Throughout life, change is inevitable. Even when change is desired, it can be difficult to follow through. Creating a force field analysis (ffa) can assist someone who is trying to change something in their lives, whether is be personal or business related. In this paper, I will describe the concept of force field analysis as well as create an ffa for an issue in my life that I would like to change. I will also describe how the restraining forces impede my progress and develop an intervention strategy to enhance the driving forces to make change possible. Force field analysis is a very useful tool that was created by social psychologist Kurt Lewin in the 1940’s. In any situation, there are both driving and restraining situation. Lewin wrote that "An issue is held in balance by the interaction of two opposing sets of forces - those seeking to promote change (driving forces) and those attempting to maintain the status quo (restraining forces)". It helps when implementing change by dissecting both of these forces. Driving forces are the forces that drive the change. These forces are what initiates the change in the first place, and is likely to keep the plan going the will result in the change. These changes could be pressure from outside sources, or financial incentives. They are what to keep in mind when restraining forces arise during the change process. Restraining forces are forces that restrain the driving forces. These forces can include conflict, hostility, and resistance to change. Although there are bound to be restraining forces in any situation, they can be managed by focusing on strengthening the driving forces. This will ensure a successful change. I have had many changes occur in my life, and I actually have one taking place in my career at the moment. I am a wind turbine technician and am employed by Eon Climate and Renewables. I currently work a work a schedule of 8 hours a day, five days a week. However, management is looking into changing the schedule to ten hour days, four days a week. This is obviously a change that requires a lot of thought and consideration, so using the force field analysis tool would be extremely helpful. The first thing that would need to take place in order to use the FFA would be to have management hold a mandatory meeting where everyone would be able to discuss this change. “It's important to identify as many of the factors that will influence the change as you can. Where appropriate, involve other people, such as team members or experts in your organization” (Hill, 2015). Using a white board or a blank sheet of paper would be helpful. Once everyone is together, the change that is happening would need to be defined. When everyone is clear on that matter, we would begin to brainstorm the driving and restraining forces. In this case, the driving forces would include three- day weekends, incentive for more overtime, and increased motivation and productivity from employees. Although there are many driving forces, there are also some restraining forces. These forces include: a time crunch to get work done, an earlier start time, and longer days. It must also be considered that there may be employees who are against this change. Now that we have done the force field analysis, we can use it in two ways. One would be to decide whether or not to move forward with the change. Another would be to figure out how to strengthen the driving forces to outweigh the restraining forces to ensure the success of the change. In order to strengthen the driving forces, I would suggest that we break down the driving forces. Using a diagram to demonstrate this would be helpful to those who need to visualize the change. The first one we would examine is that this type of work schedule would give employees three-day weekends. Getting the employees to think about how this would benefit them is a great place to start. For instance, you could suggest that they are able to schedule appointments and trips on Friday so that they do not have to dig in to their vacation time. The next driving force to think about is more overtime. Often times, when we leave work on Friday there is still work to be done. Giving employees the option to finish their work on Friday means more overtime, which lots of employees enjoy. Lastly, changing the work schedule would mean more motivation, which would result in more productivity. Giving employees time to recharge means they come in on Monday, rested and ready to work. Avoiding burn out means those employees not only enjoy the job more, but they enjoy each other more. After dissecting the driving factors, it is clear that making the change in the schedule to work ten-hour days, four days a week is the right decision for my company. Using the force field analysis would help my company to clearly demonstrate this, thus making the transition more smooth and successful. In this paper, I have described the concept of force field analysis as well as created an FFA for an issue in my life that I would like to change. I have also described how the restraining forces impeded my progress and developed an intervention strategy to enhance the driving forces to make change possible. Change is not always easy, but knowing what tools to use during the process can make a tremendous difference. Using a FFA can ensure that the change taken place is successful, and something that everyone can be excited about.

Throughout life, change is inevitable. Even when change is desired, it can be difficult to follow through. Creating a force field analysis (ffa) can assist someone who is trying to change something in their lives, whether is be personal or business related. In this paper, I will describe the concept of force field analysis as well as create an ffa for an issue in my life that I would like to change. I will also describe how the restraining forces impede my progress and develop an intervention strategy to enhance the driving forces to make change possible. Force field analysis is a very useful tool that was created by social psychologist Kurt Lewin in the 1940’s. In any situation, there are both driving and restraining situation. Lewin wrote that "An issue is held in balance by the interaction of two opposing sets of forces - those seeking to promote change (driving forces) and those attempting to maintain the status quo (restraining forces)". It helps when implementing change by dissecting both of these forces. Driving forces are the forces that drive the change. These forces are what initiates the change in the first place, and is likely to keep the plan going the will result in the change. These changes could be pressure from outside sources, or financial incentives. They are what to keep in mind when restraining forces arise during the change process. Restraining forces are forces that restrain the driving forces. These forces can include conflict, hostility, and resistance to change. Although there are bound to be restraining forces in any situation, they can be managed by focusing on strengthening the driving forces. This will ensure a successful change. I have had many changes occur in my life, and I actually have one taking place in my career at the moment. I am a wind turbine technician and am employed by Eon Climate and Renewables. I currently work a work a schedule of 8 hours a day, five days a week. However, management is looking into changing the schedule to ten hour days, four days a week. This is obviously a change that requires a lot of thought and consideration, so using the force field analysis tool would be extremely helpful. The first thing that would need to take place in order to use the FFA would be to have management hold a mandatory meeting where everyone would be able to discuss this change. “It's important to identify as many of the factors that will influence the change as you can. Where appropriate, involve other people, such as team members or experts in your organization” (Hill, 2015). Using a white board or a blank sheet of paper would be helpful. Once everyone is together, the change that is happening would need to be defined. When everyone is clear on that matter, we would begin to brainstorm the driving and restraining forces. In this case, the driving forces would include three- day weekends, incentive for more overtime, and increased motivation and productivity from employees. Although there are many driving forces, there are also some restraining forces. These forces include: a time crunch to get work done, an earlier start time, and longer days. It must also be considered that there may be employees who are against this change. Now that we have done the force field analysis, we can use it in two ways. One would be to decide whether or not to move forward with the change. Another would be to figure out how to strengthen the driving forces to outweigh the restraining forces to ensure the success of the change. In order to strengthen the driving forces, I would suggest that we break down the driving forces. Using a diagram to demonstrate this would be helpful to those who need to visualize the change. The first one we would examine is that this type of work schedule would give employees three-day weekends. Getting the employees to think about how this would benefit them is a great place to start. For instance, you could suggest that they are able to schedule appointments and trips on Friday so that they do not have to dig in to their vacation time. The next driving force to think about is more overtime. Often times, when we leave work on Friday there is still work to be done. Giving employees the option to finish their work on Friday means more overtime, which lots of employees enjoy. Lastly, changing the work schedule would mean more motivation, which would result in more productivity. Giving employees time to recharge means they come in on Monday, rested and ready to work. Avoiding burn out means those employees not only enjoy the job more, but they enjoy each other more. After dissecting the driving factors, it is clear that making the change in the schedule to work ten-hour days, four days a week is the right decision for my company. Using the force field analysis would help my company to clearly demonstrate this, thus making the transition more smooth and successful. In this paper, I have described the concept of force field analysis as well as created an FFA for an issue in my life that I would like to change. I have also described how the restraining forces impeded my progress and developed an intervention strategy to enhance the driving forces to make change possible. Change is not always easy, but knowing what tools to use during the process can make a tremendous difference. Using a FFA can ensure that the change taken place is successful, and something that everyone can be excited about.

References:
Hill, Ruth (2015) ‘Force Field Analysis’ Retrieved from www.mindtools.com

References:
Hill, Ruth (2015) ‘Force Field Analysis’ Retrieved from www.mindtools.com