Tushar Jaiswal MBA-I 01313703913

It is not a new approach. Pigors and Myers propagated this approach in the areas of personnel management as early as 1950. Joan Woodward introduced this approach to organization and management Developed in the 1950s by Tom Burns and G. M. Stalker in Britain and Paul Lawrence and Jay Lorsch in the United States

It is based upon idea that there is no onebest way to handle any of the management problem.
It is the idea that the organizational structures and control systems that managers choose depend on (i.e. are contingent on) characteristics of the external environment in which the organization operates.

This approach guides the manager to adaptive to environment variables. It is also called situational approach or common sense approach. Managers should develop situational and practical sensitivity. It rejects the blind application of the classical principles of management. It follows an action-oriented approach and so is pragmatic. Main focus is on the external environment. Organization is to be studied as unique entity.
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Theres no one best way to organize Organizational structure depends on the environment in which an organization operates

Characteristics of the external environment

Determine the design of an organizations structure and control systems

Organizations in stable environments choose a MECHANISTIC structure (i.e., centralized authority, vertical communication flows, control through strict rules and procedures)

Organizations in changing environments choose and ORGANIC structure (i.e., decentralized authority, horizontal communication flows, intradepartmental cooperation)

This approach does not recognize the influence of management concepts and techniques on enviornment.

Literature on contingency management is yet not adequate

This approach examines the relationships between sub-systems of organizations and organizations and its enviornment. A main focus of such research was to find methods to help managers improve the ways they use organizational resources and compete successfully in the global environment.