Kurt Lewin (1890-1947)

Professional Life
Kurt Lewin was born on September 9th, 1890 in Poland. He studied medicine at the University of Freiburg and later studied biology at the University of Munich. Lewin served in the German army during the first World War. He was wounded during combat and was discharged, which allowed him to continue his studies and earn his Ph.D. from the University of Berlin. Lewin found his passion in psychology and began conducting research with Wolfgang Kohler and Max Wertheimer, among other psychologists from the Gestalt school of psychology.

In 1933, the Hitler regime caused Lewin to flee to the United States and settle at Cornell University. He also worked at the University of Iowa in their Iowa Child Welfare Research Station. It was while Lewin worked at MIT that he was asked to assist in developing a strategy to effectively manage racial and religious prejudices for the Connecticut State Inter-Racial Commission. Lewin created the ‘change’ experiment, which led to modern sensitivity training, a procedure that Carl Rogers called “the most significant social invention of this century.” The method is the basis for the National Training Laboratories, an organization that was established in 1947 as a direct result of the ‘change’ experiment.

Lewin worked at Harvard Medical School after World War II, and oversaw the psychological treatment of war camp victims. He founded the Tavistock Journal, Human Relations, a collaboration with Eric Trist and AT Wilson. Lewin later taught at Duke University and retired in Newtonville, Massachusetts.
   

Contribution to Psychology
Lewin developed the force field analysis, a principle that examines the influence of situational factors on achieving or blocking the achievement of a determined goal. While at MIT, Lewin explored ‘action research’ and its effects on planning, researching, and executing specific actions. Lewin is most well-known for his contributions to leadership and management climates. He identified three specific climates of leadership:

1) Authoritarian - In authoritarian climates, the leader creates a division of labor while remaining uninvolved in the labor action. The role of the leader is to evaluate the actions of subordinates and oversee the outcome.

2) Democratic - In a democratic climate, the organization works in collaboration with the leader to arrive at decisions. Input is gathered from all involved, with the leader offering expert advice and experience. Any evaluations and assessments are objective and based in fact.

3) Laissez-faire - In a laissez-faire climate, the leader assumes no clear leadership role and offers advice and input only when asked. Additionally, this type of climate results in very little assessment or praise from the leader.

Lewin also developed a theory of change and the Lewin Equation. His theories state that each person exhibits behaviors as a result of their environment and their personality traits. His theories are based on the current conditions of an individual’s situation, rather than on their past life experiences. Lewin is considered the “founder of social psychology” and his work has influenced organizational construct and the effect of group dynamics in personal, business, and familial settings.