theories of organizational behaviour keep evolving. Hence we have traditional classical theories on one hand while modern contingency approaches on other hand. In this essay, I will explore and discuss classical and contingency theories along with their contributions and limitations with the help of contemporary organizational practices of businesses like McDonalds and Walgreen. The conclusion will be the result of evaluation of various theories and thus answering the question which is the best structure and designing approach for an organization?