It has been said that management theory is a series of footnotes to Drucker. It might be said with equal truth that the study of group dynamics and organisational behaviour is a set of footnotes to Kurt Lewin (1890 – 1947) - known as the father of modern social psychology. He was the first to use scientific methods and experimentation to study social behaviour.
His study of groups led to the understanding that the process of group interaction was just as important as and indeed an integral part of any outcomes. This is now a vital part of facilitation processes.
Field theory
Lewin is perhaps most renowned for his development of ‘field theory’ - that human behaviour is the function of both the person and the environment. Obvious as this may seem to us now, psychologists at the time accepted the psychoanalytic theory that all human action was the result of blind pushes from within the self. Lewin thought of motives as goal-directed forces.
Our behaviour is purposeful; we live in a psychological reality or life space that includes not only those parts of our physical and social environment that are important to us but also imagined states that do not currently exist.
Lewin's field theory is essentially the demonstration that behaviour is the result of a combination of personality and social situation - and that neither study of the individual not study of the social environment will be enough to account for, or indeed predict, behaviour on their own. This 'nature or nurture' argument has long been current in social psychology and has perhaps been given further impetus by breakthrough learning about the nature and function of parts of the human brain. One might include the work of Simon Baron-Cohen here as an example.
Action research
Lewin’s field theory lead to his developing action research.
The research needed for social practice can best be characterized as research for social management or social engineering. It is a type of action-research, a comparative research on the conditions and effects of various forms of social action, and research leading to social action. Research that produces nothing but books will not suffice.
From this quotation, it can be seen that action research is aimed at improving practice - that it is a matter of the practitioner acting, collecting data on the results, reflecting on alternatives, seeking improvement and then acting again. At its very centre is the collection and analysis of hard data. It has been described as:
... inquiry or research in the context of focused efforts to improve the quality of an organization and its performance. It typically is designed and conducted by practitioners who analyze the data to improve their own practice. Action research can be done by individuals or by teams of colleagues. The team approach is called collaborative inquiry.
Unfreeze, change, refreeze
Part of Action research is the three-step model of change in organisational development- unfreeze, change, refreeze. The central concept is that an organisation needs to be shaken out of its current values and mode of operation first, then changed and then set running in its new mode with new values. Today, many thinkers would argue that refreezing is not a good idea and that change is constant.
Group dynamics
Action research was part and parcel of Lewin's deep interest in the working of social groups. In 1944, he established the Research Center on Group Dynamics at Massachusetts's Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) with a programme to study:
- Group productivity – seeking to understand why groups are so often unable to get results.
- Communication – seeking to understand how influence works in groups
- Social perception – seeking to discover how group membership affects perception of perceived social events
- Intergroup relations – seeking to identify what helps and hinders relationships between groups
- Group membership – seeking the way in which individuals adjust their behaviour to fit in with different groups
- Leadership training – seeking ways top enable managers to lead groups more effectively
He said of groups that they existed for two reasons. A group’s existence continues for as long as:
- People in it realize their fate depends on the fate of the group as a whole
- Members of the group are dependent on each other for achievement
He worked with Ronald Lippitt on a study of three group models - democratic, autocratic and laissez-faire – and concluded that there was more originality, group-mindedness and friendliness in democratic groups. In contrast, there was more aggression, hostility, scapegoating and discontent in laissez-faire and autocratic groups.
T- groups
Lewin was also party to, indeed leader of, the development of what became known as T-groups at the National Training Laboratory in Bethel, Maine.
As well as ...
- Made popular in recent times by David A Kolb, Lewin put forward a model of human learning - action, reflection, generalization, and testing. This may find an echo in Tom Peter's later comment, 'Try it. Do it. Fix it.' and indeed is central to Action Research.
- Lewin was the first to make use of the word feedback, taken from electronic engineering.
Taken from the Call of the Wild Development Academy
For more information on our team and leadership programmes visitCall of the Wild's website
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