55: Group Dynamics and Foundations of Organizational Change – Kurt Lewin (Part 1)
Jun 4, 2019
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In this episode, Prof. Stephen Cummings discusses Kurt Lewin's influential work in social psychology and organizational development. They explore Lewin's use of force fields and how he applied physics metaphors to the social sciences. The podcast also discusses the connection between the physical and social sciences, and the application of force fields in various settings.
Kurt Lewin's work challenged traditional views and aimed to advance the social sciences, promoting hopeful and positive social change after World War II.
Lewin emphasized the importance of group dynamics in driving and sustaining change, demonstrating that groups play a crucial role in reinforcing new behaviors and promoting socialization processes.
Deep dives
The Groundbreaking Work of Kurt Lewin
Kurt Lewin's 1947 article, 'Frontiers in Group Dynamics, Concept, Method, and Reality in Social Science, Social Equilibria, and Social Change,' is seen as a key contribution to the field. By blending social psychology with physics metaphors, Lewin aimed to position the social sciences as rigorous and valid. He used relatable examples such as husbands and wives in different social contexts to illustrate how individuals' behavior is influenced by environmental forces. Lewin emphasized the importance of group dynamics in driving and sustaining change, demonstrating that groups play a crucial role in reinforcing new behaviors and promoting socialization processes. His three-step process of unfreezing, moving, and refreezing became a cornerstone of change management literature. Overall, Lewin's work challenged traditional views and aimed to advance the social sciences while promoting hopeful and positive social change after World War II.
The Power of Relatable Examples and Diagrams
Lewin's use of relatable examples, such as mothers using fresh milk and individuals working with sewing machines, helped make his concepts tangible and accessible. He employed diagrams to depict social phenomena and force fields in a way that made individuals' positioning within social environments visually apparent. While these physics metaphors aimed to elevate the social sciences to the level of natural sciences, they were also controversial, challenging traditional boundaries. Nevertheless, the use of relatable examples and diagrams helped convey the message that individuals' behavior and group dynamics can be understood and influenced through the application of scientific methods.
The Role of Groups in Driving Change
Lewin emphasized the significance of group dynamics in effecting lasting change. He found that individuals' behaviors could be influenced and sustained within groups, highlighting the importance of socialization processes. In the example of mothers using fresh milk, group discussions and shared experiences played a vital role in encouraging and maintaining behavior change, as opposed to traditional methods of imparting information. Lewin viewed groups as key units of analysis, which had been overlooked in favor of focusing on individuals or organizations as a whole. This insight regarding the power of groups remains relevant today in fields such as education and social behavior.
Unfreezing, Moving, and Refreezing: The Three Steps of Change
Lewin's concept of unfreezing, moving, and refreezing has had a lasting impact in change management literature. While often expanded and modified in subsequent theories, the core idea remains consistent. Unfreezing involves weakening existing norms or behaviors, moving refers to transitioning to new behaviors or norms, and refreezing entails embedding this change to make it permanent. Lewin's three-step model provides a framework for deliberate efforts to drive and sustain organizational change. Despite the evolution of change management theories, this model continues to shape discussions around change processes and the importance of creating lasting change.
In this episode, we are joined by Prof. Stephen Cummings (New History of Management) to address one of the foundational works in social psychology and organizational development - “Frontiers in group dynamics: Concept, method and reality in social science; social equilibria and social change”. This was the first of two articles that Kurt Lewin published in the newly established journal Human Relations with the Tavistock Institute.
In the article, Lewin makes a strong case for treating the social sciences on the same level with the natural sciences–previously, social science was considered neither rigorous nor valid. Using metaphors from physics, Lewin explains social phenomena in tangible, physical terms through constructs such as “force fields.” In doing so, he explained how individuals within a social space interact in ways that could be measured similarly to physical or chemical phenomenon. And he did so using the results of studies on rather ordinary, mundane phenonena such as training on stitching machines and the crossed interactions between a husband and wife.
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