Kurt Lewin contributed much to management theory. Such innovative business management concepts as his three leadership styles (autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire), his organizational change model (based on the concepts of unfreezing, changing, and refreezing) and his force field analysis method have assured Kurt Lewin his rightful place among the leading business management theorists.
Not just an insightful management theorist, Kurt Lewin is known for bridging the gap between theory and practice. His \"action research\" approach put theory to work in the field in brand new ways, as demonstrated by his force field analysis model. This model utilizes a diagram to assess the combined effect of all the driving and restraining forces that influence organizational systems, either moving them toward or away from change. In using the force field diagram to analyze a potential change, the management theory of Kurt Lewin teaches that the following factors must be considered:
1. The current and desired situations;
2. The likely evolution of the current situation if no action is taken;
3. The relative strength of the forces driving and the forces resisting change;
4. The validity, importance, strength (on a 1-10 scale) and ease with which each force can be changed;
5. The charting of each force on the diagram;
6. The viability of change and likelihood that progress can occur;
7. The possible effect of decreasing restraining forces and/or increasing driving forces; and
8. Finally, Lewin theory predicts that the understanding that increasing or decreasing driving or restraining forces can increase, decrease, or even create other forces.