Republic of the Philippines

Laguna State Polytechnic University

Los Baños Laguna

CONTINGENCY
THEORY
BSA – 1A
Joemelyn E. Dela Rosa
Herlene L. Lapitan
Cherry Ann Mercado
Michaela A. Revilleza
Chris Paul Saginsin
 Contingency Theory
• is that there is no one best way to
lead an organization. There are too
many external and internal
constraints that will alter what
really is the best way to lead in a
given situation.
• In other words, it all depends upon
the situation at hand as to what
• It also states that a leader’s
effectiveness is contingent upon
with how his or her leadership
style matches to the situation
(Leadership Theories, n.d).
• That is, the leader must find out
what kind of leadership style and
situation he or she thrives in.
 FRED FIEDLER
Fred Edward Fiedler was
one of the leading
researchers in industrial
and organizational
psychology of the 20th
century. He helped shape
psychology and was a
leading psychologist. He
was born in Vienna,
Austria to Victor and
PETER G. NORTHOUSE
• Peter G. Northouse, PhD, is
Professor Emeritus of
Communication in the School of
Communication at Western
Michigan University. In addition
to publications in professional
journals, he is the author
of Leadership: Theory and
Practice and Introduction to
Leadership: Concepts and
Practice and coauthor
of Leadership Case Studies in
Education and Health
2 Essential Elements of Contingency Theory

• Northouse states that styles and

situations are the two elements
contingency theory is concerned with.
There are two leadership styles of
contingency theory. Task-motivated, a
style related to reaching goals, and
relationship motivated, a style related
to building close relationships. Task-
motivated people have low LPC’s.
• The second element, situation, has
three factors. The first of which is
leader-member relations. This revolves
around the group’s opinion and
feelings for their leader. The second
type is task structure and has to do
with how well a task is planned. The last
characteristic is position power. It is the
amount of power a leader has over
 Features
1. Management is situational in nature. The
technique of management depends on
complexity of the situation.
2. It is the ‘if and ‘then ‘approach to
management, ‘If’ represents the independent
variable and ‘then’ represents the dependent
management variable or the technique to be
adopted in that situation. ‘If’ workers have
strong physiological needs, ‘then’ financial
motivators should be adopted and ‘If’ they
3. Management principles are not universal
in nature as there is no best style of
management. Management is situational
and managerial actions depend upon the
environmental circumstances.
4. It helps in understanding the complex
organizations as it focuses on multivariate
nature of organization. It helps an
organization to operate under different
environmental conditions. Rather than
having a specific solution to solve
• It provides insight into
organization's adaptability
to both internal and external
environment. It is a matter
of fitting the internal
environment to its external
environment.
 Strengths
• One is that it is an effective way
of explaining how good
leadership can be achieved. It is
very tested and supported by
research.
• Another strength is the way it
widens understanding of
leadership and links leaders to
• The third strength is that the theory is
helpful for predicting which type
leadership would be good in which
situation and what the success rate
would be for someone in a given
situation.
• The next strength is that it doesn’t
require a leader to be effective in every
situation. It argues that a leader won’t
be optimal in every situation.
• The last strength is that the theory
 Weaknesses
• It doesn’t fully explain why some people are
more effective leaders in some situations but
not in others. Critics often use this to challenge
the theory.
• Another weakness is the LPC scale. Often
people don’t understand why their description
of another person tells them their leadership
style. It doesn’t make much sense on the
surface but when analyzed deeper, the answer
becomes clear. Those who view their least
preferred coworker very negatively are task
motivated because they see that person as the
• The last weakness is that the
theory doesn’t explain what
to do with a leader is put in
a situation that they do fit
with. It doesn’t address how
to teach leaders how to
adapt.
 Conclusion
• Contingency theory focuses on leaders
and how they react to different situations.
There are two essential elements to this
theory, style and situation.
• The LPC scale is used to show which
leaders have which style and which style
would fit better in which situation.
• There are many strengths and weaknesses
of the theory, but regardless, it is an
effective way to identify what qualities a