Operations & Sourcing method guide
Force Field Analysis
Examine forces supporting and resisting a change, then plan actions to strengthen support or reduce barriers.
Beginner-friendly guide · 4 min read
What Force Field Analysis does
Examine forces supporting and resisting a change, then plan actions to strengthen support or reduce barriers.
A project can have strong technical benefits and still fail to gain traction. This analysis puts the forces supporting change beside those holding it back.
InnovationFlow records the direction, strength, evidence and proposed action for each force. Use the picture to choose practical interventions rather than to declare a winning side.
Force field analysis is associated with Kurt Lewin. ASQ describes its use for comparing driving and restraining forces. InnovationFlow records evidence and follow-up actions alongside the assessment.[1]
Illustrative forces for a factory retrofit.
- 1Reliability need
- 2Operator support
- 3Proposed change
- 4Shutdown constraint
- 5Training capacity
Original InnovationFlow illustration. Example values and software behaviour are explained in this guide; method sources are listed below.
Understand the method
The parts in plain language
Driving force
Something that helps the specified change happen.
Illustrative example
Repeated unplanned stops make reliability improvement a priority.
Restraining force
Something that limits or obstructs the change.
Illustrative example
The line has no spare shutdown window for installation.
Intervention
An action that addresses a particular force.
Illustrative example
Test the retrofit during an already planned maintenance stop.
When to use it
- When a technically sound initiative is difficult to implement.
- When the team needs to understand practical barriers and sources of support.
A practical workflow
- 1
State the specific change being considered.
- 2
Identify driving and restraining forces.
- 3
Assess strength from 1 to 5 and record supporting evidence.
- 4
Assign actions, owners and review dates for the forces the team can influence.
Fictional worked example
Introducing a new maintenance system
This example is illustrative rather than a reported case. A fictional factory has a credible design but limited implementation time.
Observation:Operators want fewer breakdowns.
Implication:Include their experience in the trial design.
Observation:Training capacity is limited.
Implication:Plan training before the proposed rollout.
Observation:Run a trial on one line.
Implication:Check whether the intervention reduces the barrier.
From analysis to decision
How to interpret the result
- 1Discuss evidence before assigning strength.
- 2Review the forces as circumstances change.
Practical interpretation guidance from InnovationFlow. Refer to the method sources below for the underlying approach.
What a useful output looks like
Common pitfalls
- The balance of ordinal scores is not a probability of success.
- A restraining force may reflect a legitimate constraint rather than reluctance to change.
References and method basis
- [1]American Society for Quality (n.d.). Force Field Analysis. ASQ Quality Resources. Source ↗Originating institution
This guide synthesises the named sources into practical questions for strategy and innovation work. It does not claim that using a tool by itself produces a successful decision.