tanding of production and manufacturing.
The external frame of reference I have applied to evaluate industrial management is contingency management. The contin gency approach to management is referred to as so called, because it "is . . . a truism that any theory of corporate or business strategy must be, by definition, contingency based" (Ginsberg, and Venkatraman, 1985, 421). In essence, the con tingency approach to management means nothing more nor less
3than that "the appropriateness of different strategies depends on the competitive settings of businesses" (Hambrick, and Lei, 1985, 765).
It is not the essence, however, that makes the contin gency aproach to management different from other approaches. The application of the contingency approach is what makes it different. Most approaches to management expect one to take into account the environmental conditions which apply to a specific situation, or a specific time, when formulating strategy. The contingency approach to management, however, expects one to take into account (1) each facet of environ ment, and (2) the interrelationships between these facets. C. W. Hofer (1975) identified 54 separate variables, which he believed to be relevant to the application of the contingency approach to management, in the development of strategy. He calculated that all possible combinations of his variables, with each assumed to have but two values, would yield 18 quad rillion possible combinations. It is within such a maelstrom that the industrial manager must function.
Hofer's finding resulted in two events. The first was a burst of research attempting to find a way to narrow the con tingency problem, while the second was a strong resistance by management practitioners to implementing the contingency approach to management in their organizations.
The Intricacies of Contingency Management
The contin...