Process of Sensitivity Training
During Sensitivity training a small group of members (10-12) are brought together in a free and open environment in which they discuss themselves and their interactive processes. Based on source from where these members are drawn, there may be three types of T-group : stranger-lab, cousin –lab and family lab.
In stranger-lab all participants are from different organizations and they are stranger to each other. In cousin lab they are from same organization but different units. They may know each other but not too well. In a family lab, the participants are from the same unit and know each other quite well.
Delbecq has described the following sequential events during sensitivity training:
i. In the beginning, there is an intentional lack of directive leadership, formal agenda, and recognized power ad status. This creates a behavioral vaccum which the participants fill with enormously rich projections of traditional behavior.
ii. In the second phase, the trainer becomes open, non-defensive and empathetic and way.owever, the major impact on each participant comes from the feedback received from here and now behavior of the other group members.
iii. In the third phase, interpersonal relationships develop. The members serve as resources to one another and facilitate experimentation with new personal, inter-personal and collaborative behavior.
iv. The last phase attempts to explore the relevance of the experience in terms of ‘back-home’ situations and problems.
The above sequence of events is more relevant for strange lab. For cousin –lab and family-lab, some adjustments is made in the above sequence and more attention is given to intergroup linkages in the form of interfacing of diagnostic surveys, interviews and confrontation sessions dealing with a variety of policy, problem solving and interpersonal issues.
A comprehensive research review of OD interventions by Porras and Berg suggests that sensitivity training is the second most researched intervention after team building. It has attracted lot of appraisal both in positive and negative forms.
Positive Consequences
i. Sensitivity training results into more supportive behavior, more sensitive people, and more considerate managers.
ii. Participants to the training programme become more open and self-understanding.
iii. Communication is improved a lot and leadership skills are ell developed.
iv. It provides an opportunity to gain insight into personal blind spots and participants become aware of the group norms, role flexibility, and sense of belongingness.
Negative Consequences
i. Many participants of sensitivity training have reported a feeling of humiliation, manipulation, decline in self-confidence and psychological damage.
ii. It inclines anxiety with many negative impacts like causing the people to be highly frustrated, unsettled and upset.
iii. Participants increased sensitivity may be a continuing source of frustration and problem if they return to their workplace in which openness, trust and sensitivity they were trained to espouse is frowned upon or repulsed.
According to Katz, this method depends for its success on the following conditions:
i. The trainee must sincerely want to improve his human relation skill.
ii. He must be willing to face up squarely to his own in inadequacies, without rationalizing or minimizing them.
iii. He must be provided with a permissive atmosphere which shields out censure or ridicule when he exposes his weaknesses.
iv. He must have someone whom he trusts, who is interested in helping him improve his performance, and who is himself sufficiently skilled so that he is able to help without imposing his values on the trainee.
v. He must be provided with direct experiences in working with others, where he can earn and practice then new skills he acquires.