Fundamentals of Management, 8th ed

The Contingency Perspective

Another noteworthy recent addition to management thinking is the contingency per-

spective. The classical, behavioral, and quantitative approaches are considered

universal

perspectives

because they try to identify the “one best way” to manage organizations.

The

contingency perspective

, in contrast, suggests that universal theories cannot be

applied to organizations because each organization is unique. Instead, the contingency

perspective suggests that appropriate managerial behavior in a given situation depends

on, or is contingent on, unique elements in that situation.

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open systems

A system that

interacts with its

environment

closed systems

A system that does

not interact with its

environment

subsystems

A system within

another system

synergy

Two or more

subsystems working

together to produce

more than the total of

what they might

produce working

alone

entropy

A normal process

leading to system

decline