Quality Management

Force Field Analysis:

This is a tool used to try and understand the pressures that affect changing systems.

There are basically three areas to look at – ‘for change’, ‘neutral’ and ‘against change’. One can also try to quantify the forces on a scale of 1 to 5 (5=strong) which allows people to express their feelings of how difficult change is likely to be.

In some circumstances change may be inevitable in a certain direction, which in many ways makes this technique easier, as all one has to address are the differing factors that impinge on the desired outcome. If there is uncertainty as to whether you should change in a particular way, then it can be used to estimate how difficult it is likely to be to go down this path and to get a feel as to whether it is a good idea in the first place.

A flip chart is a must for this.

The method is most useful for planning ahead and coping with likely problems. It also is particularly helpful where some people are unrealistically optimistic or pessimistic where fears can be put into an overall risk / benefit framework.

MindTools Force Field Analysis

Accel-team Force Field Analysis