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Sensitivity Training

Sensitivity training originated in the early 20th century and was further developed by Kurt Lewin in the 1940s. Lewin formed the first T-group at a workshop in 1946 which explored group dynamics. This led Lewin and others to form the National Training Laboratories in 1947 to focus on using sensitivity training to teach people how to function better in groups. During the 1950s and 1960s, sensitivity training shifted focus from social psychology to clinical psychology and interpersonal interactions, taking on a more therapeutic quality. It also grew as a cultural force with new organizations joining the movement.

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Amrita Ganguly
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100 views

Sensitivity Training

Sensitivity training originated in the early 20th century and was further developed by Kurt Lewin in the 1940s. Lewin formed the first T-group at a workshop in 1946 which explored group dynamics. This led Lewin and others to form the National Training Laboratories in 1947 to focus on using sensitivity training to teach people how to function better in groups. During the 1950s and 1960s, sensitivity training shifted focus from social psychology to clinical psychology and interpersonal interactions, taking on a more therapeutic quality. It also grew as a cultural force with new organizations joining the movement.

Uploaded by

Amrita Ganguly
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction

Sensitivity Training is a form of training that claims to make people more aware of their own
prejudices, and more sensitive to others. According to its critics, it involves the use of
psychological techniques with groups, which its critics claim are often identical
to brainwashing tactics. Critics believe these techniques are unethical.
The goal in this type of training is more oriented toward growth on an individual level.
Sensitivity training can also be used to study and enhance group relations, i.e., how groups are
formed and how members interact within those groups.

History
The origins of sensitivity training can be traced as far back as 1914, when J.L. Moreno created
"psychodrama," a forerunner of the group encounter (and sensitivity-training) movement. This
concept was expanded on later by Kurt Lewin, a gestalt psychologist from central Europe, who is
credited with organizing and leading the first T-group (training group) in 1946. Lewin offered a
summer workshop in human relations in New Britain, Connecticut. The T-group itself was
formed quite by accident, when workshop participants were invited to attend a staff-planning
meeting and offer feedback. The results were fruitful in helping to understand individual and
group behavior.
Based on this success, Lewin and colleagues Ronald Lippitt, Leland Bradford and Kenneth D.
Benne formed the National Training Laboratories in Bethel, Maine, in 1947 and named the new
process sensitivity training. Lewin's T-group was the model on which most sensitivity training at
the National Training Laboratories (NTL) was based during the 1940s and early 1950s. The
focus of this first group was on the way people interact as they are becoming a group. The NTL
founders' primary motivation was to help understand group processes and use the new field of
group dynamics, to teach people how to function better within groups. During this time, the NTL
and other sensitivity-training programs were new and experimental. Eventually, NTL became a
nonprofit organization with headquarters in Washington, D.C. and a network of several hundred
professionals across the globe, mostly based in universities.

During World War II, Psychologists like Carl Rogers in the USA and William Sargant, John
Rawlings Rees, and Eric Trist in Britain were used by the military to help soldiers deal with
traumatic stress disorders (then known as Shell Shock). This work, which required service to
large numbers of patients by a small number of therapists and necessarily emphasized rapidity
and effectiveness helped spur the development of group therapy as a treatment technique. Rogers
and others evolved their work into new forms including encounter groups designed for persons
who were not diagnosably ill but who were recognized to suffer from widespread problems
associated with isolation from others common in American society.
Meanwhile, Training Groups or T-Groups were being developed at the NTL, now part of the
National Education Association. Over time the techniques of T-Groups and Encounter Groups
have merged and divided and splintered into specialized topics, seeking to promote sensitivity to
others perceived as different and seemingly losing some of their original focus on self-
exploration as a means to understanding and improving relations with others in a more general
sense.
The approach to sensitivity training during the 1950’s shifted from that of social psychology to
clinical psychology. Training began to focus more on inter-personal interaction between
individuals than on the organizational and community formation process, and with this focus
took on a more therapeutic quality. During the 1960’s new people and organizations joined the
sensitivity training movement transforming it into a cultural force.

http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Sc-Str/Sensitivity-Training.html

Why should you care if your employees are sensitive to others?


When employees' behaviors are the antithesis of diplomacy and tact, they can hurt and take down
your business. In short, you should care based on three practical business reasons: 
1. Sensitive employees are more likely to treat co-workers with respect.
2. Sensitive employees are more likely to treat customers with respect.
3. Respected employees and respected customers help your bottom line. 

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