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Content: Force Field Analysis
Brief description of the tool
This tool can be used to identify the different forces within a conflict. Force field analysis is in essence a method to analyse planned social change and should give guidance how this change can be implemented. As such, force field analysis takes from the beginning an action-oriented stance. It can be used to see what is working for and against a planned, positive change – such as the non-violent transformation of conflict – and how one can work with these forces. Force field analysis was first introduced by social psychologist Kurt Lewin.
Purpose
Elements of a force field
Let’s first list and define the key elements of the force field that is to be analysed.
First, what is a field? A field is a human system. That can be an individual person, a group (a class in school, a working team, etc.), or a larger social entity (such as the community of a village or city, the population in a region or state).
There are two key forces in a field:
Often, driving and restraining forces have different strengths and directions so that their interactions determine the status of the system. If the driving forces are stronger than restraining forces, change begins to happen. If the restraining forces are however strong, change is impeded. If driving and restraining forces are equally strong, one says that the field, the human system, is in equilibrium. For a system to change, driving forces must become relatively stronger than restraining forces.
How to do a force field analysis for a conflict?
Force field analysis is used in a number of fields, increasingly in business management (in order to identify whether a specific economic decision should be taken). It has been applied in conflict analysis as well, for instance by the Reflecting on Peace Practice Project (RPP) of CDA or Responding to Conflict (RTC). As a synthesis, the following steps for a conflict force field analysis are suggested.
1. Name your objective for the situation you are analyzing.
As mentioned above, force field analysis is a tool that is used to see how a planned social change can be achieved. Therefore, a possible starting point for using the tool is to formulate your objective. You can write this objective at the top of the page and draw a vertical line down the centre of a page.
In some cases, this objective might not yet be very clear to you – as you want to use your analysis to identify specific objectives for your engagement. In this case, the objective can be formulated in a rather general manner. You could use for instance just the word “peace”.
2. Now, brainstorm driving and restraining forces. Driving forces are listed on the left side, restraining forces on the right.
3. In the next step, look at the forces that you have identified and try to assess their strength. You can do this by assigning scores from 1 (weak) to 5 (strong) or by rating the strength on the scale low – medium – high. You can illustrate the strength of each force by drawing arrows towards the center.
4. From force field analysis to strategy/action.
Identifying the forces is only the first step. Now you have to find out, in how far you can achieve the positive change you have planned (to make driving forces relatively stronger than restraining ones). In general, you have two options for contributing to change – you can either strengthen the driving forces or reduce the restraining ones. The study of change in human systems has identified an important lesson, as E.H. Schein notes “ (…) as was often noted, just adding a driving force towards change often produced an immediate counterforce to maintain the equilibrium. This observation led to the important insight that the equilibrium could more easily be moved if one could remove restraining forces since there were usually already driving forces in the system.”[1] This means that any strategy should take both driving and restraining forces into account – by simply adding forces for positive change, the situation will most likely not be altered.
Some questions can be helpful for developing strategies:
References
CDA Collaborative Learning Projects, Reflecting on Peace Practice Participant Training Manual, Cambridge, MA, 2009, p. 10 <http://www.cdainc.com/cdawww/pdf/manual/rpp_training_participant_manual_rev_20090104_Pdf.pdf> (accessed 27 July 2009)
Cesari, Michele, Building Sustainable Peace: Our Approach to Learning. The part used for this content can be accessed at <http://www.peacepaces.com/page/Content+-+The+Basics+of+Change+in+Human+Systems> (accessed 27 July 2009).
Fisher, Simon et. al., Working With Conflict. Skills and Strategies for Action, Responding to Conflict, London: Zed Books 2000, p. 30f.
Iowa State University Extension (ISUE), Force Field Analysis, <http://www.extension.iastate.edu/communities/tools/forcefield.html> (accessed 27 July 2009)
Schein, Edgar H., Kurt Lewin’s Change Theory in the Field and in the Classroom. Notes Towards a Model of Managed Learning, in: Systems Practice and Action Research, Vol. 9, No. 1, 1996. Online available on http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/2576 (accessed 27 July 2009).
Notes
This tool can be used to identify the different forces within a conflict. Force field analysis is in essence a method to analyse planned social change and should give guidance how this change can be implemented. As such, force field analysis takes from the beginning an action-oriented stance. It can be used to see what is working for and against a planned, positive change – such as the non-violent transformation of conflict – and how one can work with these forces. Force field analysis was first introduced by social psychologist Kurt Lewin.
Purpose
- To identify restraining forces and driving forces in a field, i.e. which forces are maintaining an undesirable situation, which are working towards a better situation?
- To assess their respective strength.
- To consider ways on how to weaken forces maintaining an undesirable state, how to change them in more positive forces and how to strengthen positive forces.
Elements of a force field
Let’s first list and define the key elements of the force field that is to be analysed.
First, what is a field? A field is a human system. That can be an individual person, a group (a class in school, a working team, etc.), or a larger social entity (such as the community of a village or city, the population in a region or state).
There are two key forces in a field:
- Driving forces: These are these forces that stimulate movement towards a desired state/change. Driving forces tend to initiate a change and keep it going. Driving forces push for change, restraining forces resist change.
- Restraining forces: These forces resist change and instead work for maintaining the status quo.
Often, driving and restraining forces have different strengths and directions so that their interactions determine the status of the system. If the driving forces are stronger than restraining forces, change begins to happen. If the restraining forces are however strong, change is impeded. If driving and restraining forces are equally strong, one says that the field, the human system, is in equilibrium. For a system to change, driving forces must become relatively stronger than restraining forces.
How to do a force field analysis for a conflict?
Force field analysis is used in a number of fields, increasingly in business management (in order to identify whether a specific economic decision should be taken). It has been applied in conflict analysis as well, for instance by the Reflecting on Peace Practice Project (RPP) of CDA or Responding to Conflict (RTC). As a synthesis, the following steps for a conflict force field analysis are suggested.
1. Name your objective for the situation you are analyzing.
As mentioned above, force field analysis is a tool that is used to see how a planned social change can be achieved. Therefore, a possible starting point for using the tool is to formulate your objective. You can write this objective at the top of the page and draw a vertical line down the centre of a page.
In some cases, this objective might not yet be very clear to you – as you want to use your analysis to identify specific objectives for your engagement. In this case, the objective can be formulated in a rather general manner. You could use for instance just the word “peace”.
2. Now, brainstorm driving and restraining forces. Driving forces are listed on the left side, restraining forces on the right.
3. In the next step, look at the forces that you have identified and try to assess their strength. You can do this by assigning scores from 1 (weak) to 5 (strong) or by rating the strength on the scale low – medium – high. You can illustrate the strength of each force by drawing arrows towards the center.
4. From force field analysis to strategy/action.
Identifying the forces is only the first step. Now you have to find out, in how far you can achieve the positive change you have planned (to make driving forces relatively stronger than restraining ones). In general, you have two options for contributing to change – you can either strengthen the driving forces or reduce the restraining ones. The study of change in human systems has identified an important lesson, as E.H. Schein notes “ (…) as was often noted, just adding a driving force towards change often produced an immediate counterforce to maintain the equilibrium. This observation led to the important insight that the equilibrium could more easily be moved if one could remove restraining forces since there were usually already driving forces in the system.”[1] This means that any strategy should take both driving and restraining forces into account – by simply adding forces for positive change, the situation will most likely not be altered.
Some questions can be helpful for developing strategies:
- Which forces can be altered? Which forces cannot be altered?
- How can restraining forces be weakened or transformed so that they become more positive forces? How can driving forces be strengthened?
References
CDA Collaborative Learning Projects, Reflecting on Peace Practice Participant Training Manual, Cambridge, MA, 2009, p. 10 <http://www.cdainc.com/cdawww/pdf/manual/rpp_training_participant_manual_rev_20090104_Pdf.pdf> (accessed 27 July 2009)
Cesari, Michele, Building Sustainable Peace: Our Approach to Learning. The part used for this content can be accessed at <http://www.peacepaces.com/page/Content+-+The+Basics+of+Change+in+Human+Systems> (accessed 27 July 2009).
Fisher, Simon et. al., Working With Conflict. Skills and Strategies for Action, Responding to Conflict, London: Zed Books 2000, p. 30f.
Iowa State University Extension (ISUE), Force Field Analysis, <http://www.extension.iastate.edu/communities/tools/forcefield.html> (accessed 27 July 2009)
Schein, Edgar H., Kurt Lewin’s Change Theory in the Field and in the Classroom. Notes Towards a Model of Managed Learning, in: Systems Practice and Action Research, Vol. 9, No. 1, 1996. Online available on http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/2576 (accessed 27 July 2009).
Notes
[1] Schein, Edgar H., Kurt Lewin’s Change Theory in the Field and in the Classroom. Notes Towards a Model of Managed Learning, in: Systems Practice and Action Research, Vol. 9, No. 1, 1996, p. 2f. Online available on http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/2576 (accessed 27 July 2009).
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