CONTINGENCY THEORY

Contingency:Something that may happen: an event that might occur in the future, especially a problem, emergency, or expense that might arise unexpectedly and therefore must be prepared for; a possibility.

Overview:This is a leader match theory because it tries to match leaders to suitable situations. A leader’s effectiveness depends on how well the leader’s style fits the situation.

It is important to note that contingency theory stresses that leaders are NOT successful in all situations.There is no one best way to structure and manage organizations. Structure and management are on the nature of the environment in which the organization is situated.

Overview:Given the variety of health care services and patients served today, it should come as no surprise that organizations differ with respect to the environments they face, the levels of training and skills of their caregivers, and the emotional and physical needs of patients. It is naive to think that the form of organizaton best for one type of patient in one type of environment is appropriate for another type of patient in a completely different environment.

Environment : People, Objects and Ideas outside the organization that influence the organization.

The environment of Health care organization includes: Patients and potential patients; third-party payers, including Medicare and managed care companies; regulators; competitiors; and suppliers of physical facilities, personnel, equipment, and pharmaceuticals.

Description:In the Contingency Theory of Leadreship, it states that the success of the leader is a function of various factors in the form of subordinate, task, and/or group variables. The effectiveness of a given pattern of leader behavior is contingent upon the demands imposed by the situation.An effect of this is that leaders who are very effective at one place and time may become unsuccessful either when transplanted to another situation or when the factors around them change.

According to this theory, leadership behaviors range from authoritarian to permissive and vary in relation to current needs and future probabilities. The manager might delegate to a higly competent and eager follower group decision making and task completion in designing a new patient take form.

The most effective leadership style for a nurse manager is the one that best complements the organizational environment, the task to be accomplished, and the personal characteristics of the people invovled in the situation. Numerous contingency models have been developed. Just to name a few, there is Fiedler’s contingency theory, Situational Leadership Theory, Vroom –Yetton expectancy model, and House-Mitchell path-goal theory.

Fiedler’s Contingecy TheoryFiedler (1967) proposed that a leader is most effective when he or she matches leadership style (relationship- oriented or task-oriented) to situational factors. He described three situational factors of leadership which are listed in decreasing order of importance:Leader- Member Relationships: the degree of confidence , trust and respect employees had for their leader: rated as either good or poorTask Structure: the degree to which job assignment were formalized and procedurized : rated as either high or lowPosition Power: the degree of influence a leader had over power-based activities such as hiring, firing, promotion : rated as either strong to weak.

Austrian psychologist Fred Edward Fiedler (1922)

Situational Leadership TheorySLT is a situational leadership theory

thatfocus on followers’ readiness. That issuccessful leadership is achieved byselecting the right leadership style, which is contingent on the level of the followers’ readiness.

Paul Hersey

Ken Blanchard

Leader Participative Model

Leadership theory that provides a set ofrules to determine the form and amount of participative decision making in different situations.

Victor Vroom

Phillip Yetton

Path-Goal Theory The theory that a

leader’s behavior is acceptable to subordinates in so far as they view it as a source of either immediate or future satisfaction.

Robert House