Published on March 20, 2007 by NIKMAHAJAN in Business and Society
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The contingency approach believes that it is impossible to select one way of managing that works best in all situations like promoted by Taylor.
The contingency approach believes that it is impossible to select one way of managing that works best in all situations like promoted by Taylor. Their approach is to identify the conditions of a task (scientific management school), managerial job (administrative management school) and person (human relations school) as parts of a complete management situation and attempt to integrate them all into a solution which is most appropriate for a specific circumstance. Contingency refers to the immediate (contingent or touching) circumstances.
The manager has to systematically try to identify which technique or approach will be the best solution for a problem which exists in a particular circumstance or context.
An example of this is the never ending problem of increasing productivity. The different experts would offer the following solutions:
Behavioral scientist: create a climate which is psychologically motivating;
Classical management approach: create a new incentive scheme;
Contingency approach: both ideas are viable and it depends on the possible fit of each solution with the goals, structure and resources of the organization. .
The contingency approach may consider, for policy reasons, that an incentive scheme was not relevant. The complexity of each situation should be noted and decisions made in each individual circumstance.
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It should be realized that the contingency approach is not really new because Taylor already emphasized the importance of choosing the general type of management best suited to a particular case. Henri Fayol, in turn, also found that there is nothing rigid or absolute in