Instructional design/How FFA is used?

Back to ID Homepage > ID force field analysis > What is FFA? > How FFA is presented in a figure? > A case study for practicing FFA > Other FFA figure > Making change successful > How FFA is used?

Now you have basic concept of force field analysis and its representative figures, and you might start wondering about how force field analysis can be used in your organization. Generally, force field analysis provides functions of

Reducing insufficient specification of variables,
Identifying strengths and weaknesses, and
Recognizing relation to larger system.

An Example of Using FFA as Motivation Techniques[edit | edit source]

This fragment of the interview conducted by Paul Grantham will provide you an example of how force field analysis is used in the field of psychological intervention.

Context: Talia is a 30 years old asylum seeker presenting with employment problems and low mood. Her motivation for addressing her problems is affected by repeated failure to obtain work. Paul Grantham, a consultant and a clinical psychologist, demonstrates how to bypass issues of resistance to help the client.

In the clip, after having talked about factors driving Talia to seek more works, Paul Grantham tried to find out those factors decreasing Talia’s motivation of working. Obviously, he was using force field analysis to help create personal change on motivation. Now, try to relate this case to your working situation and think about:

Have you ever used any strategy similar to force field analysis before? If you have, what was the situation or problem you were encountering?
Is there any change happening in your organization that you think force field analysis might be an effective tool?

Summary[edit | edit source]

Now you are almost done with the lesson. The last task for you is to watch a summary video below which will help you review what you have learned during the lesson. In next lesson, you will learn a set of procedures of conducting a force field analysis.

Force field analysis is a management tool to analyze the driving forces and restraining forces which affect change initiatives in organizations.
Driving force is the force favoring the proposed change or keeping it going. Restraining force is the force resisting change or keeping the status quo.
Force field analysis can be presented in a visual depitcion which has arrows with opposite directions (driving forces and restraining forces), different length of arrows (the strength of each force), current status, and desired status.
Weights are added to the forces to indicate the relative importance of each force.
To make change successful, the sum of driving force must exceed the restraining force by the means of
- Increasing the forces for the change, or
- Reducing the forces against the change.
The functions of force field analysis can be applied in several areas, such as analysis, planning, implementation, and evaluation.