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Applications of The Contingency Theory

The document discusses applications of the contingency theory in organizational and pharmacy settings. In the case study, Universal Drugs is choosing between Martha Lee and Bill Washington for a new management position. Using an LPC personality trait test, Bill would be a better fit as his high score of 89 indicates he is more relationship-focused, fitting the company's new team-oriented model. The contingency theory can also help define the job requirements to better qualify one candidate and understand the theory's limitations in not adapting leadership style to situations.

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74 views

Applications of The Contingency Theory

The document discusses applications of the contingency theory in organizational and pharmacy settings. In the case study, Universal Drugs is choosing between Martha Lee and Bill Washington for a new management position. Using an LPC personality trait test, Bill would be a better fit as his high score of 89 indicates he is more relationship-focused, fitting the company's new team-oriented model. The contingency theory can also help define the job requirements to better qualify one candidate and understand the theory's limitations in not adapting leadership style to situations.

Uploaded by

Jonafe Juntilla
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Practical Applications of the Contingency Theory (In the organizational world)

 Can be used to assess an individual's effectiveness in a specific role and investigate the
reasons for one's effectiveness or ineffectiveness.
 Based on the contingencies that make one's style effective, it can be used to predict
whether a person who has worked well in one position in an organization will be equally
effective in another position with different situational variables when compared to the
current position.
 Can aid in the implementation of changes in roles and responsibilities that management
may need to make in order to improve the effectiveness of the person in charge. [1]

Applications of the Contingency Theory (In Pharmacy)


Case Study:
A family-owned pharmaceutical company, Universal Drugs, was looking to change to a more
team-work oriented management environment by promoting one of two internal employees.
The newly created position gave the new manager freedom to conduct performance reviews
and report directly to the owners.
Martha Lee has been with Universal drugs for 15 years and has been voted by her peers “most
outstanding manager” on three different occasions. She is friendly, honest, and extremely
conscientious about reaching short-term and long-term goals. When given the LPC scale by the
personnel department, Martha received a score of 52.
Bill Washington came to Universal drugs for 5 years ago with an advanced degree in
organizational development. He is director of training, where all of his subordinates say he is
the most caring manager they have ever had. While at Universal, Bill has built a reputation for
being a real people person. Reflecting his reputation is his score on the LPS scale, an 89.

Theory application:
 Using the LPC scoring I’d choose Bill as the new manager. Since those with low LPC are
task motivated and with the company moving to a more teamwork-based model,
whereas Bill would be a better fit with his high LPC scoring since its more relationship
focused. It is also important to note that since the LPC is a personality trait test, the
scores remain constant (Northouse, 2013, pp 134)

 The owners can use the contingency theory to define the new role to qualify one of the
applicants more than the other. They would define the task structure aspects of the job;
completing performance reviews. The importance of relationship building through
training and coaching of the employees and the ability to diffuse difficult situations is
important.

 Universal Drugs can benefit from the contingency theory in the decision making by
understanding that the theory does have flaws. Those who employ this theory do not
learn to change their approach to match the situation; they change the situation to
match their leadership style (pp 129). [2]

References
[1] https://www.technofunc.com/index.php/leadership-skills-2/leadership-
theories/item/practical-application-of-contingency-theory-of-leadership#:~:text=Contingency
%20theory%20suggests%20matching%20the,be%20done%20in%20various
%20ways.&text=Applying%20the%20model%20to%20determine,of%20a%20new%20project
%20etc..
[2] Northouse, P.G. (2013).  Leadership: Theory and Practice.  Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
[2] Smith, S. (2015, February 23). Contingency Theory and the job application. Retrieved from
https://sites.psu.edu/leadership/2015/02/23/contingency-theory-and-the-job-application/

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