Content area
Full Text
Abstract
A critical re-examination of Kurt Lewin's work identifies three sets of organization field conditions (facilitating, constraining, and blocking) rather than the driving and restraining forces assessed in the widely used organization diagnosis technique of force field analysis. Thirty-one organizational professionals are assessed on their ability to diagnosis the conditions presented within a case study of a business merger. They are accurate in this diagnostic task, with the exception that they discount the seriousness of the blocking conditions that would prevent a successful organizational merger. The results are suggestive of a decision-making bias that could have a highly deleterious effect on the utility of organization diagnosis. An integrated cyclical model is recommended to correct earlier misunderstandings of Lewinian force field theory and to provide an updated and demonstrably valid tool for organization diagnosis.
Introduction
Organizational diagnosis is an intervention that draws on concepts, models, and methods from the behavioural sciences as a means to examine the current state of the organization and decide on appropriate interventions to solve problems or enhance organizational effectiveness (Harrison & Shirom, 1999). Diagnosis is a highly desirable, if not essential, precursor for informed and effective organization development and change (ODC) interventions. Force field analysis is a popular means of conducting of organizational diagnosis that is widely promoted in research and practice (Harrison & Shirom, 1999).
A Re-evaluation of Current Applications of Force Field Analysis
Force field concepts were originally proposed by Lewin (1929/1999; 1935, 1936, 1938) and subsequently used by a number of ODC practitioners and researchers (e.g., Brophy & McDermott, 2003; Ellis, Reed, & Scheider, 1995; Lifter, Kruger, Okun, Tabol, Poklop, & Shishmanian, 2005; Wagner, van Reyk, & Spence, 2001). Research employing force field analysis began appearing in the organization science literature in the late 1950's and early 1960's. Crookston and Blaesser (1962) report in their force field analysis of a student personnel program that the technique "has been used by researchers and practitioners in various organizational settings during the past dozen years" (p. 612). This would place the earliest uses of force field analysis at around 1950. A considerable literature on this technique has developed since then, often directed toward organizational development (e.g., Ajimal, 1985; Grundy, 1998; Schwering, 2003). Indeed, Lewin's work has been credited as the...