NHS Education for Scotland: Force field analysis

Summary

Force Field Analysis was created by Kurt Lewin in the 1940s. He used it in his work as a social Psychologist. In the modern world, it is used for making and communicating decisions about whether to go ahead with a change or not.

It frames problems in terms of factors or pressures that support the status quo (restraining forces) and those pressures that support change in the desired direction (driving forces). The driving forces must be strengthened or the resisting forces weakened for the change to take effect. A factor can be people, resources, attitudes, traditions, regulations, values, needs, desires, etc. As a tool for managing change, Force Field Analysis helps identify those factors that must be addressed and monitored if change is to be successful.

It can be difficult for teams to make decisions about testing new ideas especially when there are a variety of opinions. Force Field Analysis provides a structured approach to decision making which helps teams to consider the forces that are driving the change and those that resist the change.