The strategic contingency theory of power suggests that units best able to cope with the firm’s critical problems and uncertainties acquire relatively large amounts of power. The theory implies, for example, that when an organization faces substantial lawsuits, the legal department will gain power and influence over organizational decisions. Furthermore, the leader of the legal department gains power.

The leaders of units directly involved with the organization’s core purposes usually have more power than those leaders of departments not directly linked to the core purpose.