Lewin, Kurt

Biographical Highlights

Kurt Lewin was born in 1890 to a Jewish family in Mogilno, a small town in Prussia (presently Poland). His father owned a small store, and Kurt received an Orthodox Jewish education at home. He fought and was wounded in the First World War. He completed his doctoral degree in philosophy and psychology at Berlin University, where he also served as a professor from 1926 to 1932. During this period, he conducted experimental research in the following areas: needs, motivation, learning and tension states. Following Hitler's rise to power in 1933, Lewin and his family left Germany and emigrated to the United States, where he was employed on a research grant at Cornell University. While working there, he negotiated with the Hebrew University in Jerusalem regarding the establishment of a research institute there. During that period, Lewin published two books in English: A Dynamic Theory of Personality and Principles of Topological Psychology. However, the move to the Hebrew University and the establishment of the research institute there never materialized. After teaching for 1 year at Harvard University, Lewin moved to the University of Iowa, where he headed a research institute on child welfare from 1935 to 1944. At the research institute, he conducted experiments on leadership styles and their impact on the performance of groups as well as on their social emotional atmosphere.

In addition to his academic and research activities, Lewin was involved in projects on organizational change. The term action research was first used in regard to a project implemented at the Harwood Manufacturing Corporation in Virginia. Eight years later, in two of his last papers, Lewin used the term in the context of a research methodology that aimed to improve inter-group relations and to reduce discrimination.

In 1945, Lewin moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he founded the Research Center for Group Dynamics. The centre combined basic research on group processes and on attitude formation and change with efforts to solve social problems.

In his experimental and laboratory work, Lewin focused on the study of group atmosphere, as well as on leadership styles (autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire) and on the patterns of aggressive behaviour that developed in those settings. Later, he dealt with processes of decision-making and change in small groups. As for the topic of solving social problems, the Research Center for Group Dynamics at MIT conducted numerous action research projects. During one of these projects, which focused on training community leaders to work towards promoting better inter-group relations, the T-Group technology was developed. This technology later became the principal means of promoting change in organizational development.

...