Possibilities for the Application of Structural Contingency Theory in the Public Sector and the Defence System

The subject of this paper is a synthesis of the contributions made by the classics of structural contingency theory, with the aim of outlining possible directions for the application of its basic postulates in the organisation of the public sector and the defence system. The diversity of teachings and views on organisation, as well as the large number of authors who advocate them, always leave room for attempts at new syntheses. At the same time, a challenge for researchers lies in examining possible directions for its application in the public sector and the defence system, bearing in mind their specific characteristics and the fact that this theory was primarily developed on the basis of studies of privately owned business organisations. The purpose of the paper is to emphasise the importance of the contribution of structural contingency theory to the public sector and the defence system, and to indicate to managers the situations in which they may find inspiration in this theory for certain organisational solutions. In researching the contributions of structural contingency theory, the methods primarily used were literature analysis, compilation, abstraction, description, classification and comparison. The environment, technology, strategy and size of an organisation have been identified as the most frequently studied contingency factors. The possibilities for applying this theory in the public sector, and in the defence system as its specific part, are indicated after considering the differences between private- and public-sector organisations and defining the basic characteristics of organisations in the public sector. In doing so, the specific features of the defence system were also taken into account, particularly its orientation towards technical efficiency, its financing, which depends exclusively on the highest bodies of state authority, and the level of authoritarianism, which is the highest in the defence system within the entire public sector.