Instructional design/Force field analysis/How FFA is presented in a figure?

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Driving Force VS. Restraining Force

As you have seen in the Harry Potter video, there were two different forces helping and hindering Harry at the same time. Here lists these “forces” shown in the video. Could you identify which ones helped Harry and which ones hindered Harry?

Which forces helped Harry to escape Voldemort and which ones hindered him?

Helped	Hindered
		Harry’s spell
		Harry’s willingness to defeat
		Voldemort’s spell
		Too weak magic power
		Support from family and friends
		Voldemort’s followers
		Unfamiliar environment in a graveyard

From the forces you have identified, we can say:

Those forces helping Harry escape Voldemort can be viewed as driving forces which led him to achieve his goal. On the other hand, those forces hindering Harry can be viewed as restraining forces.

The same concept can be applied to force field analysis which has two parts - driving force and restraining force.

• Driving force: the force favoring the proposed change or keeping it going
• Restraining force: the force resisting change or keeping the status quo

How is FFA Presented?

This graphic is one of the representations of force field analysis. Let’s relate the graphic to the Harry Potter video.

• Harry is currently at ‘a’ - captured by Voldemort. He wants to move to the situation of ‘b’ - escaped from Voldemort
• The arrows pointing right represent driving forces.
• The arrows pointing left represent restraining forces.

The other quality the diagram indicates is the strength of each force.

• Longer arrow = greater strength to drive or restrain change
• Shorter arrow = lower strength to drive or restrain change

If we see this figure from the viewpoint of organization change, according to Lewin’s point, organizations are systems in which the current situation is not static but dynamic with forces working in opposite directions. There are always both driving forces that push for change and restraining forces that act against change in any situation. When one does an analysis, these two forces are shown in balance, like Harry and Voldemort, in a visual depiction that looks above.

Questions

1 What is the force that tends to initiate change or keep it going?

	Driving force
	Restraining force

2 What does the length of the arrow represent in a force field analysis graphic?

	The different forces
	The strength of the force

3 What is not an element in a force field analysis graphic?

	Arrows with different directions
	Recommendations for how to make change successfully
	Current status
	Desired status

Now you know what driving forces and restraining forces are and how they are presented in a graphic. Before moving forward, let’s review a case study for practice and see how force field analysis is applied in a bicycle manufacturer.

Click the Next button to practice and review the case.

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