Examples Of Contingency Theory Of Leadership

Contingency/situational theory of leadership can be defined as an organizational theory which states that there is no one way to organize, lead or make decisions in an organizations instead, it states that course of action is dependent on internal and external situations (contingent). A contingent or situational leader applies his or her own leadership style based on the situation at hand. Fielder in 1964, it emphasizes importance of both leader’s personality and the situation in which leader operation. This theory was proposed by the Austrian psychologist Fred Edward. The contingency leadership approach was founded by two earlier research programs conducted in 1950s. At Ohio State University, the researchers there administered questionnaires

If as a leader, you only use one leadership style, there are situations where that very leadership style might not be applicable hence what will happen in such a situation.

From my experience I have seen people who feel that when you are in a position you are supposed to lead people in a particular way but what I try to emphasize is the fact that people cannot always be led in the same way. There are times when you can be a democratic leader, there are times when you will be autocratic in your behavior. The style of leadership here greatly depends on the situation which the leader finds him or herself.

1.3 SOCIAL CONTEXT Contingency theory of leadership is widely practiced in our society as we see that most times our leader’s actions and decision are made based on situations present. No one leadership style is applicable in all situations, hence our leaders usually use different leadership style to tackle their day to day situations in the course of their

In our dealing with patients and our colleagues, contingency theory of leadership is of necessity. E.g. In a situation where a patient needs an emergency care (a patient with respiratory failure), the nurse will have to rush into action and try to resuscitate the patient instead of trying to seek the opinion of the matron or doctor. In some other cases, where a patient is stable and gives a complain, the nurse tables that complain to the doctor who in turn prescribes drug for the patient based on the complaint. Hence contingency theory cannot be overlooked in our profession.

As charge nurses in the hospital, we are answerable to the supervisors directly and the supervisors are answerable to the matron directly. The matron is answerable to the hospital management. There are times when the junior nurses might make a mistake and as a charge nurse you can correct the person in love and teach the person the right thing to do. In other times, the junior nurse might decide to come late without informing anybody and when she does arrive, do not show any sign of remorse as to her late coming. At this point the charge nurse can decide to punish such a staff as this will prevent her from repeating such a