The contingency approach is a form of business management in which the manager does not follow any single school of thought. Instead, he or she allows the situation to dictate managerial choices. The contingency approach may combine elements from the three major traditional schools of management thought. These are the classical, behavioral, and management science schools of management.
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The contingency approach to management should not be misunderstood as a way of avoiding the use or knowledge of the traditional schools of management. Managers who use the contingency approach must study all three thought schools in order to effectively use elements of them to respond to situations as they arise. Other, more recent movements in management may also be integrated into the contingency approach.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the classical school of management evolved. This school encompasses two areas of thought: scientific management, which should not be confused with the management science school that developed later, and administrative theory. Scientific management focused on the productivity of each worker. It stressed job specialization, worker selection, and training and standardized wages. Meanwhile administrative theory was concerned with the organization as a whole, stressing authority, discipline, and unity of thought and mission